Despite its obvious intersection with classic fear‐inducing stimuli, like rotting teeth and diseased lungs, disgust as a discrete emotion has been all but ignored in the persuasion literature. This study marks an initial effort to explore the effect of disgust as the dominant emotion evoked by a persuasive appeal on attitude change. 134 college students viewed one of four versions of a two‐sided refutational video message arguing in favor of animal experimentation. Visuals in the video's counterargument section were manipulated to show more or less disgusting images of animal experimentation. Visuals in the video's rebuttal section were manipulated to show more or less emotional images defending the medical research position. Results suggest that disgust can be the most dominant emotion elicited by a persuasive message and that disgust may either enhance or inhibit attitude change, depending on the context in which the emotion is used. Further research should consider more specifically the conditions under which disgust may induce persuasion and the cognitive processes through which such effects might occur.
Communication Quarterly
Volume 46, 1998 - Issue 4
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