While feelings of disgust may lead people to behaviors like lying and cheating, cleanliness can help people return to ethical behavior, according to a recent study.
Researchers at Rice University, Pennsylvania State University and Arizona State University highlight the powerful impact emotions have on individual decision-making in their latest report.
"As an emotion, disgust is designed as a protection," Vikas Mittal, the J. Hugh Liedtke professor of marketing at Rice's Jones Graduate School of Business and researcher, said in a statement. "When people feel disgusted, they tend to remove themselves from a situation. The instinct is to protect oneself. People become focused on 'self' and they're less likely to think about other people. Small cheating starts to occur: If I'm disgusted and more focused on myself and I need to lie a little bit to gain a small advantage, I'll do that. That's the underlying mechanism."
For the study, researchers conducted three randomized experiments evoking disgust through various means. The study involved 600 participants around the United States; both genders were equally represented. In one experiment, participants evaluated consumer products such as antidiarrheal medicine, diapers, feminine care pads, cat litter and adult incontinence products. In another, participants wrote essays about their most disgusting memory. In the third, participants watched a disgusting toilet scene from the movie "Trainspotting." Once effectively disgusted, participants engaged in experiments that judged their willingness to lie and cheat for financial gain.
Mittal and colleagues found that people who experienced disgust consistently engaged in self-interested behaviors at a significantly higher rate than those who did not.
In another set of experiments, after inducing the state of disgust on participants, the researchers then had them evaluate cleansing products, such as disinfectants, household cleaners and body washes. Those who evaluated the cleansing products did not engage in deceptive behaviors any more than those in the neutral emotion condition.
Mittal said the findings should help managers and organizational leaders understand the impact, both ethical and unethical, of emotions on decision-making.
"At the basic level, if you have environments that are cleaner, if you have workplaces that are cleaner, people should be less likely to feel disgusted," Mittal said. "If there is less likelihood to feel disgusted, there will be a lower likelihood that people need to be self-focused and there will be a higher likelihood for people to cooperate with each other."
The findings are detailed in the journal Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.
