Another Benefit of Washing Hands

Recent research suggests that washing hands after making a decision can prevent second-guessing our choice.

A previous post showed hand washing can remove the guilt of past misdeeds. But it was unclear if it was due to the brain linking physical and moral cleanliness or because one forgets about the past.

So psychologists removed any moral implications from the decision - asking subjects to choose between a pair of CDs or flavors of jam. Subjects who washed their hands immediately after making their choice didn't second-guess but the rest spent more time justifying their decision.

Other Benefit of Washing Hands

Lady Macbeth may have been onto something when, after murdering King Duncan, she washed her hands not only to rid herself of the blood, but also the guilt.

New Scientist has published an interesting study that suggests washing hands can wipe away one's emotional consequences of decisions, big and small.

Researchers gave 2 groups a stack of 10 CD's to rank. One group was allowed to wash their hands afterward. The test was repeated. Surprisingly, the second round of tests found that the group that did not wash their hands placed the same CD's they had previously liked at a higher rank and those they had rejected at a lower rank than before. In contrast, the people who had initially washed their hands ranked the CD's the same as the first time.

The results indicate that hand washing removes the tendency to justify a decision that has been made.