What is the biological cause of fear and disgust?

Answer 1

the amagdala...an almond shaped area in the limbic system..beneath the cerebral cortrx. the amaydala helps regulate fear and agression. without it we would not fear things like snakes etc.

Answer 2

Survival techniques. Fear protects you. So does Disgust. It is a warning that something is not going well with your chances of survival. You should avoid situations like that if you can (sometimes you do not have a choice). This is the basic theory. As to the details of what triggers which enzyme to sent message X to the cortex. It is too complicated to expand here.

Answer 3

Evolution and self perseverance.
Evolution-> As a physical experience, i.e. caused by one of you senses (smell, tongue receptors, smell, touch,hearing, but the first 3 mainly) disgust is a product of our evolution. When something tastes/smells that way to us, usually it is not good for eating/should be avoided due to its ingredients. That's the product of our ancestors' experience.
-> psychological disgust- mainly or commonly (because everyone has his own perception of good&bad, it depends) it's caused by something, that is contradicting with social rules and ideas of good&normal. These rules, the most obligatory of which are the laws, are made in order to make our common everyday life easier and to protect the society, the community as such.
Fear -> a system of insticts, like the firewall on your pc or the "no fuel" lamp in your car, the purpose of which is perservance and survival. Those who feared more things survived and the product of their genes is the nowadays population of the Earth.

Answer 4

George Bush