Relationship between body mass index and moral disapproval rating for ethical violations

Evidence documents a direct relationship between disgust processing and Body Mass Index (BMI). People withhigh BMI tend to have a lower disgust sensitivity (DS) threshold, while this trait is more accentuated in peoplewith low BMI. Here we provide new insights to this issue by exploring the relationship between BMI and the experienceof moral disgust. Results document a significant negative correlation between BMI and moral disapprovalrating (MDR) for ethical violations, in that the higher the BMI the lower the MDR. In concordance withprevious investigations, we also found that BMI correlates with DS, as measured with a standard test, in thatthe higher the BMI the lower the DS. Overall, the main result of this paper, which might have direct implicationfor research in social justice, highlights the relevance of BMI, as an individual variable, in predicting ethicalbehavior