This research investigates the relationship between the emotion of disgust in the moral domain and the incidence of violations of student rights and obligations. Female students in the 3rd and 4th years of a five-year university teacher studies program (N = 64) participated voluntarily and anonymously. The study utilized a) a subscale measuring disgust in the moral domain and its corresponding measures, b) an inventory of minor and severe violations of student rights and obligations based on existing legal regulations, and c) a set of questions regarding sample characteristics, such as grade point average, age, socioeconomic status, and completion of high school. Hierarchical linear regression analysis confirms the predictive significance of the emotion of disgust towards both minor and severe violations of student rights and obligations, such as cheating on exams, deception, forgery of signatures and documents, and more. Approximately one-fifth of the variance (21.22%; R = 0.46) in the frequency of all types of violations can be explained by a) differences in students’ (greater) disgust towards such behaviors (15.70%; β = –0.38, p < 0.01), and b) an additional, independent contribution of (higher) average academic performance (5.52%; β = –0.24, p < 0.05). Given that this study focuses on a very specific group of participants – future teachers of successive generations of middle childhood students – the results are interpreted in the context of personal tendencies toward violating rights and obligations, as well as the continuity and stability of interindividual personality differences and their educational impact on others.

disgust, education, emotions, evolutionary psychology, individual differences