General Question

Yellowdog's avatar

Why is someone else's mess (flatulence, boogers, poop, dandruff flakes, etc) so disgusting to us, but not our own?

Asked by Yellowdog (12216points) November 15th, 2019

You know the drill. Someone in class is throwing boogers at random students. But your own boogers are not as gross to you.

Or, you have a bad case of Diahrettic Gurglebutt. The stench can clear a building, and you know its much worse than usual. But you can take it, because you ‘own’ the stench.

Dandruff flakes, snot, body odor, bad breath, hairs in the sink, even the mess you leave on your plate after dinner—may revolt others but to you yourself its not so disgusting even if you know it is.

There must be a scientific or psychological explanation for this. Maybe to protect us from toxicity of foreign things but our own bodies are safe to us?

One exception is vomit, which can be pretty disgusting even to ourselves.

Why is this?

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11 Answers

nightwolf5's avatar

Yeah, I know the drill. It’s not pleasant, but just different if it’s our own. I wonder that too. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked into a gross unflushed public toilet. Yuck. It’s just how our minds and nose work. If it’s our own we kinda expect it.

kritiper's avatar

I’ve always wondered that about farts. It must be the artist in all of us.

Patty_Melt's avatar

My own would bother me just the same, if I had any of that stuff going on.

stanleybmanly's avatar

I’m not all that fond of my own

Demosthenes's avatar

Well, it would be difficult to function if we were all disgusted by our own bodies. I’m okay being disgusted by everyone else :P

ucme's avatar

Same with kids, I worship the ground mine walk on but would happily exterminate all other snivelling brats.

ragingloli's avatar

And strangely, specific to your own species.
Imagine someone offering you their milk, their eggs, or a roasted leg of their child.

elbanditoroso's avatar

Maybe it’s me, but I don’t have a revulsion to anyone else’s and more than my own. It’s all biological stuff, and if it needs to be cleaned up, you have to do it, no matter whose it is. Shit is shit.

KNOWITALL's avatar

@elbanditoroso I can clean anyones excrement and vomit. The halitosis bothers me a lot, though. Right in my face, I almost flinch away, gag.

cheebdragon's avatar

Disgust is an evolved psychological system for protecting organisms from infection through disease avoidant behaviour.

RedDeerGuy1's avatar

You can’t catch your cooties twice. You however can catch a strangers cooties.

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