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Notably, among other emotions, the pandemic has heightened disgust reactions throughout the
world. Through an increased awareness in the risks of contamination and infection, social pressure for
better hygiene and cleanliness practices, as well as mandated lockdowns to various degrees imposed by
states and local governments, the global experience of disgust has sharply risen (Colarossi, 2020). One
significant impact of this increased disgust reaction is the way in which it impacts students’ ability to
interact with new information and critically evaluate beliefs and material. This article seeks to explore
the impact of the increased disgust on critical thinking among students and educators as well as
preliminary considerations which could be utilized to support learning.
Disgust is often understood as a psychological response to a pathogenic threat (Fleischman,
Hamilton, Fessler, & Meston, 2015). It serves as part of a behavioral immune system and is believed to
have evolved as an adaptive response that helps individuals “avoid activities that would result in the
acquisition of pathogens” (Lee, Amber, & Sagarin, 2014, p. 1115). In this way the increased disgust
reaction in response to the pandemic is neither inherently problematic nor unexpected. Conversely,
disgust can be credited with helping individuals follow health and cleanliness guidelines (Gruijters,
Tybur, Ruiter, & Massar, 2016). This natural desire to be protected from pathogens and germs helps
motivate individuals to practice better hygiene and follow expert advice.

Broadly speaking, disgust can be understood as a protective mechanism that helps to delineate
what can be incorporated in the body, becoming part of the self, and what must remain outside and
separate or other. Disgust is thus a boundary enforcer (Chapman, & Anderson, 2012). It is often
associated with bodily functions and fluids, so that body parts utilized in ingestion and secretion of food
and waste are considered the most sensitive to intrusion and contamination (Lee, Ambler, & Sagarin,
2014). Researchers have further noted the liminal focus of disgust that reacts against indistinctness,
which Sartre noted as experiences that produce confusion between what is self and what is other (Lupton,
2014; Sartre, 1969). Disgust thereby, exists in a binary, delineates clear boundaries, and has no tolerance
of the uncertainty of nuance.

While a full discussion of the complexities of disgust is beyond the scope of this article, an
important note is that the domain of disgust that is most clearly evoked by and correlated with the
COVID-19 pandemic is what is considered contamination-based disgust, as opposed to what researchers
have identified as core disgust or animal-reminder disgust (Ching, Williams, Siev, & Olatunji, 2018;
Colarossi, 2020). The domain of contamination-based disgust response is connected to obsessive-
compulsive concerns and fear of contact with out-group members or anyone categorized as other.
Moreover, contamination-based disgust is often associated with tribal boundaries or group identity and
differentiation (Haidt, 2013; Lupton, 2014). Fear of contamination through contact with out-group
members frequently leads to interpersonal boundaries and avoidance behaviors. This is noted even when
the feared contagion is not an actual transmittable pathogen, but an idea or even sexual attraction (Ching,
Williams, Siev, & Olatunji, 2018). Contamination-based disgust transcends merely physical, individual
concerns of contamination to psychological, moral, and cognitive processes and defenses. Disgust is at
work protecting the self from ideas and thoughts as well as germs and bacteria (Haidt, 2013; Lupton,
2014).

Turning to the realm of education, the impact of this increased disgust response in students and
educators becomes increasingly concerning. While the focus of higher education encompasses a broad
range of topics and skills, one common thread in most if not all forms of higher education is a desire to
increase students’ critical thinking capabilities both as a goal in itself and as a tool to increasing student
felicity with high-level subject matter (Janssen et al., 2019). However, critical thinking is inherently a
destabilizing force, focused on questioning and critiquing what someone already believes (Mitchell,
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