The psychological bases of food rejections by humans

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Abstract
Through questionnaires and interviews with American university students, an inclusive set of psychological categories of substances rejected as food is delineated. Substances are rejected primarily because of: disliked sensory characteristics (distastes); anticipated negative consequences of ingestion (danger); offensiveness of the idea of what something is (disgust); or classification of something as not edible (inappropriate). This classification confirms a prior, preliminary taxonomy derived through a different technique, and expands and elaborates that taxonomy. The extent to which each type of rejection is focussed on the substance‐in‐mouth varies across categories. Dangerous substances are rejected in the mouth and in the body (post‐ingestional stages). Disgusting substances are rejected in the environment (pre‐ingestional stages), in the mouth and in the body. Distastes are rejected only when in the mouth. When taught this taxonomy, subjects could readily and consistently categorize a wide range of substances.