Volume 104, January 2017, Pages 8–11
- a School of Psychology, Brigantia Building, Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales LL57 2AS, UK
- b School of Psychology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
- Received 27 February 2016, Revised 19 July 2016, Accepted 21 July 2016, Available online 25 July 2016
Highlights
- •
- We studied the relationship between Body Mass Index (BMI) and moral disgust.
- •
- We found a negative correlation between BMI and moral disgust severity.
- •
- We suggest that BMI predicts moral disapproval severity for ethical violations.
Abstract
Evidence
documents a direct relationship between disgust processing and Body
Mass Index (BMI). People with high BMI tend to have a lower disgust
sensitivity (DS) threshold, while this trait is more accentuated in
people with low BMI. Here we provide new insights to this issue by
exploring the relationship between BMI and the experience of moral
disgust. Results document a significant negative correlation between BMI
and moral disapproval rating (MDR) for ethical violations, in that the
higher the BMI the lower the MDR. In concordance with previous
investigations, we also found that BMI correlates with DS, as measured
with a standard test, in that the higher the BMI the lower the DS.
Overall, the main result of this paper, which might have direct
implication for research in social justice, highlights the relevance of
BMI, as an individual variable, in predicting ethical behavior.
Keywords
- Body mass index;
- Disgust sensitivity;
- Moral disapproval rating
Crown Copyright © 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
