In modern dating, “ick” is mostly experienced by women and feared by men.
The term has gone viral on social media in recent years.
It describes a feeling of revulsion at the actions, appearances, and other characteristics of one’s partner.
Some examples of popular acaras include people chewing with their mouths open, wearing mats, or bouncing on their feet while walking.
The list has been narrowed down to a more specific set of signs shared online, including aversions to the way men chase a ping-pong ball or even use a debit card instead of a credit card on a date.
Primal instinct
National Geographic claims that the feeling of “ick” is related to a biological, primal instinct.
In some primate species, including humans, adult females are “more sensitive to harshness than males,” according to a science dive from NatGeo.
“For example, female gray mouse lemurs and Japanese macaques are more likely than males to turn their noses up at contaminated food, while female western lowland gorillas and olive baboons tend to avoid other animals with skin infections,” it noted. report seems.
This care then leads to a lower incidence of infectious diseases in women, according to the scientists.
Cecile Sarabian, a cognitive ecologist at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Toulouse, France, told NatGeo that it has a “protective power for ‘yuck’.”
She suggested that females’ selectivity about what they eat and who they are exposed to “may be one of the reasons why female primates live longer than males.”
Elizabeth Anne Brown, a National Geographic contributing writer based in Denmark, commented on the findings.
“Scientists don’t know why many female animals — including humans — are lighter than males,” she told Fox News Digital.
“But ‘yuck’ acts as an advanced guard for our immune system, limiting our exposure to things that can make us sick, like parasites and bacteria.”
Disgust “plays an important role” in mate selection for primates, Brown said, as females of some species “will absolutely shut down potential suitors.” [who have] symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases.”
“If the resident male in a group of western lowland gorillas develops pale spots on his face—a symptom of infection with treponema, the same contagious bacteria that causes syphilis in humans—some females will abandon the troop entirely and search for a male. uninfected.” she said.
“These female gorillas take ‘escape’ so seriously that they basically skip town and start a new life.”
In analyzing Japanese macaques, Sarabian noted that females swept any leaf debris from their acorns before eating them, while males were “more likely to swallow food while barely looking at it.”
She added, “Unfortunately, the only dating advice we can get from our primate cousins is to be on the lookout for sexually transmitted diseases — always a good policy.”
The psychology of feeling angry
Dr. Kyra Bobinet, a behavioral neuroscientist in California and author of The Unstoppable Brain, showed what happens in the brain when someone feels disgusted.
“Everything that we don’t want, that we want to avoid, or that we are drawn to – including disease – is controlled by this area of the brain. [called the habenula]”, she told Fox News Digital.
The habenula is a central part of the brain that is involved in various important functions, including motivation and decision-making, according to the expert.
This area, when activated, “kills our motivation to try,” Bobinet said.
“This area of your brain is looking for anything that won’t work for you,” she said. “There’s a negativity bias.”
The expert encouraged those who “got it wrong” to try to change their perception of the situation.
Bobinet also agreed that women are biologically more likely to be aware of “painful” feelings as they are “designed to make babies”.
She said, “We have to be very sensitive to our environment because we have to protect the child from fumes, from danger, from all these things.”
The role of social media
According to Bobinet, it’s “taken to an extreme” on social media – “and you can get really narrow-minded and very biting”.
This can interfere with dating, the expert suggested, as the criteria for a partner become “unrealistic”.
M. David Rudd, PhD, distinguished professor of psychology at the University of Memphis, said there are “definitely evolutionary reasons” for disgust “across gender.”
“But it’s important to always include in today’s phenomenon the issue of social learning and related reinforcement, driven by the vast and unprecedented reach of social media,” he told Fox News Digital.
Rudd noted that social media creators are also motivated by attention and financial gain, which can drive trends more than “any meaningful evolutionary purpose.”
“Those who are most vulnerable to mimicking social media behavior are often those who most need prime motivators to begin with – attention is the central one, followed quickly by money,” he said.
“Extrapolating and interpreting evolutionary gains in this context is likely to lead to significant degrees of error.”
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