Horror Movies Reveal Your Politics

What does your reaction to The Blob reveal about you? Does your friend or partner avoid going to horror movies with you and duck when TV shows display lots of gore? If so, that may mean that, no matter what he says, he’s really a political conservative, especially in his attitudes towards gays.

Psychologist David Pizarro says that disgust is an emotion that probably evolved in humans to keep us safe from potentially hazardous or disease carrying environments. In contemporary life, that translates into judgments about morality and purity.

Pizarro and co-researchers Yoel Inbar and Paul Bloom surveyed adults from politically mixed “swing states,” as well as college students. They subjected them to a questionnaire called the Disgust Sensitivity Scale (DSS), which offers various scenarios to assess disgust sensitivity.

To test whether disgust sensitivity is linked to specific conservative attitudes, they also surveyed them about their positions on issues including gay marriage, abortion, gun control, labor unions, tax cuts and affirmative action.

Participants who rated higher in disgust sensitivity were more likely to oppose gay marriage and abortion. The researchers found a weak correlation between disgust sensitivity and support for tax cuts, but no link between disgust sensitivity and the other issues, so no matter what those loud politicians say, not that many people are disgusted by high taxes!

Here’s what disgusts us: All the people who keep telling us how much they love our website and incredible radio shows (and now we have TWO of them!) but don’t bother to support us. Less than a latte a WEEK (less than $12) gets you a 3-month subscription. Have Whitley and Anne fended off so many attacks over the years, only to die from neglect today? Only YOU can change that: subscribe today. And if you REALLY love us, come meet us in June!

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