The Moral of Oral: "Macbeth Effect" Explained

Morality is the herd-instinct in the individual

~Nietzsche

Fresh of the bat: A not yet published article in Science (magazine extrordinaire) by Ronzin and his buddies says disgust experienced by tasting bad foods is the same as experiencing moral disgust.

This is how the story goes; In another article in the same Science issue four experiments are presented that show the same facial disgust activation (through muscle contraction that raises the upper lip and wrinkles the nose, see image on right which muscle) when tasting horrible stuff (Experiment 1), seeing disgusted faces (Experiment 2), and being morally mistreated (Experiment 3).

SO: The article first mentioned suggests this is evidence that our current reactions to moral injustice are linked to our basic disgust taste reactions: Our old disgust warning system developed to include items that are bad for us without us having to taste it (e.g. la cucaracha) and from there on to include societally bad bad actions (like incest) and people who are not very nice to us (like Hitler).

Interestingly, they also connect this to a great 2006 Science study about washing your hands (as you should, especially before dinner). This study found that after thinking unethically, people were more likely to think of cleaning (Exp. 1) and they wiped their hands more with alcohol tissues (Exp. 3). Even weirder, after cleaning their hands they were more likely to support people morally (Exp. 4). These findings were called the "Macbeth Effect", the idea that after being morally impure, we need to clean ourselves (if you do not know who Macbeth is, please feel free to rethink your life).

The Rozin article argues that this is a nice example of how moral thoughts link to classic disgust avoidance related behavior.

In Sum: Oral Disgust = Moral Disgust. Morals are not a nice new philosophical concept that reason makes us evaluate like: "That, dear Sir, is morally dubious" but more as "Ewww....!"

Topic Tip:

Just eat horribly tasting food, in addition to tasting bad it will make you feel the world is morally despicable. You will retreat to that dark corner of your room and after crying yourself to sleep night after night, the realization that everything is rotten and horribly askew makes you read Nietzsche and Schoppenhauer. As a consequence you understand that moral thinking is everything that is wrong with society and you either become a Nihilist or make an appointment with your psychatrist every wednesday evening.

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Lnk: Article in Science, From Oral to Moral

Lnk: Article in Science, In Bad Taste

Lnk: Article in Science, Wash Away Your Sins