According to two Cornell University studies if you are the squimish or queasy type you are also more likely to be politically and socially conservative.
Participants who rated higher in disgust sensitivity were more likely to oppose gay marriage and abortion, issues that are related to notions of morality or purity. The researchers also found a weak correlation between disgust sensitivity and support for tax cuts, but no link between disgust sensitivity and the other issues.
And in a separate study in the current issue of the journal Emotion (Vol.9: No.3), Pizarro and colleagues found a link between higher disgust sensitivity and disapproval of gays and lesbians. For this study, the researchers used implicit measures (measures that have been shown to assess attitudes people may be unwilling to report explicitly; or that they may not even know they possess).
Interestingly, despite the ‘bleeding heart’ and other monikers denoting ‘wussiness’ it seems that Conservatives not Liberals are the ones ruled by emotion;
Liberals and conservatives disagree about whether disgust has a valid place in making moral judgments, Pizarro noted. Conservatives have argued that there is inherent wisdom in repugnance; that feeling disgusted about something — gay sex between consenting adults, for example — is cause enough to judge it wrong or immoral, even lacking a concrete reason. Liberals tend to disagree, and are more likely to base judgements on whether an action or a thing causes actual harm
Disgust was meant as a protection from things that could cause harm or disease not to pass laws or judgements on the choices or morality of others. Being more evolved it behooves us to help our Conservative brothers and sisters to …. oh wait they also don’t believe in evolution…. never mind.
Community