Moral ratings of each picture in the pair were given on a seven point Likert scale, and the five highest and five lowest rated photos were retained and paired with control photos for the second phase of the study. The second population of 111 subjects (35 males and 76 females) in this second phase were asked which person in each paid of pictures they would prefer to share a toothbrush with, with a simple recording of preference making up the raw data. These two data sets were then compared and analyzed using basic statistical techniques (t-tests) to determine the level of correlation, if any, that existed between the results of the two independent populations.
Results
The mean moral rating for the top five rated pictures was 5.7780 with a standard deviation of .83237, and for those lowest rated was 3.9101, standard deviation .92796. With a t-score of 18.15, there is a highly significant difference in these means and thus a valid measure of moral perception was conducted in this study. Mean toothbrush preference for high moral pictures was .6811, standard deviation .20955, and for low moral pictures mean was .2180, standard deviation .19362. The t-score of 17.57 means these results were also quite significant.
Discussion
The initial results of this research indicate both that perceived morality can be highly influenced by certain cultural cues, and that physical disgust can also be fairly accurately predicted by perceptions of morality. This is interesting in light of research by Curtis et al. (2004) and others that suggests the disgust response has evolved specifically as a means of protection against disease. The near-instantaneous moral judgments that humans make of one another might be part of a related response, given the correlation demonstrated in this study between perceptions of morality and disgust. This hypothesis is also supported by...
Similar psychological effects of cleansing have also been noted in empirical studies (Lee & Schwartz 2011). This research supports the existence of a converse relationship, as well, where perceptions of moral rectitude result in judgments of higher physical cleanliness and hygiene.
T-Tests
Moral Ratings
N = 109
Mean difference = 1.86789
Std. deviation difference = 1.0747
t = 1.86789/(1.0747/(109) = 18.1458492
Toothbrush Preference Ratings
N = 111
Mean difference = .46306
Std. deviation difference = .27763
t = 0.46306/(0.27763/(111) = 17.5724519
References
Curtis, V., Aunger, R. & Rable, T. (2004). Evidence that disgust evolved to protect from risk of disease. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Biology.
Fessler, D. & Navarette, C. (2003). Domain specific variation in disgust sensitivity across the menstrual cycle: evidence in favour of an evolutionary account of sexual disgust. Human Behavioral Evolution 24: 406-17.
Lee, S. & Schwartz, N. (2011). Wiping the Slate Clean Psychological Consequences of Physical…
