So You Think You’re Easily Disgusted?

PHOTO:Neurodiversity

I’ve recently become fascinated by the use of self-reported questionnaires in psychological research, and have been noodling around looking at some measures that are freely available. My current favorite is the Disgust Scale, developed by Jonathan Haidt, et al. Here are some choice questions from the 27-number test.

Please indicate how much you agree with each of the following statements:

1. I might be willing to try eating monkey meat, under some circumstances. (Maybe I should be troubled by the fact that I don’t understand why this is supposed to provoke disgust.)

3. It bothers me to hear someone clear a throat full of mucous. (My husband + allergy season = ARGH.)

10. It would not upset me at all to watch a person with a glass eye take the eye out of the socket. (Okay, but if they put it in my glass I might have to put a frog on their pillow).

How disgusting would you find each of the following experiences?

19. Your friend’s pet cat dies, and you have to pick up the dead body with your bare hands. (Aw, that’s really sad. Can I stuff it?)

20. You see someone put ketchup on vanilla ice cream, and eat it. (Whatever floats your boat, baby. Just stay away from my cone.)

22. You discover that a friend of yours changes underwear only once a week. (There is not enough ewwwww in the world for this.)

You can take the test and score yourself here. I got 38 (the highest possible score is 100). You?