by Playfuls Staff |
7th September 2006
Hand washing offers far more than protection from bacteria and virus, it can also subconsciously free people from a guilty conscience, according to a study published Friday in the online edition of the journal Science. [more]
Many religions have long used water as a symbol for the cleansing of sins, but researchers Chen-Bo Zhong and Katie Lilienquist were surprised to find that people actually clean themselves when they need to feel better about themselves.
The Canadian and US researchers asked several questions about the connection between physical cleanliness and how it makes people feel, including whether some people unknowingly clean themselves in order to receive moral absolution. They also examined whether clean people have a better moral conscience, and if dirty, or unwashed people, feel less morally upright.
Subjects who were asked to remember a bad deed were twice as likely to reach for antibiotic hand wipes, the study found.
In another study, subjects were asked to write out a good or a bad story. Those who had written a bad story were twice as likely to reach for a cleaning solution rather than a pencil or juice offered by the researchers.
© 2006 DPA
