Imagine no religion: Heretical disgust, anger and the symbolic purity of mind

Ryan S. Ritter, Jesse L. Preston, Erika Salomon, Daniel Relihan-Johnson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Immoral actions, including physical/sexual (e.g., incest) and social (e.g., unfairness) taboos, are often described as disgusting. But what about immoral thoughts, more specifically, thoughts that violate religious beliefs? Do heretical thoughts taint the purity of mind? The present research examined heretical disgust using self-report measures and facial electromyography. Religious thought violations consistently elicited both self-reported disgust and anger. Feelings of disgust also predicted harsh moral judgement, independent of anger, and were mediated by feelings of “contamination”. However, religious thought violations were not associated with a disgust facial expression (i.e., levator labii muscle activity) that was elicited by physically disgusting stimuli. We conclude that people (especially more religious people) do feel disgust in response to heretical thoughts that is meaningfully distinct from anger as a moral emotion. However, heretical disgust is not embodied in a physical disgust response. Rather, disgust has a symbolic moral value that marks heretical thoughts as harmful and aversive.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)778-796
Number of pages19
JournalCognition and Emotion
Volume30
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - May 18 2016

Keywords

  • Anger
  • Disgust
  • Heretical thought
  • Morality of mind
  • Religion

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Imagine no religion: Heretical disgust, anger and the symbolic purity of mind'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this