"The body and soul emotion" - The role of Disgust in intergroup relations

The present study aims to expand research on emotions in intergroup relations by exploring the impact of disgust on aggressive intentions and dehumanization. Starting from Rozin, Haidt, and McCauley's (1999) conceptualization of disgust as "the body and soul emotion," we hypothesized that different forms of disgust may affect judgments about others. Specifically, by manipulating group membership (ingroup vs. outgroup) and disgust experiences (physical disgust vs. moral disgust vs. non-disgusting condition), we assumed that physical and moral disgust may differently affect aggressive tendencies and dehumanizing perceptions toward the outgroup. As expected, results showed that physical disgust led to an unwillingness to engage in contact with an outgroup member, whereas moral disgust resulted in a desire to insult that member. Furthermore, we found that physical disgust increased the view of the outgroup member as a contagious entity, whereas moral disgust led to an increased association of that member with animalistic metaphors. The implications are discussed.