Anger and disgust shape judgments of social sanctions across cultures, especially in high individual autonomy societies.

ABSTRACT: When someone violates a social norm, others may think that some sanction would be appropriate. We examine how the experience of emotions like anger and disgust relate to the judged appropriateness of sanctions, in a pre-registered analysis of data from a large-scale study in 56 societies. Across the world, we find that individuals who experience anger and disgust over a norm violation are more likely to endorse confrontation, ostracism and, to a smaller extent, gossip. Moreover, we find that the experience of anger is consistently the strongest predictor of judgments of confrontation, compared to other emotions. Although the link between state-based emotions and judgments may seem universal, its strength varies across countries. Aligned with theoretical predictions, this link is stronger i

SUBMITTER: Andersson PA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10920647 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature