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Body odour disgust sensitivity predicts authoritarian attitudes
Marco Tullio Liuzza1,2,3,4, Torun Lindholm1, Caitlin B Hawley1
1Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
Royal Society Open Science
|March 9, 2018
Summary
Increased sensitivity to body odor disgust is linked to authoritarianism and support for political figures. This suggests basic sensory functions may influence contemporary social and political attitudes.
Area of Science:
- Political Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Evolutionary Psychology
Background:
- Authoritarianism is a relevant topic in political psychology, potentially explaining current political trends.
- Authoritarian attitudes are consistently linked to disgust, an emotion evolved for contamination avoidance.
- Chemo-signalling, like body odor, is a primitive system for regulating social contact and disease avoidance, aligning with authoritarianism's features.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between body odor disgust sensitivity (BODS) and authoritarianism.
- To explore the relationship between BODS, authoritarianism, and political support, specifically for Donald Trump.
Main Methods:
- Utilized well-validated scales to measure body odor disgust sensitivity (BODS), authoritarianism, and related constructs.
- Conducted three studies to examine the hypothesized associations.
Main Results:
- Found a positive relationship between BODS and authoritarianism across two studies.
- Demonstrated a positive association between BODS scores and support for Donald Trump.
- Confirmed that authoritarianism fully mediated the link between BODS and support for Donald Trump.
Conclusions:
- Body odor disgust sensitivity is a novel and significant factor in political psychology research.
- Authoritarianism and BODS may be interconnected within a disease avoidance framework.
- Contemporary social attitudes could be rooted in fundamental sensory functions, such as olfaction.
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