TOW #7 The Power of Disgust

In a speech given at a TED conference filmed in May, psychologist David Pizarro details the findings of his study on the emotion of disgust and how it might play a role in our political decisions.  Pizarro is currently an associate psychology professor at Cornell University and recently conducted a survey in which he measured a person’s tendency to be disgusted and how it might affect their political leanings.  He was able to engage the audience by describing the exact process he went through to conduct the survey, which involved showing the exact same images in the presentation that he used to illicit a disgusted response during the survey, such as blood and vomit.  In addition, he repeatedly used humor as a way to keep the audience entertained yet focused on the topic at hand.  Pizarro eventually determined that the more likely a person was to be disgusted, the more likely they were to be politically conservative.  

Beyond simply stating this conclusion though, Pizarro also posed a specific question to his audience, most of whom were TED speakers themselves and therefore were familiar with the scientific process Pizarro used to conduct his study.  Ultimately, he questioned why we tend to view things like gay marriage as disgusting, even though disgust as an emotion is meant to protect us from disease and potential contamination. By providing statistical evidence, Pizarro forces his audience to question their own method of political decision-making and to be wary of those trying to manipulate the emotion of disgust as a tool for political gain.