Yuck! The Science of Disgust

Yuck! The Science of Disgust

March 9, 2026 · 1h 37m

About this episode

The episode explores the emotion of disgust and its influence on morality, politics, and public life, featuring psychologist David Pizarro.

Disgust is a strong emotion, one designed by evolution to protect us from danger and diseases. But disgust also spills into other areas of our lives, influencing our morals, our intuitions about right and wrong, even our politics. We talk with psychologist David Pizarro about how disgust is used to persuade and divide us, and why it remains such a potent force in public life today. Then, in our latest installment of “Your Questions Answered,” Huggy Rao returns to respond to listeners’ thoughts and questions about why big ideas fail.

People in this episode

Host: Shankar Vedantam

Guest: David Pizarro

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