title: Disgust and the politics of sex: exposure to a disgusting odorant increases politically conservative views on sex and decreases support for gay marriage.
abstract: Disgust has been implicated as a potential causal agent underlying socio-political attitudes and behaviors. Several recent studies have suggested that pathogen disgust may be a causal mechanism underlying social conservatism. However, the specificity of this effect is still in question. The present study tested the effects of disgust on a range of policy preferences to clarify whether disgust is generally implicated in political conservatism across public policy attitudes or is uniquely related to specific content domains. Self-reported socio-political attitudes were compared between participants in two experimental conditions: 1) an odorless control condition, and 2) a disgusting odor condition. In keeping with previous research, the present study showed that exposure to a disgusting odor increased endorsement of socially conservative attitudes related to sexuality. In particular, there was a strong and consistent link between induced disgust and less support for gay marriage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States of America.
authors.forename: Thomas G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.affiliation: Department of Political Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States of America.
authors.forename: Patrick A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States of America.
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Blanchar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D019260:Expressed Emotion; D005260:Female; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology*; D009812:Odorants; D011640:Public Policy