Why do rats disgust me so much?
With most disliked animals the feeling is fear. With rats it is closer to disgust, and disgust is worth a careful look because so much of it is learned.
What the disgust is made of
When people explain why they cannot stand rats, they describe where rats live as much as the animal.
- The bare tail.
- Sewers, bins and the backs of restaurants.
- That they come out at night, and that where there is one there are more.
- Old stories about plague, which most of us absorbed as children.
Disgust has a job. It keeps us away from things that might make us ill, and an animal that lives among our waste is an obvious target. That part is reasonable. The rest of this page is about what the feeling picks up along the way.
What rats are actually like
The rat of the insult and the rat in the laboratory are very different animals.
- Rats help each other. In a 2011 experiment at the University of Chicago, a free rat learned to open a small cage holding a trapped companion. It did so even when a second cage held chocolate, and it usually left some of the chocolate for the other rat.Source: University of Chicago Medicine, on a study in Science
- Rats that are tickled make a chirp at around 50 kilohertz, too high for us to hear. The researchers who study it call it laughter, and the rats chase the hand that tickles them.Source: Science News, on a study in Science, 2016
What the word “rat” is carrying
We call someone a rat when they inform on their friends, or leave when things get hard. The animal does neither, as the Chicago experiment shows. So the meaning is ours, and it is fair to ask what yours is. Take what follows as a suggestion and nothing firmer.
One possibility is survival. A rat does what it takes and does not look sorry. If you once had to do something you are not proud of in order to get through, or if someone saved themselves at your expense, the rat is a convenient place to keep that feeling.
Another is need. Rats live on scraps and do well on them. People who grew up with little, or who were made to feel ashamed of wanting, sometimes find an animal that thrives on leftovers very hard to look at.
The last is being unwelcome. Nobody invites a rat. A strong reaction can sit near an old fear of being the one who is not wanted in the room.
Three questions to ask yourself
- When you picture a rat, where is it and what is it doing? Which part of the picture is the worst?
- Is there something you once did to get by that you have never told anyone?
- Whom have you called a rat, aloud or in your head, and what had they done?
Questions people ask
Why do rats disgust people?
Disgust steers us away from things linked with illness, and rats live close to our rubbish and drains. On top of that sit centuries of stories and the use of “rat” as an insult. Most of the feeling is handed down, not built in.
Is it a phobia if I cannot stand rats?
Disliking rats is very common and is not a phobia. If the fear is strong enough to change where you go or how you sleep, that is different, and a doctor or therapist is the right person to talk to. They see it often.
Are rats really disloyal?
No. In experiments, rats free trapped companions and share food with them. The idea of the rat as a traitor comes from human language, not from how rats behave.
What can hating rats point to in me?
Possibly nothing. It can also point to something about survival, need or not being wanted. If one of those words lands harder than the others, that is the one to think about.