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“The Fathers have eaten Sour Grapes, and the Children’s Teeth are set on Edge”: Differentiating the Emotional Experiences of Grima and Disgust

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2018

Inge Schweiger Gallo ,
Miryam Rodríguez Monter ,
José Luis Álvaro-Estramiana ,
Juan Ignacio Durán  and
José-Miguel Fernández-Dols
Inge Schweiger Gallo*
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain)
Miryam Rodríguez Monter
Affiliation:
Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (Spain)
José Luis Álvaro-Estramiana
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain)
Juan Ignacio Durán
Affiliation:
Centro Universitario Cardenal Cisneros (Spain)
José-Miguel Fernández-Dols
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Inge Schweiger Gallo. Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociología. Departamento de Antropología Social y Psicología Social. Campus de Somosaguas 28040 Madrid (Spain). E-mail: ingesg@cps.ucm.es
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Abstract

The Spanish term grima refers to the aversive emotional experience typically evoked when one hears, for example, a scratch upon a chalkboard. Whereas Spanish speakers can distinguish between the concepts of grima and disgust, English and German speakers lack a specific word for this experience and typically label grima as disgust. In the present research, we tested the degree of differentiation between the two aversive experiences in Spanish speakers. Study 1 addressed whether Spanish speakers apply spontaneously the term grima rather than disgust to grima-eliciting experiences. Study 2 systematically addressed the constitutive features of both grima and disgust by mapping their internal structures. Results showed that the noise of a chulk on a blackboard and scraping fingernails on a blackboard, along with the physical manifestation of goose bumps, were the most typical features of the category. Whereas both grima and disgust were characterized as unpleasant sensations, t(193) = 1.21, ns, they differed with respect to their physiological signatures (e.g., producing shivers was characteristic of grima, as compared to disgust, t(194) = 12.02, p = .001, d = 1.72) and elicitors (e.g., a fractured bone was a characteristic elicitor of grima; t(193) = 5.78, p = .001, d = .83, whereas pederasts and pedophiles were the most characteristic elicitor of disgust, t(193) = 8.46, p = .001, d = 1.21). Thus, both grima and disgust are conceptually different experiences, whose shared features hold different degrees of typicality. The present research suggests that grima and disgust are two distinct emotion concepts.

Keywords

disgustemotion conceptemotional experiencegrima
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 21 , 2018 , E45
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2018 

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Footnotes

The present studies were financed by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación’s (MICINN) grant I+D+i PSI2009-07066 to Inge Schweiger Gallo, Miryam Rodriguez Monter and José Luis Álvaro. We would like to thank Noemy Sanz for assistance during part of data acquisition of Study 1.

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