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Laurent SM, Li J. People who seem disgusting seem more immoral. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1395439. [PMID: 38845773 PMCID: PMC11153852 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1395439] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2024] [Accepted: 04/29/2024] [Indexed: 06/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Despite unresolved questions about replicability, a substantial number of studies find that disgust influences and arises from evaluations of immoral behavior and people. Departing from prior emphases, the current research examines a novel, related question: Are people who are viewed as disgusting (i.e., people whose habits seem disgusting) perceived as more immoral than typical or unusual people? Four experiments examined this, also exploring the downstream impacts of moral character judgments. Adults who seemed disgusting were regarded as more immoral for purity and non-purity violations (Experiment 1) and less praiseworthy for prosocial acts (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, an 8-year-old with typical (but seemingly disgusting) habits was rated as "naughtier" and likelier to misbehave than an atypical child who loved vegetables and disliked sweets. Experiment 4 revealed how, when no behavioral information is available, beliefs about target disgust influence beliefs about future behavior, helping explain why seemingly disgusting targets are viewed as more immoral, but not always more punishable for their bad behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sean M. Laurent
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, United States
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
| | - Jieming Li
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, United States
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2
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Corradi G, Aguilar P, Aguiar F, Olivera-La Rosa A. Age and moral disgust: An experimental priming effects vignette study. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0295039. [PMID: 38349927 PMCID: PMC10863895 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0295039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2022] [Accepted: 11/14/2023] [Indexed: 02/15/2024] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Guido Corradi
- Departamento de Psicología, Facultad de Salud, Universidad Camilo José Cela, Madrid, Spain
- BEATLES Research Group, University of Balearic Islands, Illes Balears, Spain
| | - Pilar Aguilar
- Department of Social Psychology, College of Psychology, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
| | | | - Antonio Olivera-La Rosa
- Department of Psychology and Social Sciences, Universidad Católica Luis Amigó, Medellín, Colombia
- Human Evolution and Cognition Group, Associated Group to IFISC (University of the Balearic Islands – CSIC), Palma de Mallorca, Spain
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3
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Shook NJ, Oosterhoff B. Testing the effects of pathogen threat and sexual strategies on political ideology. Politics Life Sci 2020; 39:187-199. [PMID: 33231036 DOI: 10.1017/pls.2020.19] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Disgust has been consistently associated with greater political conservatism. Two explanations have been proposed for this link. According to a pathogen threat model, disgust serves a pathogen-avoidance function, encouraging more conservative ideology, whereas a sexual strategies model suggests that this link is explained by variability in short-term versus long-term mating goals. In two preregistered studies using a college student and community sample (total N = 1,950), we examined whether experimentally manipulating pathogen threat and mate availability produced differences in political ideology and whether these differences were explained by disgust and sociosexual attitudes. Across both studies, we did not find evidence that manipulating pathogen threat or mate availability resulted in change in political ideology. In Study 1, manipulating mate availability was indirectly associated with greater political conservativism through stronger sociosexual attitudes that favor monogamy. These findings failed to replicate in Study 2. Implications for theory and future research are discussed.
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Abstract
This review covers theory and research on the psychological characteristics and consequences of attitudes that are experienced as moral convictions, that is, attitudes that people perceive as grounded in a fundamental distinction between right and wrong. Morally convicted attitudes represent something psychologically distinct from other constructs (e.g., strong but nonmoral attitudes or religious beliefs), are perceived as universally and objectively true, and are comparatively immune to authority or peer influence. Variance in moral conviction also predicts important social and political consequences. Stronger moral conviction about a given attitude object, for example, is associated with greater intolerance of attitude dissimilarity, resistance to procedural solutions for conflict about that issue, and increased political engagement and volunteerism in that attitude domain. Finally, we review recent research that explores the processes that lead to attitude moralization; we integrate these efforts and conclude with a new domain theory of attitude moralization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linda J Skitka
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60607, USA;
| | - Brittany E Hanson
- Department of Psychology, Saint Peter's University, Jersey City, New Jersey 07306, USA; ,
| | - G Scott Morgan
- Department of Psychology, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey 07940, USA;
| | - Daniel C Wisneski
- Department of Psychology, Saint Peter's University, Jersey City, New Jersey 07306, USA; ,
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5
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Jylkkä J, Härkönen J, Hyönä J. Incidental disgust does not cause moral condemnation of neutral actions. Cogn Emot 2020; 35:96-109. [PMID: 32840184 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2020.1810639] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Emotivism in moral psychology holds that making moral judgements is at least partly an affective process. Three emotivist hypotheses can be distinguished: the elicitation hypothesis (that moral transgressions elicit emotions); the amplification hypothesis (that disgust amplifies moral judgments); and the moralisation hypothesis (that affect moralises the non-moral). Even though the moralisation hypothesis is the strongest and most radical form of emotivism, it has not been systematically experimentally tested. Most previous studies have used as stimuli morally wrong actions, and thus they cannot answer whether disgust is sufficient to moralise an otherwise neutral action. In Experiment 1 (N = 87) we tested the effect of incidental disgust on morally neutral scenarios, and in Experiment 2 (N = 510) the differential effect of disgust on neutral and wrong scenarios. The results did not support either the moralisation or the amplification hypothesis. Instead, Bayesian analyses provided substantial evidence for the null hypothesis that incidental disgust does not affect moral ratings. The results are in line with a recent meta-analysis suggesting that disgust has no effect on moral ratings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jussi Jylkkä
- Department of Psychology, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland
| | | | - Jukka Hyönä
- Department of Psychology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
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Vicario CM, Rafal RD, di Pellegrino G, Lucifora C, Salehinejad MA, Nitsche MA, Avenanti A. Indignation for moral violations suppresses the tongue motor cortex: preliminary TMS evidence. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2020; 17:151-159. [PMID: 32347307 PMCID: PMC8824570 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsaa036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2019] [Revised: 02/29/2020] [Accepted: 03/06/2020] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
We commonly label moral violations in terms of ‘disgust’, yet it remains unclear whether metaphorical expressions linking disgust and morality are genuinely shared at the cognitive/neural level. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), we provide new insights into this debate by measuring motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) from the tongue generated by TMS over the tongue primary motor area (tM1) in a small group of healthy participants presented with vignettes of moral transgressions and non-moral vignettes. We tested whether moral indignation, felt while evaluating moral vignettes, affected tM1 excitability. Vignettes exerted a variable influence on MEPs with no net effect of the moral category. However, in accordance with our recent study documenting reduced tM1 excitability during exposure to pictures of disgusting foods or facial expressions of distaste, we found that the vignettes of highly disapproved moral violations reduced tM1 excitability. Moreover, tM1 excitability and moral indignation were linearly correlated: the higher the moral indignation, the lower the tM1 excitability. Respective changes in MEPs were not observed in a non-oral control muscle, suggesting a selective decrease of tM1 excitability. These preliminary findings provide neurophysiological evidence supporting the hypothesis that morality might have originated from the more primitive experience of oral distaste.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carmelo M Vicario
- Department of Cognitive, Psychological, and Pedagogical Sciences and Cultural Studies, University of Messina, Messina 98121, Italy.,Wolfson Centre for Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor LL57 2DG, United Kingdom.,Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund 44139, Germany.,School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, McElwain Building, St Lucia Campus, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia.,Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neurosciences Research Center, Universidad Católica del Maule, 346000 Talca, Chile
| | - Robert D Rafal
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Delaware 19716, USA
| | - Giuseppe di Pellegrino
- Department of Psychology and Center for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, Cesena Campus, 47521 Cesena, Italy
| | - Chiara Lucifora
- Department of Cognitive, Psychological, and Pedagogical Sciences and Cultural Studies, University of Messina, Messina 98121, Italy.,Wolfson Centre for Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor LL57 2DG, United Kingdom
| | - Mohammad A Salehinejad
- Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund 44139, Germany
| | - Michael A Nitsche
- Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund 44139, Germany
| | - Alessio Avenanti
- Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neurosciences Research Center, Universidad Católica del Maule, 346000 Talca, Chile.,Department of Psychology and Center for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, Cesena Campus, 47521 Cesena, Italy
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Ghelfi E, Christopherson CD, Urry HL, Lenne RL, Legate N, Ann Fischer M, Wagemans FMA, Wiggins B, Barrett T, Bornstein M, de Haan B, Guberman J, Issa N, Kim J, Na E, O’Brien J, Paulk A, Peck T, Sashihara M, Sheelar K, Song J, Steinberg H, Sullivan D. Reexamining the Effect of Gustatory Disgust on Moral Judgment: A Multilab Direct Replication of Eskine, Kacinik, and Prinz (2011). ADVANCES IN METHODS AND PRACTICES IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2020. [DOI: 10.1177/2515245919881152] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Eskine, Kacinik, and Prinz’s (2011) influential experiment demonstrated that gustatory disgust triggers a heightened sense of moral wrongness. We report a large-scale multisite direct replication of this study conducted by labs in the Collaborative Replications and Education Project. Subjects in each sample were randomly assigned to one of three beverage conditions: bitter (disgusting), control (neutral), or sweet. Then, subjects made a series of judgments about the moral wrongness of the behavior depicted in six vignettes. In the original study ( N = 57), drinking the bitter beverage led to higher ratings of moral wrongness than did drinking the control or sweet beverage; a contrast between the bitter condition and the other two conditions was significant among conservative ( n = 19) but not liberal ( n = 25) subjects. In the current project, random-effects meta-analyses across all subjects ( N = 1,137, k = 11 studies), conservative subjects ( n = 142, k = 5), and liberal subjects ( n = 635, k = 9) revealed standardized overall effect sizes across replications that were smaller than reported in the original study. Some were in the opposite of the predicted direction; all had 95% confidence intervals containing zero, and all were smaller than the effect size the original authors could have meaningfully detected. Results of linear mixed-effects regressions revealed that drinking the bitter beverage led to higher ratings of moral wrongness than did drinking the control beverage but not the sweet beverage. Bayes factor tests revealed greater relative support for the null than for the replication hypothesis. The overall pattern provides little to no support for the theory that physical disgust via taste perception harshens judgments of moral wrongness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric Ghelfi
- Department of Psychology, Brigham Young University
| | | | | | - Richie L. Lenne
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
| | - Nicole Legate
- Department of Psychology, Illinois Institute of Technology
| | | | - Fieke M. A. Wagemans
- Department of Psychology, Tilburg University
- Institute for Socio-Economics, University of Duisburg-Essen
| | - Brady Wiggins
- Department of Psychology, Brigham Young University–Idaho
| | | | | | | | | | - Nada Issa
- Department of Psychology, Indiana University Northwest
| | - Joan Kim
- Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Elim Na
- Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine
| | | | - Aidan Paulk
- Department of Acupuncture, Oregon College of Oriental Medicine
| | - Tayler Peck
- Department of Psychology, Southern Oregon University
| | | | - Karen Sheelar
- Department of Psychology, Southern Oregon University
| | | | - Hannah Steinberg
- Department of Psychology, Pacific Graduate School of Psychology/Stanford University Doctor of Psychology Consortium
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Bartoș SE, Sophie Russell P, Hegarty P. Heroes against homophobia: does elevation uniquely block homophobia by inhibiting disgust? Cogn Emot 2020; 34:1123-1142. [PMID: 32052690 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2020.1726292] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Homophobia has decreased in past decades, but gut-level disgust towards gay men lingers. It has been suggested that disgust can be reduced by inducing its proposed opposite emotion, elevation. Research suggests elevation might reduce homophobia, but only general elevation (not elevation evoked by gay people) and general attitudes (rather than disgust) have been studied. Nor has elevation's effect on homophobia been differentiated from effects of related emotions, such as admiration or surprise. We pretested a series of news stories featuring either a gay man or a man of unspecified sexuality that were intended to distinctly elicit elevation, admiration, or surprise. We pre-registered the prediction that an elevation-inducing story would reduce negative attitudes by reducing disgust. In Study 1 (N = 593), participants who read elevation-inducing stories did not express more positive attitudes or less disgust towards gay men than those who read stories inducing admiration or surprise. The admiration stories elicited similar or lower levels of disgust than the elevation stories. Study 2 (N = 588), replicated the findings of Study 1 with improved stimuli and measures. Both studies suggest that elevation may not uniquely reduce homophobia, as elevation and admiration have similar effects on this prejudice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian E Bartoș
- Division of Psychology, University of Northampton, Northampton, UK.,Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK
| | | | - Peter Hegarty
- Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK
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Olivera-La Rosa A. Wrong outside, wrong inside: A social functionalist approach to the uncanny feeling. NEW IDEAS IN PSYCHOLOGY 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.newideapsych.2018.03.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
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10
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Giner-Sorolla R, Kupfer T, Sabo J. What Makes Moral Disgust Special? An Integrative Functional Review. ADVANCES IN EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.aesp.2017.10.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/05/2022]
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11
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Skitka LJ, Wisneski DC, Brandt MJ. Attitude Moralization: Probably Not Intuitive or Rooted in Perceptions of Harm. CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2017. [DOI: 10.1177/0963721417727861] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
People vary in the extent to which they imbue attitudes with moral conviction, and this variation is consequential. Yet we know relatively little about what makes people’s feelings about a given attitude object transform from a relatively nonmoral preference to a moral conviction. In this article, we review evidence from two experiments and a field study that sheds some light on the processes that lead to attitude moralization. This research explored the roles of incidental and integral affect, cognitive factors such as recognition of harm, and whether attitude-moralization processes can occur outside conscious awareness or require some level of conscious deliberation. The findings present some challenges to contemporary theories that emphasize the roles of intuition and harm and indicate that more research designed to better understand moralization processes is needed.
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12
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Polonioli A. A plea for minimally biased naturalistic philosophy. SYNTHESE 2017; 196:3841-3867. [PMID: 31404228 PMCID: PMC6656791 DOI: 10.1007/s11229-017-1628-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2017] [Accepted: 11/13/2017] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Naturalistic philosophers rely on literature search and review in a number of ways and for different purposes. Yet this article shows how processes of literature search and review are likely to be affected by widespread and systematic biases. A solution to this problem is offered here. Whilst the tradition of systematic reviews of literature from scientific disciplines has been neglected in philosophy, systematic reviews are important tools that minimize bias in literature search and review and allow for greater reproducibility and transparency. If naturalistic philosophers wish to reduce bias in their research, they should then supplement their traditional tools for literature search and review by including systematic methodologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Polonioli
- Department of Philosophy, University of Birmingham, 3 Elms Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT UK
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13
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van Dijke M, van Houwelingen G, De Cremer D, De Schutter L. So Gross and Yet so Far Away: Psychological Distance Moderates the Effect of Disgust on Moral Judgment. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PERSONALITY SCIENCE 2017; 9:689-701. [PMID: 30263088 PMCID: PMC6139992 DOI: 10.1177/1948550617722198] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
People morally evaluate norm violations that occur at various distances from the self (e.g., a corrupt politician vs. a cheating spouse). Yet, distance is rarely studied as a moderator of moral judgment processes. We focus on the influence of disgust on moral judgments, as evidence here has remained inconclusive. Based on feelings as information theory and the notion that disgust evolved as a pathogen avoidance mechanism, we argue that disgust influences moral judgment of psychologically distant (vs. near) norm violations. Studies 1 and 3 show that trait disgust sensitivity (but not trait anger and fear) more strongly predicts moral judgment of distant than near violations. Studies 2 and 4 show that incidental disgust affects moral judgment of distant (vs. near) violations and that the moderating role of distance is mediated by involvement of others (vs. the self) in the evaluator’s conceptualization of the violation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marius van Dijke
- Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | | | - David De Cremer
- Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Leander De Schutter
- Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
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Core, social and moral disgust are bounded: A review on behavioral and neural bases of repugnance in clinical disorders. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2017; 80:185-200. [PMID: 28506923 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.05.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2016] [Revised: 04/19/2017] [Accepted: 05/09/2017] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Disgust is a multifaceted experience that might affect several aspects of life. Here, we reviewed research on neurological and psychiatric disorders that are characterized by abnormal disgust processing to test the hypothesis of a shared neurocognitive architecture in the representation of three disgust domains: i) personal experience of 'core disgust'; ii) social disgust, i.e., sensitivity to others' expressions of disgust; iii) moral disgust, i.e., sensitivity to ethical violations. Our review provides some support to the shared neurocognitive hypothesis and suggests that the insula might be the "hub" structure linking the three domains of disgust sensitivity, while other brain regions may subserve specific facets of the multidimensional experience. Our review also suggests a role of serotonin core and moral disgust, supporting "neo-sentimentalist" theories of morality, which posit a causal role of affect in moral judgment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simone Schnall
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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16
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Wisneski DC, Skitka LJ. Moralization Through Moral Shock. PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN 2016; 43:139-150. [DOI: 10.1177/0146167216676479] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The current research tested whether exposure to disgusting images increases moral conviction and whether this happens in the presence of incidental disgust cues versus disgust cues relevant to the target of moralization. Across two studies, we exposed participants to one of the four sets of disgusting versus control images to test the moralization of abortion attitudes: pictures of aborted fetuses, animal abuse, non-harm related disgusting images, harm related disgusting images, or neutral pictures, at either sub- or supraliminal levels of awareness. Moral conviction about abortion increased (compared with control) only for participants exposed to abortion-related images at speeds slow enough to allow conscious awareness. Study 2 replicated this finding, and found that the relationship between attitudinally relevant disgust and moral conviction was mediated by disgust, and not anger or harm appraisals. Findings are discussed in terms of their relevance for intuitionist theories of morality and moral theories that emphasize harm.
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Landy JF, Goodwin GP. Our Conclusions Were Tentative, But Appropriate: A Reply to Schnall et al. (2015). PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2016; 10:539-40. [PMID: 26177953 DOI: 10.1177/1745691615590570] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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18
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Johnson DJ, Wortman J, Cheung F, Hein M, Lucas RE, Donnellan MB, Ebersole CR, Narr RK. The Effects of Disgust on Moral Judgments. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PERSONALITY SCIENCE 2016. [DOI: 10.1177/1948550616654211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
There is evidence that inducing feelings of disgust increases the severity of moral judgments, but the size of this association has been questioned by a recent meta-analysis. Based on prior research and theory, we tested whether the effects of disgust on moral judgments might be moderated by sensitivity to bodily states (Studies 1 and 2) and the accessibility of mood (Study 2) in two large samples (total N = 1,412). We did not find that disgust directly increased the severity of moral judgments nor did we find evidence that these moderators influenced the effect of disgust. Thus, the current studies do not support large effects for induced disgust and for two presumed moderators of these effects.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Felix Cheung
- Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Megan Hein
- Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
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