Slime-bags, brownnosers and other creeps: Moral disgust as an interpersonal avoidance system

In the following chapter I present ideas and findings relevant to the notion of moral disgust (disgust felt towards moral transgressors). I begin by describing the nature and possible origins of moral disgust. I then detail two research programs. The first concerns the association between individual differences in proneness to experience disgust and what I term moral hypervigilance-that is, a range of cognitive, emotional and behavioural biases that reflect a disposition to view those suspected of moral transgressions as being guilty of those transgressions. The second body of research relates to the question of whether specific classes of moral offenders are especially disgust provoking. I present evidence that moral disgust is particularly attuned to two offender groups: 1) impostors (offenders who employ deceit); and 2) abusers (offenders who victimise those weaker than themselves).