What Is Taste?

Big Think Home

This content is locked. Please login or become a member.

Become a member Login
What Is Taste?
bigthinkeditor
A person with short dark hair and a beard sits indoors wearing a brown jacket and dark shirt. The background features blurred indoor elements and a tree.
8mins
Perception Box
Dhar Mann on failure, fatherhood, and the spreadsheet that changed his life
Dhar Mann
Unlikely Collaborators
A woman with a bowl haircut and red lipstick sits on a sofa wearing a dark, floral dress. A textured yellow pillow and patterned wall are visible in the background.
7mins
Perception Box
Atsuko Okatsuka: Comedy, Chaos, and Finding a Place to Belong
Atsuko Okatsuka
Unlikely Collaborators
Person wearing a light blue suit and floral shirt, flexing both arms, set against a brick wall background.
7mins
Perception Box
How record-breaking swimmer Diana Nyad found strength and healing in the water
Diana Nyad
A person wearing safety goggles is using a tool to grind or cut metal, creating sparks in a dimly lit workshop.
6mins
Perception Box
The man that found purpose after losing his sight
John Furniss
Unlikely Collaborators
A person with long, light brown hair is looking at the camera with a soft smile, wearing a dark colored outfit.
9mins
Perception Box
The power of perception, with musician Jewel
Jewel Kilcher
Unlikely Collaborators
A group of people posing in front of an orange background.
6mins
Perception Box
How Jack Osbourne survived fame and addiction
Jack Osbourne
Unlikely Collaborators
A man with glasses giving a thumbs up.
6mins
Perception Box
Steve-O is somehow still alive — and working on his self-confidence
Steve-O
Unlikely Collaborators
A woman sitting on a chair in a living room.
7mins
Perception Box
Showrunner Julie Plec on surviving Hollywood with her confidence intact
Julie Plec
Unlikely Collaborators
A man in a black shirt with speech bubbles that say trauma comics art.
6mins
Perception Box
Comics, trauma and art: the origin story of Jim Lee
Jim Lee
Unlikely Collaborators
A man with glasses and a brain in front of a yellow background.
6mins
Perception Box
Can you trust your memory? This neuroscientist isn’t so sure
André Fenton
Unlikely Collaborators
A woman sitting on a chair in a room.
6mins
Perception Box
Meet the woman who wants to change the way you think about sex
Cindy Gallop
Unlikely Collaborators
An image of a woman sitting in a chair in front of an auditorium.
Perception Box
Can you trust your own brain? Neuroscientist Heather Berlin explains
Heather Berlin
Unlikely Collaborators
Smart Skills
Sludge: How paperwork, wait times, and confusion degrade our well-being
Cass Sunstein
Hard Science
Astrophysicists discover exotic merger of black holes
Paul Ratner
Life
About that “A-word”
Mark Moring
The Future
Five ways your safety depends on machine learning
Eric Siegel
The Present
Bernie Sanders: The U.S. already has a kind of socialism – for the rich
Scotty Hendricks
Thinking
Curiosity and short-sightedness
Marcelo Gleiser
Life
“Some people swear their houseplants are conscious.”
Mark Moring
The Present
Why eating ice cream is linked to shark attacks
Eric Siegel
Thinking
Unknowns in heaven and Earth
Mark Moring
Hard Science
Theoretical physics: Bad science?
Marcelo Gleiser
5mins
The Present
What’s your commitment? How to become an effective change-maker.
Chelsea Clinton
Latest Videos
Glimpses of the other side
Mark Moring
Latest Videos
Why gratitude is good for you
Mark Moring

This Big Think special series looks at what taste actually is—from both a scientific and sociological perspective—and why it is that we find some tastes so appealing and others disgusting.

No transcript available for this video.

Learn from the world's biggest thinkers.
© Copyright 2007-2026 & BIG THINK, BIG THINK PLUS, SMARTER FASTER trademarks owned by Freethink Media, Inc. All rights reserved.