
David Pizarro on Morality and Disgust
Cornell psychologist David Pizarro discusses his research on the link between disgust and moral judgment as part of Yale's Experts in Emotion series, hosted by June Gruber. Pizarro explains what drew him to the study of emotion before walking through the central findings of his work, including how feelings of physical disgust can shape moral condemnation and political attitudes. He talks through experiments probing whether disgust sensitivity predicts harsher moral judgments and touches on how these effects interact with reasoning about fairness and harm. The interview closes with his thoughts on promising directions for future research in moral psychology and practical advice for students interested in entering the field of emotion research. The format is a seated one-on-one interview with chapter markers, running about eighteen minutes, produced by Yale's Broadcasting and Media Center.