Are Members of Political Out-Groups More Morally or Physically Disgusting?

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Political Psychology
• Emotion Science

Background:

• Americans report disgust towards political out-groups.
• Understanding the nature of this disgust (physical vs. moral) is key to its regulation.
• Moral disgust links to abstract construal, physical disgust to concrete construal.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if political out-group disgust is primarily moral or physical.
• To investigate the role of construal level in political disgust.
• To inform understanding of intergroup relations and emotion regulation.

Main Methods:

• Two preregistered experiments with 854 participants.
• Assessed the relationship between construal level and disgust intensity towards political out-groups.
• Compared these effects to those observed for moral and physical disgust.

Main Results:

• Disgust towards political out-groups was more strongly influenced by abstract construal, akin to moral disgust.
• The appraisal of political out-group members involved more abstract than concrete construal.
• Findings align with moral disgust being more abstract than physical disgust.

Conclusions:

• Disgust elicited by political out-group members is predominantly moral, not physical.
• Abstract construal is a key component of political disgust.
• Findings have implications for managing intergroup conflict and emotional responses.