The CAD triad hypothesis: A mapping between three moral emotions (contempt, anger, disgust) and three moral codes (community, autonomy, divinity)

It is proposed that 3 emotions-contempt, anger, and disgust-are typically e licited, across cultures, by violations of 3 moral codes proposed by R. A. Shweder and his colleagues (R. A. Shweder, N. C. Much, M. Mahapatra, & L. P ark, 1997). The proposed alignment links anger to autonomy (individual righ ts violations), contempt to community (violation of communal codes, includi ng hierarchy), and disgust to divinity (violations of purity-sanctity). Thi s is the CAD triad hypothesis. Students in the United States and Japan were presented with descriptions of situations that involve 1 of the types of m oral violations and asked to assign either an appropriate facial expression (from a set of 6) or an appropriate word (contempt, anger, disgust, or the ir translations). Results generally supported the CAD triad hypothesis. Res ults were further confirmed by analysis of facial expressions actually made by Americans to the descriptions of these situations.