If activation of the behavioral immune system leads people to be more attitudinally inclined toward conformity, then its activation may also lead people to respond more harshly to others who fail to conform to social norms. This has straightforward implications for the experience of moral outrage and the expression of moral judgments.
This line of reasoning provides a functional framework within which to locate empirical results linking the emotional experience of disgust to moral judgments (e.g., Chapman & Anderson, 2013; Haidt, 2001; Pizarro, Inbar, & Helion, 2011; Rozin, Haidt, & Fincher, 2009). Correlational evidence shows that individuals who are chronically more likely to experience disgust also judge norm violations more harshly (e.g., Jones & Fitness, 2008). This correlation is complemented by experimental evidence showing that when individuals are presented with disgust-eliciting stimuli, they subsequently judge norm violations to be more morally wrong (e.g., Erskine, Kacinik, & Prinz, 2011; Schnall, Haidt, Clore, & Jordan, 2008; Wheatley & Haidt, 2005).
