Thaindian News

Washington, May 7 (IANS) Washing hands not only helps cleanse traces of past immoral behaviour but “wipes the slate clean” — that is, it reduces doubts about a decision you have made recently or the need to justify the decision, according to a new finding.
The study, conducted by University of Michigan (U-M) psychologists Spike W.S. Lee and Norbert Schwarz, expands on past research by showing that hand-washing does more than just remove the guilt of past misdeeds.

“Our study shows that washing also reduces the influence of past behaviours and decisions that have no moral implications, whatsoever,” said Lee, a doctoral candidate in social psychology.

For the study, Lee and Schwarz, asked undergraduate students to browse through 30 CD covers as part of a consumer survey.

Participants picked 10 CDs they would like to own, ranking them by preference. Later, they offered the students a choice between their 5th and 6th ranked CDs as a token of appreciation.

Following that choice, participants completed an ostensibly unrelated product survey — of liquid soap. Half of them merely examined the bottle before answering while the others tested the soap by washing their hands. Participants were then asked to rank the 10 CDs again.

“People, who merely examined the soap bottle, dealt with their doubts about their decision by thinking how they saw the CDs: They saw the chosen CD as much more attractive than before and the rejected CD as much less attractive,” said Schwarz.

“But hand-washing eliminated this classic effect. Once participants had washed their hands, they no longer needed to justify their choice when they ranked the CDs the second time around,” added Schwarz.

The researchers replicated the findings in a study using a different task– taste expectations of jars of fruit jams and ostensibly unrelated surveys of antiseptic wipes.

“Participants, who merely examined an antiseptic wipe after choosing a jar of fruit jam, expected the taste of the chosen jam to far exceed the taste of the rejected one. This difference was eliminated when participants tested the antiseptic wipe after cleaning their hands,” said Lee.

According to the authors, the results show that as much as washing can cleanse us from traces of past immoral behaviour, it can also cleanse us from traces of past decisions, reducing the need to justify them, says a UM release.

These findings were published in the current issue of Science.