The Influence Of Self-cleanliness And Environmental Cleanliness On Moral Judgment

Depending on systematical analysis of previous literatures,this study highlights the important roles of state before cleanliness priming(with vs.without disgust priming)and clean information types(associated objects: self vs.others)in the process of cleanliness affecting moral judgment.Based on these two core viewpoints,as well as the focus on the specificity of the clean parts in Chinese and the effectiveness of the cleaning methods,this study mainly explores the impact of cleanliness on moral judgment through two experiments.Experiment 1 examined whether self-cleaning priming had different effects on moral judgment after watching neutral videos or disgust videos.At the same time,it explores the role of moral self-image and disgust.In addition,the effectiveness and differences of different cleaning methods(no cleaning,cleaning face,cleaning hands,observing wet wipes)were discussed.The results showed self-cleaning priming did have different effects after neutral priming and disgust priming.Specifically,the study found that:(1)Under disgust condition,disgust will increase the severity of moral judgment.Cleanliness may make moral judgment more lenient by eliminating the role of disgust.(2)Without disgust priming,clean priming will make moral judgment more severe by improving moral self-image.(3)Observing wet wipes as a subtle way will also affect moral judgments.Clean priming using wet wipes is only partially effective,and can not completely eliminate the effect of disgust priming.(4)In Chinese participants,using wet wipes to clean hands has a stronger impact on moral judgment than clean faces.Experiment 2 examined the impact of environmental cleanliness on moral judgment and the role of clean information types(associated objects: self,others).The study used moral self-image as an indicator of clean-self association,the D value of IAT paradigm as an indicator of clean-other association.Results showed that environmental cleanliness makes moral judgment more lenient.Furthermore,moral self-image mediates the effect of environmental cleanliness on moral judgment.In general,this study found that self-cleaning has different effects on moral judgment under the conditions of neutral priming and disgust priming.When there is disgust priming,it may make the moral judgment more lenient by reducing the effect of disgust priming.Without disgust priming,it makes the moral judgment more severe by increasing moral self-image.In addition,this study also found that environmental cleanliness,as a weak self-associated information,can also make moral judgment more lenient by reducing moral self-image.