Brain with disgust faces and moral scales

Gut Feelings & Moral Quandaries: How Disgust Shapes Your Decisions

Reese Marlowe in Mind & Education September 2025 • 4 min read.

"New research reveals the surprising link between disgust sensitivity and moral judgment, uncovering how your emotional responses influence your ethical choices."

We make countless decisions daily, ranging from simple preferences to complex ethical dilemmas. While we often believe we arrive at these decisions through rational thought, emotions play a significant, often unconscious, role. One such emotion, disgust, has a surprisingly powerful influence on our moral compass.

New research from Scientific Reports sheds light on the intricate relationship between disgust and moral judgment. The study reveals that subliminal exposure to disgust-related stimuli can subtly shift our perceptions of what is morally acceptable, and that this effect varies significantly depending on individual sensitivity to disgust.

This article delves into the findings of this study, exploring how disgust primes can alter fronto-temporal functional connectivity in the brain, ultimately influencing our moral decisions. We'll uncover how individual differences in disgust sensitivity impact these neural processes, and what this means for our understanding of moral cognition.

The Disgust-Morality Connection: More Than Just a 'Bad Taste'

Brain with disgust faces and moral scales

Disgust, often associated with things we find offensive or repulsive, has long been linked to moral cognition. Previous studies have demonstrated that both subliminal and conscious exposure to disgust stimuli can influence moral judgments. Researchers propose that this effect stems from dual-process models of decision-making, where rational and social-emotional components intertwine to determine our moral choices.

The recent study, however, goes a step further, revealing that the direction and degree of modulation in moral judgments depend heavily on an individual's sensitivity to disgusting stimuli. High sensitivity individuals showed increased acceptability of utilitarian actions (harming one to save many) when presented with disgust facial expressions, while those with low sensitivity exhibited the opposite pattern.

Disgust primes: Subliminal exposure to disgust-related stimuli (e.g., facial expressions).
Moral judgments: Evaluations of the acceptability of actions in moral dilemmas.
Utilitarian actions: Choices that maximize overall well-being, even if it involves harm to an individual.
Disgust sensitivity: The degree to which an individual is affected by disgusting stimuli.

This nuanced effect extends beyond hypothetical scenarios. Similar patterns have emerged in incentive-compatible economic tasks, suggesting that the same cognitive and neural mechanisms are at play across various domains of decision-making. But how does this all translate to what's going on in the brain?

Implications and Future Directions: Is Our Moral Compass Really That Sensitive?

This research offers valuable insights into the complex interplay between emotions and moral decision-making. By demonstrating how disgust primes can subtly alter neural processing and influence moral judgments, the study underscores the importance of considering individual differences in emotional sensitivity.

The findings further suggest that moral judgments aren't solely the product of conscious reasoning but involve the integration of social and emotional information. Disruptions in this integration, as seen with disgust priming, can lead to shifts in our moral compass.

Future research should investigate the specificity of this effect across various emotional, stimulus, and moral categories. Additionally, exploring the potential for interventions that mitigate the influence of emotional biases on moral decision-making could have significant implications for promoting more rational and ethical choices.

About this Article -

This article was crafted using a human-AI hybrid and collaborative approach. AI assisted our team with initial drafting, research insights, identifying key questions, and image generation. Our human editors guided topic selection, defined the angle, structured the content, ensured factual accuracy and relevance, refined the tone, and conducted thorough editing to deliver helpful, high-quality information.See our About page for more information.

This article is based on research published under:

DOI-LINK: 10.1038/s41598-017-11147-7, Alternate LINK

Title: Moral Judgment Modulation By Disgust Priming Via Altered Fronto-Temporal Functional Connectivity

Subject: Multidisciplinary

Journal: Scientific Reports

Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Authors: Julian Lim, Yoanna A. Kurnianingsih, How Hwee Ong, O’Dhaniel A. Mullette-Gillman

Published: 2017-09-07

Everything You Need To Know

What are disgust primes and what role do they play?

Disgust primes refer to the subliminal exposure to stimuli related to disgust, such as facial expressions. The research shows that these primes can subtly alter our moral judgments. The implications are significant because they highlight how our unconscious emotional responses, specifically disgust, can influence our perceptions of right and wrong, shaping our ethical choices.

What are moral judgments, and how are they affected by the research?

Moral judgments are evaluations of the acceptability of actions within moral dilemmas. The study indicates that our responses to disgust primes can shift these judgments. This is a pivotal finding because it reveals that our moral compass isn't purely rational. Instead, it's intertwined with emotional responses, and especially the degree to which we are sensitive to disgust.

What are utilitarian actions and how do they relate to disgust?

Utilitarian actions involve choices that prioritize maximizing overall well-being, even if it means causing harm to an individual. In the context of the study, the influence of disgust sensitivity on the acceptability of utilitarian actions was examined. Individuals with high disgust sensitivity showed increased acceptance of such actions when exposed to disgust facial expressions, while those with low sensitivity showed the opposite pattern. This shows that disgust can influence our inclination towards decisions that benefit the greater good, even if they are morally complex.

What does it mean to have disgust sensitivity and why is it important in the context of the study?

Disgust sensitivity reflects the degree to which an individual is affected by disgusting stimuli. The study found that this sensitivity significantly impacts how disgust primes influence moral judgments. The individual's level of disgust sensitivity determines the direction and degree to which moral judgments are modulated. High disgust sensitivity can lead to different moral choices compared to those with low disgust sensitivity, demonstrating how our emotional responses are not uniform and vary based on individual characteristics.

What is the main takeaway from the research on disgust and moral decision-making?

The research reveals a surprising connection between disgust sensitivity and moral judgment. It highlights how emotional responses influence our ethical choices. The findings suggest that our moral compass is not solely based on rational thought but is also influenced by our emotional responses, particularly disgust. The implications are far-reaching, affecting personal ethics and societal values. It underscores the significance of considering individual differences in emotional sensitivity when understanding moral cognition and decision-making processes, as our moral judgments can be subtly and unconsciously altered.