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Yikes! Are we disgusted by politicians?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 September 2020

Bert N. Bakker Open the ORCID record for Bert N. Bakker [Opens in a new window] ,
Gijs Schumacher Open the ORCID record for Gijs Schumacher [Opens in a new window]  and
Maaike D. Homan Open the ORCID record for Maaike D. Homan [Opens in a new window]
Bert N. Bakker*
Affiliation:
University of Amsterdam
Gijs Schumacher
Affiliation:
University of Amsterdam
Maaike D. Homan
Affiliation:
University of Amsterdam
*
Correspondence: Bert N. Bakker, Amsterdam School of Communication Research. University of Amsterdam, 1000 NG, the Netherlands. Email: b.n.bakker@uva.nl
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Abstract

In the political domain, disgust is primarily portrayed as an emotion that explains individual differences in pathogen avoidance. We hypothesized that political rhetoric accusing opponents of moral transgressions also elicits disgust responses. In this registered report, we present the results from a laboratory experiment. We find that participants self-report higher disgust and have stronger physiological (Levator labii) responses to pictures of out-party leaders compared with in-party leaders. Participants also report higher disgust in response to moral violations of in-party leaders. There is more suggestive evidence that in-party leaders evoke more labii activity when they commit moral violations than when out-party leaders do. The impact of individual differences in moral disgust and partisanship strength is very limited to absent. Intriguingly, on average, the physiological and self-reported disgust responses to the treatment are similar, but individuals differ in whether their response is physiological or cognitive. This motivates further theorizing regarding the concordance of emotional responses.

Keywords

Moral violationdisgustphysiologyself-reportregistered report

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Article
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Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 39 , Special Issue 2: Special Issue: Disgust and Political Attitudes , Fall 2020 , pp. 135 - 153
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© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Politics and the Life Sciences

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