"The Behavioral Consequences of Disgust: Examining the Link Between Sensitivity and Ethnic Outgroup Rejection"

Disgust sensitivity has long been linked to rejection of ethnic outgroups and racist attitudes. However, previous research has primarily focused on self-report group evaluations and has had limited consideration of different ethnic outgroups simultaneously. This study aimed to expand upon this literature by examining the relationship between disgust sensitivity and outgroup rejection in both self-reported attitudes and in a behavioral choice context and with comparisons between several different ethnic groups. Using a conjoint behavioral choice task conducted in Germany, participants completed self-report measures of disgust sensitivity and outgroup attitudes, and then completed a behavioral task in which they were presented with choice scenarios involving proximity to different individuals, whose group characteristics were systematically randomized across different trials. Using both correlational and experimental evidence, we show that higher disgust sensitivity was linked not only to traditional measures of outgroup rejection and racist attitudes, but also significantly related to a reduced likelihood of choosing ethnic outgroup members. However, this rejection of ethnic outgroups is not equally distributed across ethnic outgroups. Overall, this study provides further evidence for the link between disgust sensitivity and outgroup rejection, but also highlights the need to consider alternative pathways to outgroup rejection and a more nuanced measurement of racism and racist attitudes.