Age and moral disgust: An experimental priming effects vignette study

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Moral Psychology
• Social Psychology

Background:

• Disgust sensitivity influences moral judgments, often leading to harsher perceptions of violations.
• Limited research exists on how disgust sensitivity and induced disgust affect moral judgments toward older adults.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if disgust sensitivity and induced disgust impact moral judgments differently based on the actor's age (young vs. old).
• To examine how disgust sensitivity moderates moral judgments toward different age groups.
• To determine if exposure to disgusting stimuli alters moral judgments based on the actor's age.

Main Methods:

• A preregistered experiment with 235 adult participants randomly assigned to "Old" or "Young" actor conditions.
• Participants rated the acceptability of moral violations committed by young or old individuals after viewing disgusting, sad, or neutral images.
• Questionnaires assessed disgust sensitivity, age attitudes, and emotions toward different age groups.

Main Results:

• Higher disgust sensitivity correlated with harsher moral judgments irrespective of the actor's age.
• Exposure to disgusting images reduced the harshness of moral judgments for older actors compared to younger actors.
• No significant interaction was found between image type, actor age, and disgust sensitivity.

Conclusions:

• Personal disgust sensitivity uniformly increases moral judgment severity across age groups.
• Induced disgust, through external stimuli, can modulate moral judgments, showing a differential effect based on the actor's age.
• Disgust plays a complex role in moral judgment, influenced by both individual traits and situational factors.