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Investigating the Conservatism-Disgust Paradox in Reactions to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Critical Reexamination of the Interrelations between Political Ideology, Disgust Sensitivity, and Pandemic Response

Research has documented robust associations between greater disgust sensitivity and (1) concern about disease, and (2) political conservatism. However, the COVID-19 disease pandemic raised challenging questions about these associations. In particular, why have conservatives—despite their greater disgust sensitivity—exhibited less concern about the pandemic? Here, we aim to resolve this “conservatism-disgust paradox” and address several outstanding theoretical questions regarding the interrelations between disgust sensitivity, ideology, and pandemic response. In four studies (N=1,764), we identify several methodological and conceptual factors—in particular, an overreliance on self-report measures—that likely inflated, or even wholly created, the apparent associations between these constructs. Using non-self-report measures, we find that disgust sensitivity is a far less potent predictor of disease avoidance than is typically believed, and that ideological differences in disgust sensitivity may be limited to self-report measures. These findings help resolve this paradox, while providing important insight into the nature of these associations.