Why do intuitions differ? Explaining how individual and scenario features influence disgust and moral judgements on GMOs

Abstract

Moral psychology holds that negative judgements on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are likely to be intuitive reactions driven by trait disgust without deliberation, which brings difficulty to genetic science communication. Based on two interrelated experiments examining the processes and conditions of individual and scenario features influencing disgust and moral judgement about GMOs, this study aims to identify the different routes through which disgust influences moral judgement about GMOs in the physical and social dimensions. We found that the process of elicited state disgust influencing moral judgement on GMOs is regulated by pathogen disgust sensitivity and moral disgust sensitivity. The difference in opposition to GMOs brought by preferences for precepts implied in moral theories is evidently subject to the joint effect of the disgust elicitation type and emotion reappraisal (ER). This study clarifies the relationship between disgust for GMOs and moral judgement. It also confirms the effectiveness of ER in promoting the transition of moral judgement on GMOs from intuitive reaction to deliberation, thus offering benefits for science communicators targeting audiences who differ in their preferences for precepts implied in moral theories and trait disgust.