Neuroscience
As the dirt and germs are wiped away, we're left feeling not just bodily but also morally cleansed - a kind of metaphorical virtuosity that leads us to judge others more harshly. That's according to Chen-Bo Zhong's team, who invited 58 undergrads to a lab filled with spotless new equipment. Half the students were asked to clean their hands with an antiseptic wipe so as not to soil the shiny surfaces. Afterwards all the students rated the morality of six societal issues including pornography and littering. Those who'd wiped their hands made far harsher judgments than those who didn't.
It was a similar story in a follow-up study with hundreds of participants recruited via a nation-wide database. Those primed to feel clean by reading a short passage that began 'My hair feels clean and light. My breath is fresh ...' made far harsher moral judgements about 16 social issues compared with those primed to feel dirty by a passage beginning, 'My hair feels oily and heavy. My breath stinks ...'
A third study was identical to the second, except that after reading either the dirty or clean passage of text the 136 undergrad participants also ranked themselves against their peers on several factors including intelligence, attractiveness and moral character. As before, those primed with the clean text made more harsh moral judgements on social issues. Crucially, this association was entirely mediated by their having an inflated sense of moral virtuosity compared with their peers (by contrast, reading the clean vs. dirty text made no difference to self rankings on the other factors).
'Acts of cleanliness have not only the potential to shift our moral pendulum to a more virtuous self, but also license harsher moral judgement of others,' Zhong and his team concluded.
_________________________________
Zhong, C., Strejcek, B., & Sivanathan, N. (2010). A clean self can render harsh moral judgment. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46 (5), 859-862 DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2010.04.003
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
Link to earlier related post: Your conscience really can be wiped clean.
- Not So Easy To Spot: A Failure To Replicate The Macbeth Effect Across Three Continents
"Out, damned spot!" cries a guilt-ridden Lady Macbeth as she desperately washes her hands in the vain pursuit of a clear conscience. Consistent with Shakespeare's celebrated reputation as an astute observer of the human psyche, a wealth of contemporary...
- For Christians, Dawkins And The Qur'an Leave A Bad Taste In The Mouth, Literally
Many studies have shown that moral disgust is "embodied". Contemplation of taboo deeds really does leave people physically sickened. Now Ryan Ritter and Jesse Preston have extended this literature to show that religious beliefs that contradict one's...
- The Trolley Dilemma Revisited
Most of us agree that murder, rape and plunder are wrong. Moral psychology gets more tricky when the interests of the many are pitted against the few, as in the classic "trolley dilemma", in which a person must divert a hurtling trolley towards a lone...
- Would You Kill One Person To Save The Lives Of Others?
Are morals based on facts and knowledge, or are they grounded in emotions? In other words, if you programmed a computer with the right information, would it make the same moral judgements as a person? 'No', is the answer suggested by new research...
- A Moral Grammar?
Interesting podcast from Australia’s All in the Mind about the evolution of morality. See their description below: “Moral Minds: The Evolution of Human Morality “Incest, infanticide, honour killings - different cultures have different rules of...
Neuroscience
Feeling clean makes us harsher moral judges
It was a similar story in a follow-up study with hundreds of participants recruited via a nation-wide database. Those primed to feel clean by reading a short passage that began 'My hair feels clean and light. My breath is fresh ...' made far harsher moral judgements about 16 social issues compared with those primed to feel dirty by a passage beginning, 'My hair feels oily and heavy. My breath stinks ...'
A third study was identical to the second, except that after reading either the dirty or clean passage of text the 136 undergrad participants also ranked themselves against their peers on several factors including intelligence, attractiveness and moral character. As before, those primed with the clean text made more harsh moral judgements on social issues. Crucially, this association was entirely mediated by their having an inflated sense of moral virtuosity compared with their peers (by contrast, reading the clean vs. dirty text made no difference to self rankings on the other factors).
'Acts of cleanliness have not only the potential to shift our moral pendulum to a more virtuous self, but also license harsher moral judgement of others,' Zhong and his team concluded.
_________________________________
Zhong, C., Strejcek, B., & Sivanathan, N. (2010). A clean self can render harsh moral judgment. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46 (5), 859-862 DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2010.04.003Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
Link to earlier related post: Your conscience really can be wiped clean.
- Not So Easy To Spot: A Failure To Replicate The Macbeth Effect Across Three Continents
"Out, damned spot!" cries a guilt-ridden Lady Macbeth as she desperately washes her hands in the vain pursuit of a clear conscience. Consistent with Shakespeare's celebrated reputation as an astute observer of the human psyche, a wealth of contemporary...
- For Christians, Dawkins And The Qur'an Leave A Bad Taste In The Mouth, Literally
Many studies have shown that moral disgust is "embodied". Contemplation of taboo deeds really does leave people physically sickened. Now Ryan Ritter and Jesse Preston have extended this literature to show that religious beliefs that contradict one's...
- The Trolley Dilemma Revisited
Most of us agree that murder, rape and plunder are wrong. Moral psychology gets more tricky when the interests of the many are pitted against the few, as in the classic "trolley dilemma", in which a person must divert a hurtling trolley towards a lone...
- Would You Kill One Person To Save The Lives Of Others?
Are morals based on facts and knowledge, or are they grounded in emotions? In other words, if you programmed a computer with the right information, would it make the same moral judgements as a person? 'No', is the answer suggested by new research...
- A Moral Grammar?
Interesting podcast from Australia’s All in the Mind about the evolution of morality. See their description below: “Moral Minds: The Evolution of Human Morality “Incest, infanticide, honour killings - different cultures have different rules of...