How Culture Mixing Influences Moral Judgment: The Mediating Effect of Disgust

Abstract

Globalization has contributed to an increase of culture mixing. Prior research has shown that culture mixing may evoke disgust responses, and disgust can lead to harsher moral judgments. Whether and how culture mixing influences moral judgments, however, remains unknown. Therefore, the present research examines the effect of culture mixing on moral judgments and explores the underlying psychological mechanism. Across three studies, our findings demonstrate that exposure to culture mixing leads to harsher moral judgments. Specifically, participants exposed to culture-mixing images demonstrated harsher moral judgments of actions in impurity-relevant moral scenarios (Study 1). In addition, mediation analysis indicates that the effect of culture mixing on moral judgments is mediated by disgust (Study 2), with this mediating effect being observed exclusively in impurity-relevant moral scenarios (Study 3). Implications of the current research for understanding the relationship between culture mixing and morality are discussed, and recommendations for future research avenues are provided.

Keywords

culture mixing moral judgment disgust morality

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Andersch

Lindenmeier

Liberatore

Tscheulin

D. K.

(2018). Resistance against corporate misconduct: An analysis of ethical ideologies’ direct and moderating effects on different forms of active rebellion. Journal of Business Economics, 88, 695–730.

Arnett

J. J.

(2002). The psychology of globalization. American Psychologist, 57(10), 774–783.

Backmann

Kanitz

Tian

A. W.

Hoffmann

Hoegl

(2020). Cultural gap bridging in multinational teams. Journal of International Business Studies, 51(8), 1283–1311.

BBC News. (2004, October 15). Mexican wrath over Wal-Mart store. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3747580.stm

BBC News. (2007, January 18). Protest-hit Starbucks “may close.” http://bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6274841.stm

Cameron

C. D.

Lindquist

K. A.

Gray

(2015). A constructionist review of morality and emotions: No evidence for specific links between moral content and discrete emotions. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 19(4), 371–394.

Case

T. I.

Oaten

M. J.

Stevenson

R. J.

(2012). Disgust and moral judgment. In Langdon

Mackenzie

(Eds.), Emotions, imagination, and moral reasoning (pp. 195–218). Psychology Press.

Chakroff

Young

(2015). Harmful situations, impure people: An attribution asymmetry across moral domains. Cognition, 136, 30–37.

Chapman

H. A.

Anderson

A. K.

(2014). Trait physical disgust is related to moral judgments outside of the purity domain. Emotion, 14(2), 341–348.

10.

Chen

Leung

A. K.-y.

Yang

D. Y.-J.

Chiu

Cheng

S. Y. Y.

(2016). Cultural threats in culturally mixed encounters hamper creative performance for individuals with lower openness to experience. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 47(10), 1321–1334.

11.

Cheng

J. S.

Ottati

V. C.

Price

E. D.

(2013). The arousal model of moral condemnation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49(6), 1012–1018.

12.

Cheng

S. Y. Y.

Rosner

Chao

Peng

Chen

Kwong

J. Y. Y.

Hong

Y. Y.

Chiu

C. Y.

(2011). One world, one dream? Intergroup consequences of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 35(3), 296–306.

13.

Cheon

B. K.

(2019). The diversity of cultural diversity: Psychological consequences of different patterns of intercultural contact and mixing. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 22(1), 93–105.

14.

Cheon

B. K.

Christopoulos

G. I.

Hong

Y. Y.

(2016). Disgust associated with culture mixing: Why and who? Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 47(10), 1268–1285.

15.

Cheon

B. K.

Hong

Y. Y.

(2020). Aversive response towards culture fusion is moderated by the source of foreign cultural inflow. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 51(5), 370–386.

16.

Cheung

M. F.

W. M.

(2021). The effect of consumer perceptions of the ethics of retailers on purchase behavior and word-of-mouth: The moderating role of ethical beliefs. Journal of Business Ethics, 171(4), 771–788.

17.

Chiu

C. Y.

Cheng

S. Y.

(2007). Toward a social psychology of culture and globalization: Some social cognitive consequences of activating two cultures simultaneously. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 1(1), 84–100.

18.

Chiu

C. Y.

Gries

Torelli

C. J.

Cheng

S. Y.

(2011). Toward a social psychology of globalization. Journal of Social Issues, 67(4), 663–676.

19.

Chiu

C. Y.

Mallorie

Keh

H. T.

Law

(2009). Perceptions of culture in multicultural space: Joint presentation of images from two cultures increases in-group attribution of culture-typical characteristics. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 40(2), 282–300.

20.

Cui

Wang

Qualls

(2016). How does framing strategy affect evaluation of culturally mixed products? The self–other asymmetry effect. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 47(10), 1307–1320.

21.

Culiberg

Cho

Kos Koklic

Zabkar

(2022). The role of moral foundations, anticipated guilt and personal responsibility in predicting anti-consumption for environmental reasons. Journal of Business Ethics, 182, 465–481.

22.

De Keersmaecker

Van Assche

Roets

. (2016). Need for closure effects on affective and cognitive responses to culture fusion. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 47(10), 1294–1306.

23.

Efferson

Lalive

Fehr

(2008). The coevolution of cultural groups and ingroup favoritism. Science, 321(5897), 1844–1849.

24.

J. H. Y.

Zhang

Z. X.

Leung

Y. K.

(2016). Opening the mind: Effect of culture mixing on acceptance of organizational change. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 47(10), 1361–1372.

25.

Graham

Haidt

Koleva

Motyl

Iyer

Wojcik

Ditto

(2013). Moral foundations theory: The pragmatic validity of moral pluralism. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 55–130.

26.

Graham

Haidt

Nosek

B. A.

(2009). Liberals and conservatives rely on different sets of moral foundations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(5), 1029–1046.

27.

Graham

Nosek

B. A.

Haidt

Iyer

Koleva

Ditto

P. H.

(2011). Mapping the moral domain. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(2), 366–385.

28.

Gray

DiMaggio

Schein

Kachanoff

(2023). The problem of purity in moral psychology. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 27(3), 272–308.

29.

Gray

MacCormack

J. K.

Henry

Banks

Schein

Armstrong-Carter

Abrams

Muscatell

K. A.

Muscatell

K. A.

(2022). The affective harm account (AHA) of moral judgment: Reconciling cognition and affect, dyadic morality and disgust, harm and purity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 123(6), 1199–1222.

30.

Gray

Waytz

Young

(2012). The moral dyad: A fundamental template unifying moral judgment. Psychological Inquiry, 23(2), 206–215.

31.

Gray

Wegner

D. M.

(2012). Morality takes two: Dyadic morality and mind perception. In Shaver

P. R.

Mikulincer

(Eds.), The social psychology of morality: Exploring the causes of good and evil (pp. 109–127). American Psychological Association.

32.

Greene

Haidt

(2002). How (and where) does moral judgment work? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 6(12), 517–523.

33.

Guglielmo

(2018). Unfounded dumbfounding: How harm and purity undermine evidence for moral dumbfounding. Cognition, 170, 334–337.

34.

Gutierrez

Giner-Sorolla

(2007). Anger, disgust, and presumption of harm as reactions to taboo-breaking behaviors. Emotion, 7(4), 853–868.

35.

Haidt

(2001). The emotional dog and its rational tail: A social intuitionist approach to moral judgment. Psychological Review, 108(4), 814–834.

36.

Haidt

. (2007). The new synthesis in moral psychology. Science, 316(5827), 998–1002.

37.

Haidt

Graham

(2007). When morality opposes justice: Conservatives have moral intuitions that liberals may not recognize. Social Justice Research, 20(1), 98–116.

38.

Hao

Peng

Torelli

C. J.

(2016). Advancing our understanding of culture mixing. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 47(10), 1257–1267.

39.

Harush

Lisak

Erez

(2016). Extending the global acculturation model to untangle the culture mixing puzzle. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 47(10), 1395–1408.

40.

Hayes

A. F.

(2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. Guilford Press.

41.

Horberg

E. J.

Oveis

Keltner

Cohen

A. B.

(2009). Disgust and the moralization of purity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(6), 963–976.

42.

Hutcherson

C. A.

Gross

J. J.

(2011). The moral emotions: A social–functionalist account of anger, disgust, and contempt. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100(4), 719–737.

43.

Inbar

Pizarro

D. A.

Knobe

Bloom

(2009). Disgust sensitivity predicts intuitive disapproval of gays. Emotion, 9(3), 435–439.

44.

Kwan

L. Y. Y.

(2016). The exception effect: How shopping experiences with local status brands shapes reactions to culture-mixed products. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 47(10), 1373–1379.

45.

Landmann

Hess

(2017). Testing moral foundation theory: Are specific moral emotions elicited by specific moral transgressions? Journal of Moral Education, 47(1), 34–47.

46.

Landy

J. F.

Goodwin

G. P.

(2015). Does incidental disgust amplify moral judgment? A meta-analytic review of experimental evidence. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(4), 518–536.

47.

Leung

A. K. Y.

Chiu

C. Y.

(2010). Multicultural experience, idea receptiveness, and creativity. Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology, 41(5–6), 723–741.

48.

Leung

A. K. Y.

Maddux

W. W.

Galinsky

A. D.

Chiu

C. Y.

(2008). Multicultural experience enhances creativity: The when and how. American Psychologist, 63(3), 169–181.

49.

Malle

B. F.

(2021). Moral judgments. Annual Review of Psychology, 72, 293–318.

50.

McAdams

D. P.

Albaugh

Farber

Daniels

Logan

R. L.

Olson

(2008). Family metaphors and moral intuitions: How conservatives and liberals narrate their lives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(4), 978–990.

51.

Mikulincer

Florian

(2000). Exploring individual differences in reactions to mortality salience: Does attachment style regulate terror management mechanisms? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(2), 260–273.

52.

Morris

M. W.

Mok

Mor

(2011). Cultural identity threat: The role of cultural identifications in moderating closure responses to foreign cultural inflow. Journal of Social Issues, 67(4), 760–773.

53.

Rottman

Kelemen

Young

(2014). Tainting the soul: Purity concerns predict moral judgments of suicide. Cognition, 130(2), 217–226.

54.

Royzman

E. B.

Leeman

R. F.

Baron

(2009). Unsentimental ethics: Towards a content-specific account of the moral-conventional distinction. Cognition, 112(1), 159–174.

55.

Rozin

Haidt

Fincher

(2009). From oral to moral. Science, 323(5918), 1179–1180.

56.

Sam

D. L.

Berry

J. W.

(2010). Acculturation: When individuals and groups of different cultural backgrounds meet. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(4), 472–481.

57.

Schnall

Haidt

Clore

G. L.

Jordan

A. H.

(2008). Disgust as embodied moral judgment. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(8), 1096–1109.

58.

Seidel

Prinz

(2013). Sound morality: Irritating and icky noises amplify judgments in divergent moral domains. Cognition, 127(1), 1–5.

59.

Shi

Luo

Y. L.

Cai

(2016). Understanding exclusionary reactions toward a foreign culture: The influence of intrusive cultural mixing on implicit intergroup bias. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 47(10), 1335–1344.

60.

Tadmor

C. T.

Hong

Y. Y.

Chao

M. M.

Wiruchnipawan

Wang

(2012). Multicultural experiences reduce intergroup bias through epistemic unfreezing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103(5), 750–772.

61.

Tepe

Aydinli-Karakulak

(2019). Beyond harmfulness and impurity: Moral wrongness as a violation of relational motivations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 117(2), 310–337.

62.

Tong

J. Y. Y.

Pam

P. P.-Z.

Kwan

Peng

(2011). National feelings or rational dealings? The moderating role of procedural priming on perceptions of cross-border acquisitions. Journal of Social Issues, 67(4), 743–759.

63.

Torelli

C. J.

(2013). Globalization, culture, and branding: How to leverage cultural equity for building iconic brands in the era of globalization. Palgrave Macmillan.

64.

Torelli

C. J.

Chiu

C. Y.

Tam

K. P.

A. K.

Keh

H. T.

(2011). Exclusionary reactions to foreign cultures: Effects of simultaneous exposure to cultures in globalized space. Journal of Social Issues, 67(4), 716–742.

65.

Tracy

J. L.

Steckler

C. M.

Heltzel

(2019). The physiological basis of psychological disgust and moral judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 116(1), 15–32.

66.

Tybur

J. M.

Lieberman

Kurzban

DeScioli

(2013). Disgust: Evolved function and structure. Psychological Review, 120(1), 65–84.

67.

Wagemans

Brandt

M. J.

Zeelenberg

(2018). Disgust sensitivity is primarily associated with purity-based moral judgments. Emotion, 18(2), 277–289.

68.

Ward

S. J.

King

L. A.

(2018). Individual differences in reliance on intuition predict harsher moral judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 114(5), 825–849.

69.

Yang

D. Y. J.

Chen

Preston

J. L.

Chiu

C. Y.

(2016). Cultural symbolism and spatial separation: Some ways to deactivate exclusionary responses to culture mixing. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 47(10), 1286–1293.

70.

Yang

Y. J.

(2011). Clashes of civilizations: Critical conditions for evocation of hostile attitude toward foreign intrusion of cultural space [Doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign]. Illinois Library.

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.93 MB