People who seem disgusting seem more immoral
Sean M Laurent1,2, Jieming Li1
1Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, United States.
Frontiers in Psychology
|June 7, 2024
Summary
People perceived as disgusting are judged as more immoral and less praiseworthy, even for typical behaviors. This perception influences beliefs about future actions, impacting moral judgments.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Moral Psychology
Background:
- Disgust is linked to moral judgments of behavior and individuals.
- Prior research focused on disgust's role in morality, but not on how perceived disgustingness influences moral perception.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if individuals perceived as disgusting are judged as more immoral.
- To explore the downstream effects of these moral character judgments.
Main Methods:
- Four experiments were conducted with adult participants.
- Participants evaluated individuals with seemingly disgusting habits compared to typical or atypical individuals.
Main Results:
- Disgusting individuals were rated as more immoral for both purity and non-purity violations.
- They were also seen as less praiseworthy for prosocial acts.
- Even a child with typical but disgusting habits was perceived as naughtier and more likely to misbehave.
Conclusions:
- Perceived disgust significantly impacts moral evaluations, leading to harsher judgments of immorality and reduced praise for good deeds.
- Beliefs about a target's disgust can shape expectations of their future behavior, even without specific behavioral information.
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