Faustian Posted June 7, 2009 Report Share Posted June 7, 2009 Ok, maybe that's a bit misleading, but interesting research I feel. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090604163620.htm Easily Grossed Out? You Might Be A Conservative! ScienceDaily (June 5, 2009) â?? Are you someone who squirms when confronted with slime, shudders at stickiness or gets grossed out by gore? Do crawly insects make you cringe or dead bodies make you blanch? If so, chances are you're more conservative -- politically, and especially in your attitudes toward gays and lesbians -- than your less-squeamish counterparts, according to two Cornell studies. The results, said study leader David Pizarro, Cornell assistant professor of psychology, raise questions about the role of disgust -- an emotion that likely evolved in humans to keep them safe from potentially hazardous or disease-carrying environments -- in contemporary judgments of morality and purity. In the first study, published in the journal Cognition & Emotion, Pizarro and co-authors Yoel Inbar of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and Paul Bloom of Yale University surveyed 181 U.S. adults from politically mixed "swing states." They subjected these adults to two indexes: the Disgust Sensitivity Scale (DSS), which offers various scenarios to assess disgust sensitivity, and a political ideology scale. From this they found a correlation between being more easily disgusted and political conservatism. To test whether disgust sensitivity is linked to specific conservative attitudes, the researchers then surveyed 91 Cornell undergraduates with the DSS, as well as with questions about their positions on issues including gay marriage, abortion, gun control, labor unions, tax cuts and affirmative action. 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, 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). 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 judgments on whether an action or a thing causes actual harm. Studying the link between disgust and moral judgment could help explain the strong differences in people's moral opinions, Pizarro said; and it could offer strategies for persuading some to change their views. "People have pointed out for a long time that a lot of our moral values seem driven by emotion, and in particular, disgust appears to be one of those emotions that seems to be recruited for moral judgments," said Pizarro. That can have tragic effects -- as in cases throughout history where minorities have been victims of discrimination by groups that perceived them as having disgusting characteristics. The research speaks to a need for caution when forming moral judgments, Pizarro added. "Disgust really is about protecting yourself from disease; it didn't really evolve for the purpose of human morality," he said. "It clearly has become central to morality, but because of its origins in contamination and avoidance, we should be wary about its influences." The studies were funded by Cornell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted June 7, 2009 Report Share Posted June 7, 2009 << Are you someone who squirms when confronted with slime, shudders at stickiness or gets grossed out by gore? Do crawly insects make you cringe or dead bodies make you blanch? >> Guess that means we were all wacko pinko liberals in Vietnam. Same same the combat troops in Iraq and Afganistan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayRay Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 They based this on a sample size of 181 people. What about all those gun nuts that think it should be their right to blow away Bambi with an RPG? Don't think those guys are too squeemish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youngfarang Posted June 9, 2009 Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 If so, chances are you're more conservative -- politically, and especially in your attitudes toward gays and lesbians -- than your less-squeamish counterparts, according to two Cornell studies. Strange, I'm a conservative and I believe gays should be allowed to marry. Some study... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faustian Posted June 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 I think you are a closet liberal in all truth...I think that when you grow up, your attitudes to lots of things will change...mark my words! Anyway, the study is flawed and only reaches a part conclusion, which is wholly unsatisfactory. It doesn't feature the perversion tendency, in that the thing which disgusts you most, often is the thing which gives you the biggest sexual kick. Not something most want to look at in themselves, but true. It explains why many ultra right wing types are gay or sexually deviant privately, but publicly go about condemning such practices. Repression is a most amusing phenomenon. Make something "bad", "naughty", "taboo", "forbidden" or "disgusting" and humans are drawn to it like flies to a turd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faustian Posted June 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 They based this on a sample size of 181 people. What about all those gun nuts that think it should be their right to blow away Bambi with an RPG? Don't think those guys are too squeemish. It's related, but utilises a slightly different set of cognitive distortions. Me big man You small insignificant beasty. I am the power. You are powerless. I, the big man, have repressed anger and rage, which manifests itself as a desire to hurt. You are small, weak...I will display my dominance (control) but inflicting death and misery. I will get a kick out of it...enjoy it. My desires are sated and I am justified, but of course killing an unborn child is wrong, but murderers are scum and deserve to die....I am sated and justified! Again. "Vengeance is mine, so sayeth/saith the lord". Weak animal..."whimper" The process cognitively is remarkably similar, it relies upon the internal conflict and hypocrisy inherent in most people, but especially in conservatives. I'm not going to write about it here, but if you are able to join the dots, you'll see that it is connected. It relies upon controlled/suppressed issues from childhood, finding an object of hate, usually weak or a minority, feelings are then projected onto this smaller less powerful group. Disgust is a similar process, as you want to be rid of it.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.. Posted June 9, 2009 Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 They based this on a sample size of 181 people. What about all those gun nuts that think it should be their right to blow away Bambi with an RPG? Don't think those guys are too squeemish. Seems to me the majority of those are too as described. They may like to wack Bambi, but given the opportunity to fight something that shoots back, they flee in horror (e.g., very few of those chickenhawk cheerleaders join the military). Cheers, SD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted June 9, 2009 Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 War is for peasants ... you know, people like me. The rich folks of the world are above that sort of thing. And the really believe they are special. Wasn't always like that. Teddy Roosevelt's son was killed in aerial combat in WWI. FDR's son led a Marine raider battalion in the South Pacific. JFK was a Navy officer and his brother Joe was killed on a crazy nearly suicidal mission in WWII. Bob Dole was nearly killed and was left crippled by WWII. GHW Bush was shot down attacking a Japanese warship. So why did things change? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted June 9, 2009 Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 ...the politicians got smarter...why put their azz on the line when they can get the peasants to do it...Bush Jr...no where near any action...it was what, two generations ago, that this was the case? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faustian Posted June 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 Such brave actions disappeared about the same time as integrity...and democracy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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