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Imagine no religion : heretical disgust, anger, and the symbolic purity of mind
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Ritter, R. S., Preston, Jesse, Salomon, E. and Relihan-Johnson, D. (2015) Imagine no religion : heretical disgust, anger, and the symbolic purity of mind. Cognition and Emotion, 30 (4). pp. 778-796. doi:10.1080/02699931.2015.1030334 ISSN 0269-9931.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2015.1030334
Abstract
Immoral actions, including physical/sexual (e.g., incest) and social (e.g., unfairness) taboos, are often described as disgusting. But what about immoral thoughts, more specifically, thoughts that violate religious beliefs? Do heretical thoughts taint the purity of mind? The present research examined heretical disgust using self-report measures and facial electromyography. Religious thought violations consistently elicited both self-reported disgust and anger. Feelings of disgust also predicted harsh moral judgement, independent of anger, and were mediated by feelings of “contamination”. However, religious thought violations were not associated with a disgust facial expression (i.e., levator labii muscle activity) that was elicited by physically disgusting stimuli. We conclude that people (especially more religious people) do feel disgust in response to heretical thoughts that is meaningfully distinct from anger as a moral emotion. However, heretical disgust is not embodied in a physical disgust response. Rather, disgust has a symbolic moral value that marks heretical thoughts as harmful and aversive.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Psychology | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Cognition and Emotion | ||||||||
Publisher: | Routledge | ||||||||
ISSN: | 0269-9931 | ||||||||
Official Date: | 22 April 2015 | ||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 30 | ||||||||
Number: | 4 | ||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 778-796 | ||||||||
DOI: | 10.1080/02699931.2015.1030334 | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 9 December 2016 |
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