Gender and Physiological Effects in Connecting Disgust to Political Preferences

Abstract

Objectives: Sensitivity to disgust predicts social attitudes, but this relationship can shift depending on gender and whether response to disgust is measured through surveys or physiological tests. We are interested in exploring the relationship between gender, political preferences and different measures of disgust. Methods: We systematically evaluate these interrelationships by comparing self-reported disgust sensitivity and changes in skin conductance while viewing disgusting images, accounting for gender and attitudes toward gay marriage. Results:We find that, though there is no physiological difference between genders, opponents of gay marriage conform to gender role expectations in self-reports, with women reporting higher levels of disgust than males. For males, physiological response better predicts attitudes on gay marriage because there are physiological, but not self-reported, differences between supporters and opponents. Self-report and physiology both predict gay marriage attitudes for females. Conclusions:Our findings suggest that combining traditional survey and physiological measures provides leverage in exploring questions related to social behaviors and their origins. ---Whether explained by theories of evolutionary psychology or the forces of socialization, scholars have long been interested in exploring the emotions that motivate action as well as gender differences in the propensity to experience and express those emotions. Political scientists have traditionally relied on self-report data to explore individual-level differences that underlie political attitudes and behavior in spite of well-known weaknesses like vulnerability to social desirability biases and the inability of people to effectively evaluate or communicate their attitudes and experiences (Cacioppo et al., 2007). Recently, promising technology and methodology have been imported from psychophysiology, allowing political scientists to build on the base of knowledge established by survey research while providing a more nuanced view of political behavior.Psychological states can be inferred from physiological data without the biases inherent in selfreport measures (Bradley and Lang, 2007;Cacioppo et al., 2007; because specific non-conscious changes in physiology correspond to emotional states (Cacioppo et al., 2007).A clear opportunity to gain knowledge from the use of physiology can be found in research on disgust sensitivity, gender, and political attitudes. Both self-reported measures of disgust and physiological responses to disgusting stimuli are associated with political ideology and more specific attitudes on homosexuality (Inbar et al., 2009a;Inbar et al., 2009b;Smith et al., 2009;Terrizzi et al., 2010). However, links between gender and disgust sensitivity suggest a more complicated picture.Women repeatedly report higher sensitivity to disgust than men but physiological responses to disgusting stimuli are very similar across gender (Kring and Gordon, 1998; Rohrmann et al., 2008;Stark et al. 2005). In spite of th...

Physiological Arousal and Self-Reported Valence for Erotica Images Correlate with Sexual Policy Preferences

“…In our data, we find is no relationship between self-reported valence and physiological arousal to the erotic images (r=.03, p=.56), suggesting that these items are indeed measuring different responses: one is whether or not we like something and the other is whether or not we are aroused by that thing. This finding is consistent with the conclusions of several studies that self-reported and physiological response to stimuli play independent roles in explaining various social preferences, such as gay marriage (Balzer & Jacobs 2011;Smith et al 2012). …”

“…This builds upon a growing body of research that has connected physiological responses to various domains, such as disgust, to conservative and liberal orientations, including attitudes toward issues like gay marriage (Smith et al 2012;Balzer & Jacobs 2011 Even more difficult to explain is the striking relationship between anti-abortion attitudes and responses to sexual stimuli. Pro-life appeals tend to focus on the fetus as a person who must be protected but our evidence suggests that for some people-particularly males-physiological responsiveness to sexual images is a factor.…”

“…In both cases, levels of disgust are predictive of attitudes toward issues like gay marriage (Smith, Alford, Hibbing, Oxley & Hibbing 2012;Balzer & Jacobs 2011). Whereas reactions to disgust and other negative stimuli appear to be universally valenced (though differing in intensity; see Smith et al 2012;Hibbing, Smith & Alford 2014;Soroka & McAdams 2015), physiological responses to erotica are largely considered appetitive, though may be consciously evaluated both negatively and positively by different individuals.…”

The Role of Cognitive Style in the Link Between Genes and Political Ideology

“…Potential variables of interest may be other psychological traits that consistently correlate with political ideology. These may include other types of cognitive style, such as the need to evaluate (Jarvis & Petty, ) and the need for structure (Neuberg & Newsom, ), and physiological traits that have been linked to political ideology, such as startle reflex (Oxley et al, ), disgust sensitivity (Balzer & Jacobs, ; Smith, Oxley, Hibbing, Alford, & Hibbing, ), and negativity bias (Hibbing, Smith, & Alford, ).…”

How Disgust Influences Health Purity Attitudes

“…Women also tend to be more involved in household food purchases (Belch and Willis 2002;Rasmussen et al 2006) and are less likely to smoke (Warren et al 2006). Another line of literature finds gender differences in self-reported disgust sensitivity, but not physiological measures (Smith et al 2011a), and some suggest this is a result of men underreporting disgust (Balzer and Jacobs 2011). However, we take the position of Smith et al (2011a, p. 5) that self-report and physiological measures of disgust sensitivity ''are two valid but very different approaches to measurement.''…”