Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Clean hands

WASHING your hands may make you less morally judgmental, says a Plymouth University study.

Students who washed their hands before being asked to make moral judgements were far less well, judgemental.

“We think we're making conscious, rational decisions in moral judgments, but are influenced by how clean or pure we feel,” said Simone Schnall, the lead researcher.

Washing your hands is scientifically proven to make you cleaner, reduce the spread of infections etc

What, I wonder, would have been the effect if students had been merely symbolically cleansed, perhaps by some kind of religious rite?