| This research explores the psychological relationship between power and disgust, and the implications of this relationship for moral judgments. Drawing on two major theories of power - Approach/Inhibition Theory (Keltner, Gruenfeld & Anderson, 2003) and Situated Focus Theory (Weick & Guinote, 2008) - I derive competing predictions about how power should affect the experience of disgust. On the whole, these studies find evidence that power buffers against the visceral experience of disgust, and thus limits the influence of disgust on moral judgment. These results support the Approach/Inhibition Theory of power, which states that power engages the behavioral "approach" system, and suppresses the behavioral "inhibition" system. Additionally, they suggest limits to the Situated Focus Theory's conjecture that power increases people's reliance on their own emotional and visceral states. The effects of power on two different dimensions of the disgust response are examined, and a possible reconciliation of the Approach/Inhibition and Situated Focus theories is discussed. |
