Disgust and Deontology: Trait Sensitivity to Contamination Promotes a Preference for Order, Hierarchy, and Rule-Based Moral Judgment

Abstract

Models of moral judgment have linked generalized emotionality with deontological moral judgment. The evidence, however, is mixed. Other research has linked the specific emotion of disgust with generalized moral condemnation. Here too, the evidence is mixed. We suggest that a synthesis of these two literatures points to one specific emotion (disgust) that reliably predicts one specific type of moral judgment (deontological). In all three studies, we found that trait disgust sensitivity predicted more extreme deontological judgment. In Study 3, with deontological endorsement and consequentialist endorsement operationalized as independent constructs, we found that disgust was positively associated with deontological endorsement but was unrelated to consequentialist endorsement. Across studies, the disgust–deontology link was mediated by individual difference variables related to preference for order (right-wing authoritarianism and intolerance for ambiguity). These data suggest a more precise model of emotion and moral judgment that identifies specific emotions, specific types of moral judgment, and specific motivational pathways.

Body Odor Disgust Sensitivity Predicts Moral Harshness Toward Moral Violations of Purity

“…Thus, according to this view, the relation between disgust and harshness in moral judgments should be mediated by individual differences in preference for the maintenance of social order. In support of this notion, recent research has demonstrated a robust association between disgust sensitivity and trait-level preference for orderliness, an association that, in turn, predicts political conservatism ( Piazza and Sousa, 2014 ; Robinson et al, 2019 ). Considering the evidence suggesting that links from BIS-related traits to moral condemnation may be mediated by orderliness and social conservatism, we were interested in investigating the mediating role of these personality traits.…”

Disgust and Moral Judgment: Distinguishing Between Elicitors and Feelings Matters

“…Consistent with the "broad" view, a recent study found that people who are more prone to feelings of disgust show stronger tendencies against both actions that violate moral norms and decisions that omit acting in the interests of the greater good (Robinson et al, 2019, see their supplemental material). However, we know of no work examining whether inducing disgust affects assessments of inactions that allow harm to occur.…”

Personality and moral judgment: Curious consequentialists and polite deontologists (Journal of Personality)

“…Moreover, subsequent studies that directly manipulated emotions have yielded inconsistent support for the DPM, such as the finding that different positive emotions have diverging effects on moral judgment (Strohminger, Lewis, & Meyer, 2011). On the other hand, there is clearer evidence to support a role for other kinds of emotions, such as disgust, in deontological judgment (e.g., Baron et al, 2018;Robinson, Xu, & Plaks, 2019). Interestingly, disgust sensitivity is related to both agreeableness (Druschel & Sherman, 1999) and HEXACO Honesty-Humility (Tybur & de Vries, 2013), the latter of which maps closely to BFAS politeness (DeYoung et al, 2007).…”

“…For instance, we might hypothesize that measures of social norm adherence (e.g., Montoya & Pittinksy, 2012) mediate the relation between politeness and deontological inclinations, whereas measures of reflective processing (e.g., West, Toplal, & Stanovich, 2008) mediate the relation between intellect and consequentialist inclinations. Such studies might also directly assess affective responses to the dilemmas employed in study 2, focusing on emotions such as sympathy (Greene, 2007) and disgust (Robinson et al, 2019).…”