Bad attitudes cause brain responses similar to those caused by bad smells.
- There is a connection between moral judgment and disgust.
- Pain has no connection with moral judgments.
A bad smell, whether it comes from a trash can, from forgotten food in the fridge or from dirty clothes, causes an immediate feeling of rejection. Like when you find yourself facing a person with an unpleasant or even hostile attitude? Yes, answer Swiss researchers from the University of Geneva who have revealed that bad behavior provokes brain responses similar to those caused by bad smells. They published their results on October 16 in the journal Science Advances.
A link between moral judgment and disgust
The researchers used a new method of brain imaging to observe brain reactions to bad behavior. Patients were faced with reading a moral dilemma. After that, they were exposed to either a bad-smelling stimulus or a painful stimulus, of equivalent intensity. The researchers observed that the perception of bad odors was influenced by reading, while that of pain was not. The participants perceived bad odors more intensely.
The researchers concluded from these results that there is a link between moral judgment and disgust. “For example, if I drink something while reading an article about corruption that affects my moral judgment, I may find that my drink smells bad and tastes foul. The reverse is true, odors can cause inappropriate moral judgment. Concretely, a person who smells bad will tend to be judged as unhealthy by others.”, advances Corrado Corradi-Dell’Acqua, researcher in the Department of Psychology at UNIGE and lead author of the study.
Not related to pain
The researchers wanted to compare disgust and pain since previous studies have indicated a link between moral judgment and pain. The memory of a painful experience would activate our survival reflexes and influence our moral judgments which are based on real facts. “If a distracted driver does not see a pedestrian crossing the road, I will judge him more negatively if the pedestrian has actually been injured, rather than if he is being avoided.”, image the researcher. This new study shows that the link does indeed exist between moral judgment and the intensity of perception of bad odors, but without any link having been verified with pain.
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