Disgust and the politics of sex: Exposure to a disgusting odorant increases politically conservative views on sex and decreases support for gay marriage

Disgust has been implicated as a potential causal agent underlying socio-political attitudes and behaviors. Several recent studies have suggested that pathogen disgust may be a causal mechanism underlying social conservatism. However, the specificity of this effect is still in question. The present study tested the effects of disgust on a range of policy preferences to clarify whether disgust is generally implicated in political conservatism across public policy attitudes or is uniquely related to specific content domains. Self-reported socio-political attitudes were compared between participants in two experimental conditions: 1) an odorless control condition, and 2) a disgusting odor condition. In keeping with previous research, the present study showed that exposure to a disgusting odor increased endorsement of socially conservative attitudes related to sexuality. In particular, there was a strong and consistent link between induced disgust and less support for gay marriage.

厌恶已被关联为社会政治态度与行为背后的潜在因果动因。近期多项研究表明，病原体厌恶（pathogen disgust）或许是社会保守主义背后的因果机制。然而，该效应的特异性仍存在争议。本研究通过考察厌恶对一系列政策偏好的影响，旨在厘清：厌恶是普遍关联于各类公共政策态度下的政治保守主义，还是仅与特定内容领域存在特异性关联。本研究对比了两组被试的自我报告社会政治态度，两组分别处于两种实验条件：1）无气味对照条件，2）恶臭气味诱发条件。与既往研究结果一致，本研究发现暴露于恶臭气味会提升个体对与性相关的社会保守主义态度的认同度。具体而言，诱发的厌恶情绪与对同性婚姻的更低支持度之间存在显著且稳定的关联。