What is it about?

You wash your hands every day. Other than dirt and germs, what else might you be washing away? A variety of residual feelings from previous experiences, according to a comprehensive meta-analysis of hundreds of experimental studies. Examples of these feelings include moral guilt, social stress, cognitive dissonance, and a sense of good luck. And these effects are found with many forms of physical cleaning, such as washing or wiping your hands or simply imagining the experience. All in all, cleansing behavior has the psychological power to wipe things off.

Featured Image

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Wipe it off: A meta-analytic review of the psychological consequences and antecedents of physical cleansing., Psychological Bulletin, February 2024, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/bul0000421.
You can read the full text:

Read

Contributors

The following have contributed to this page