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Moral anger is more flexible than moral disgust

Russell, Pascale S., Giner-Sorolla, Roger (2011) Moral anger is more flexible than moral disgust. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2 (4). pp. 360-364. ISSN 1948-5506. (doi:10.1177/1948550610391678) (KAR id:32970)

Abstract

The research examines whether anger rather than disgust will be more likely to be responsible for changes in moral judgment, after individuals consider potential circumstances. Participants first read a scenario that described a moral violation (harm/fairness versus purity) and then gave their initial moral judgment and emotions toward the act. They were then asked to list things that could change their opinion and were provided with an opportunity to fill out the measures again, re-evaluating the scenario with these changes in mind. It was found that ratings of disgust did not change after generating potential circumstances; however, anger changed in differential ways for the two violation types. We also found that anger but not disgust predicted change in moral judgment. These findings suggest that moral anger is a more flexible emotion than moral disgust because anger is more likely to respond to changes in circumstances.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1177/1948550610391678
Uncontrolled keywords: moral anger, moral disgust, flexibility, moral judgment, Adaptability (Personality), Anger, Disgust, Judgment, Morality
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Depositing User: Roger Giner-Sorolla
Date Deposited: 14 Jan 2013 14:05 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:10 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/32970 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Giner-Sorolla, Roger.

Creator's ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6690-8842
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