Morality Disgust and Moral Judgments Research Paper

Moral ratings of each picture in the pair were given on a seven point Likert scale, and the five highest and five lowest rated photos were retained and paired with control photos for the second phase of the study. The second population of 111 subjects (35 males and 76 females) in this second phase were asked which person in each paid of pictures they would prefer to share a toothbrush with, with a simple recording of preference making up the raw data. These two data sets were then compared and analyzed using basic statistical techniques (t-tests) to determine the level of correlation, if any, that existed between the results of the two independent populations.

Results

The mean moral rating for the top five rated pictures was 5.7780 with a standard deviation of .83237, and for those lowest rated was 3.9101, standard deviation .92796. With a t-score of 18.15, there is a highly significant difference in these means and thus a valid measure of moral perception was conducted in this study. Mean toothbrush preference for high moral pictures was .6811, standard deviation .20955, and for low moral pictures mean was .2180, standard deviation .19362. The t-score of 17.57 means these results were also quite significant.

Discussion

The initial results of this research indicate both that perceived morality can be highly influenced by certain cultural cues, and that physical disgust can also be fairly accurately predicted by perceptions of morality. This is interesting in light of research by Curtis et al. (2004) and others that suggests the disgust response has evolved specifically as a means of protection against disease.The near-instantaneous moral judgments that humans make of one another might be part of a related response, given the correlation demonstrated in this study between perceptions of morality and disgust. This hypothesis is also supported by research completed that suggests sexual disgust could have evolutionary benefits at least during menstruation, and thus that certain social and biological factors can alter psychological perceptions and processes in order to encourage or discourage certain behaviors, which perceptions of morality could also potentially be included in (Fessler & Navarette 2003).

Previous research has also demonstrated a strong cross-cultural trend in equating physical cleanliness with high moral standings, with washing and cleansing rituals used to provide moral purification in addition to -- and sometimes without regard to -- physical hygiene (Zhong & Liljenquist 2006). Similar psychological effects of cleansing have also been noted in empirical studies (Lee & Schwartz 2011). This research supports the existence of a converse relationship, as well, where perceptions of moral rectitude result in judgments of higher physical cleanliness and hygiene.

T-Tests

Moral Ratings

N = 109

Mean difference = 1.86789

Std. deviation difference = 1.0747

t = 1.86789/(1.0747/(109) = 18.1458492

Toothbrush Preference Ratings

N = 111

Mean difference = .46306

Std. deviation difference = .27763

t = 0.46306/(0.27763/(111) = 17.5724519

References

Curtis, V., Aunger, R. & Rable, T. (2004). Evidence that disgust evolved to protect from risk of disease. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Biology.

Fessler, D. & Navarette, C. (2003)......