Disgusting decision-making with Yoel Inbar
That feeling of disgust, it’s very strong and it powerfully pushes you towards saying, “Ugh, morally wrong.” But ask yourself whether that conclusion is really justifiable. If you’re in a place where you can’t give yourself good reasons or you see a conflict between that judgment and some other principles that you have, you should question the usefulness of using that disgust reaction to inform your judgment.
Intro
In this episode of the Decision Corner, Brooke speaks with Yoel Inbar – professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and expert in how the feeling of disgust influences human judgment and decision-making. Together they define what it really means to feel a sense of disgust and its evolutionary purpose as a means of preventing risk or harm (like stopping us from eating rotten food!). On the flip-side, we hear about the negative consequences of disgust and why it can lead to biased or flawed judgements.
Some of the things discussed include:
- What is disgust and what purpose does it serve from a biological or evolutionary perspective?
- Why justifying our disgust with moral reasoning, i.e. “It disgusts me so it must be wrong!” can be troublesome.
- Descriptive versus normative beliefs, and how disgust affects both in different ways.
- Does disgust affect people differently, and do some people get more ‘grossed out’ by things than others?
- Strategies to acknowledge our disgust, and allow us to question whether it’s serving us effectively or not.