The effect of disgust on preference for structure: Evidence for a double-sided response

The literature on emotions converges on the idea that people cope with the undesired effects of disgust through an immediate response of avoidance aimed to the physical and psychological rejection of any contamination threat. However, previous research does not consider what happens after this immediate response. We investigate the dual response to disgust and propose that disgust generates an immediate preference for structure, but also an opposite, subsequent tendency to prefer unstructured stimuli. Our reasoning is based on the mobilization-minimization theory, which suggests opposed reactions to negative emotions. We demonstrate that, while immediate reactions to disgust imply preference for structured logos, after the disgust-eliciting stimulus is eliminated from the environment, people show higher preference for visually unstructured logos. The study of the dual response to disgust offers novel insights to consumer behavior, decision-making, and emotion literature, showing that a typically avoidance-triggering emotion, that is, disgust, can then lead to opposite effects in terms of preference for structure.