Disgust Predicts Non-consequentialistic Moral Attitudes

In English 237 Japanese university-students read nine moral stories based on three moral aspects (absolute rules, absolute loyalty and retributive punishment) and rated which of two endings (one typically consequentialistic and one typically non-consequentialistic) they believed to be morally preferable. Participants also rated themselves on several personality-variables. Disgust-sensitivity, but not cognitive style or anger proneness, significantly predicted non-consequentialistic attitudes in all three aspects. The results suggest that individual differences in disgust-sensitivity not only predict the severity of moral judgments, but also the amount of non-consequentialistic attitudes.