Herz Rachel S
Brown University.
Behav Neurosci. 2014 Feb;128(1):20-8. doi: 10.1037/a0035468.
The aims of the present study were to assess whether: (a) visceral and moral disgust share a common oral origin (taste); (b) moral transgressions that are also viscerally involving are evaluated accordingly as a function of individual differences in taste sensitivity; (c) verbal priming interacts with taste sensitivity to alter how disgust is experienced in moral transgressions; and (d) whether gender moderates these effects. Standard tests of disgust sensitivity, a questionnaire developed for this research assessing different types of moral transgressions (nonvisceral, implied-visceral, visceral) with the terms "angry" and "grossed-out," and a taste sensitivity test of 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) were administered to 102 participants. Results confirmed past findings that the more sensitive to PROP a participant was the more disgusted they were by visceral, but not moral, disgust elicitors. Importantly, the findings newly revealed that taste sensitivity had no bearing on evaluations of moral transgressions, regardless of their visceral nature, when "angry" was the emotion primed. However, when "grossed-out" was primed for evaluating moral violations, the more intense PROP tasted to a participant the more "grossed-out" they were by all transgressions. Women were generally more disgust sensitive and morally condemning than men, but disgust test, transgression type, and priming scale modulated these effects. The present findings support the proposition that moral and visceral disgust do not share a common oral origin, but show that linguistic priming can transform a moral transgression into a viscerally repulsive event and that susceptibility to this priming varies as a function of an individual's sensitivity to the origins of visceral disgust-bitter taste.
(a) 内脏厌恶和道德厌恶是否有共同的口腔起源（味觉）；(b) 那些也涉及内脏反应的道德违规行为是否会根据个体味觉敏感度的差异而得到相应的评价；(c) 言语启动是否会与味觉敏感度相互作用，从而改变在道德违规行为中对厌恶的体验；以及(d) 性别是否会调节这些影响。对102名参与者进行了厌恶敏感度的标准测试、为本研究开发的一份问卷（该问卷用 “愤怒” 和 “恶心” 这两个词来评估不同类型的道德违规行为——非内脏型、隐含内脏型、内脏型），以及6-正丙基硫氧嘧啶（PROP）味觉敏感度测试。结果证实了过去的研究发现，即参与者对PROP越敏感，他们对内脏厌恶刺激物（而非道德厌恶刺激物）就越感到厌恶。重要的是，新的研究结果表明，当启动的情绪是 “愤怒” 时，无论道德违规行为的内脏性质如何，味觉敏感度与对道德违规行为的评价无关。然而，当启动 “恶心” 来评价道德违规行为时，参与者对PROP的味觉越强烈，他们对所有违规行为就越感到 “恶心”。女性通常比男性对厌恶更敏感，在道德谴责方面也更强烈，但厌恶测试、违规类型和启动量表调节了这些影响。本研究结果支持了道德厌恶和内脏厌恶没有共同口腔起源这一观点，但表明语言启动可以将道德违规行为转化为一种内脏上令人厌恶的事件，并且对这种启动的易感性会因个体对内脏厌恶起源——苦味的敏感度不同而有所变化。
