Gender Differences in Neural Mechanisms Underlying Moral Judgment of Disgust: A Functional MRI Study

Much recent research has sought to uncover the gender difference in neural mechanism of moral judgment;however, very few researches study the neural gender differences in a specific area of moral judgment. The aim of this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study was to examine possible gender difference in neural response to (sexual) disgusting pictures versus neutral pictures. Seventeen participants (9 males) were scanned while viewing pictures of tactile intimacy in same-sex and being asked to evaluate whether the behaviors between the stimulus persons in the pictures were morally appropriate or not. Both the neural responses to pictures of tactile intimacy in same-sex between male participants and female participants and the neural response to pictures of male-male tactile intimacy and to pictures of female-female tactile intimacy were examined. The results showed that significantly increased differential activations to the disgusting pictures relative to the neutral pictures were observed in the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (BA 9) and amygdala. Furthermore, greater activation to the pictures of female-female tactile intimacy was observed in the left superior frontal gyrus/dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (BA 6). These results suggested a possible neural gender difference between female’s immoral behavior and male’s immoral behavior.

Cultured meat in western media: The disproportionate coverage of vegetarian reactions, demographic realities, and implications for cultured meat marketing

This paper examines the media coverage of the 2013 London cultured meat tasting event, particularly in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Using major news outlets, prominent magazines covering food and science issues, and advocacy websites concerning meat consumption, the paper characterizes the overall emphases of the coverage, the tenor of the coverage, and compares the media portrayal of the important issues to the demographic and psychological realities of the actual consumer market into which cultured meat will compete. In particular, the paper argues that Western media gives a distorted picture of what obstacles are in the path of cultured meat acceptance, especially by overemphasizing and overrepresenting the importance of the reception of cultured meat among vegetarians. Promoters of cultured meat should recognize the skewed impression that this media coverage provides and pay attention to the demographic data that suggests strict vegetarians are a demographically negligible group. Resources for promoting cultured meat should focus on the empirical demographics of the consumer market and the empirical psychology of mainstream consumers.

Psychic euosmia among obsessive-compulsive personality disorder patients:A case control study

BACKGROUND Psychic euosmia(PE)has been described as a supposed psychological predisposition for which pleasant smells elicit an immediate sense of pleasure,order and calmness in obsessive-compulsive personality disorder(OCPD).In this study we tried to verify the interpretation that PE is the counterpart of disgust that has been associated to contamination and moral purity.Disgust and morality are significantly associated in people with obsessive-compulsive personality traits.We expected that OCPD patients would experience higher levels of PE.AIM To investigate the PE frequency in OCPD patients and healthy controls(HC)and to evaluate the relationship between PE and disgust.METHODS A single-center,case-control study was conducted in an outpatient service for obsessive-compulsive and related disorders.The sample consisted of 129 subjects:45 OCPD patients and 84 HC.In both groups we submitted the Disgust Scale Revised(DS-R)and the self-report Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 Screening Personality Questionnaire to which we added an additional yes or no question to investigate the presence of PE.In order to verify differences between groups,t-test was employed for continuous variables and 2 test for categorical variable;odds ratio was employed to analyze group differences in the PE survey.Correlation was explored with Pearson r correlations.RESULTS No differences were observed between groups in gender composition or education.A slight significant difference was found in mean age(t=1.988;P=0.049).The present study revealed significantly higher proportions of PE among OCPD patients when compared to HC(OR:5.3,2.28-12.46).Patients with OCPD were more likely to report PE(n=36;80%)whereas a much lower proportion endorsed PE in the HC group(n=36;42.9%).Interestingly,no differences were observed between groups in mean score for the Disgust Scale.There was also no difference between the two groups in any of the Disgust Scale Revised subscales.Moreover,no significant correlations were observed in the OCPD group between PE and Disgust Scale Revised subscales.CONCLUSION Results suggested that PE might be part of the clinical spectrum of OCPD,and it does not reflect the counterpart of disgust.This could also indicate that this phenomenon is a manifestation of orderliness or incompleteness.Further studies will need to be undertaken to better understand PE and its significance in OCPD.

Correlation of Disgust and Contempt Expressions with Conjugal Dissatisfaction

Research has shown that dissatisfied couples in the relationship commonly exhibit facial expressions of contempt in interactions. At this point, based on the study of cognition and physiology, researchers were able to predict by longitudinal studies the probability of divorce in a marriage, with accuracy of up to 94%. Our objective was to investigate whether the occurrence of facial expressions of disgust and contempt in married women is associated with marital dissatisfaction. This is an experimental study that correlated, through filmed interviews, the frequency of facial expressions of disgust and disgust (Facial Action Coding System) to the Marital State’s Golombok Rust Inventory, in a sample composed of 20 women. Data analysis based on the Spearman Correlation Test showed a positive correlation between facial expressions of disgust and disdain and conjugal dissatisfaction (rs = 0.2198, p = 0.0280), corroborating the data in the literature.