TY - JOUR
T1 - The Interactive Effect of Anger and Disgust on Moral Outrage and Judgments
AU - Salerno, Jessica
AU - Peter-Hagene, Liana C.
PY - 2013/10
Y1 - 2013/10
N2 - The two studies reported here demonstrated that a combination of anger and disgust predicts moral outrage. In Study 1, anger toward moral transgressions (sexual assault, funeral picketing) predicted moral outrage only when it co-occurred with at least moderate disgust, and disgust predicted moral outrage only when it co-occurred with at least moderate anger. In Study 2, a mock-jury paradigm that included emotionally disturbing photographs of a murder victim revealed that, compared to anger, disgust was a more consistent predictor of moral outrage (i.e., it predicted moral outrage at all levels of anger). Furthermore, moral outrage mediated the effect of participants' anger on their confidence in a guilty verdict-but only when anger co-occurred with at least a moderate level of disgust-whereas moral outrage mediated the effect of participants' disgust on their verdict confidence at all levels of anger. The interactive effect of anger and disgust has important implications for theoretical explanations of moral outrage, moral judgments in general, and legal decision making.
AB - The two studies reported here demonstrated that a combination of anger and disgust predicts moral outrage. In Study 1, anger toward moral transgressions (sexual assault, funeral picketing) predicted moral outrage only when it co-occurred with at least moderate disgust, and disgust predicted moral outrage only when it co-occurred with at least moderate anger. In Study 2, a mock-jury paradigm that included emotionally disturbing photographs of a murder victim revealed that, compared to anger, disgust was a more consistent predictor of moral outrage (i.e., it predicted moral outrage at all levels of anger). Furthermore, moral outrage mediated the effect of participants' anger on their confidence in a guilty verdict-but only when anger co-occurred with at least a moderate level of disgust-whereas moral outrage mediated the effect of participants' disgust on their verdict confidence at all levels of anger. The interactive effect of anger and disgust has important implications for theoretical explanations of moral outrage, moral judgments in general, and legal decision making.
KW - emotions
KW - judgment
KW - legal processes
KW - morality
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84885339637&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84885339637&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0956797613486988
DO - 10.1177/0956797613486988
M3 - Article
C2 - 23969778
AN - SCOPUS:84885339637
SN - 0956-7976
VL - 24
SP - 2069
EP - 2078
JO - Psychological Science
JF - Psychological Science
IS - 10
ER -