• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Cleanliness & Morality

Cleanliness & Morality

December 24, 2008
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/081224_sciup_clea.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):
Cleaning up moral ambiguity….I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

A new study suggests that people who have just washed their hands are less likely to judge ethically questionable acts such as lying on a resume as immoral. This according to psychologist Simone Schnall of the University of Plymouth in England. She and her colleagues had people watch an unpleasant toilet scene from a movie and then allowed half of them to wash their hands. Then they were asked to make a moral judgment about a questionable act.

SIMONE SCHNALL (University of Plymouth):
Those participants who had been given a chance to wash their hands after feeling disgusted said the moral transgressions were less bad than those who presumably were still feeling disgusted.

HIRSHON:
This suggests that our moral judgments are less rational than we might like to think and that we may be hardwired to equate being clean with being moral to avoid illness. I’m Bob Hirshon for AAAS, the science society.

Category: Daily ShowTag: Social & Behavioral Sciences
Previous Post:Spreading Happiness
Next Post:Genes & Placebos

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Cat Video
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • NASA
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Image of computer screen depicting an orange cat with a variety of alphanumeric scientific data superimposed on the the screen.
Spotted skunk performing handstand to threaten predators

Copyright © 2025 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos