6 psychological effects when washing hands

Washing hands not only helps you be healthier, it also has subtle psychological effects.

Washing your hands sends an unconscious metaphor message to the mind: we not only cleanse the scum from the body but we also purify the mental scum.

Here are 6 psychological effects of hand washing .

1. Restore optimism

Washing your hands can wash away the feeling of failure.

In a study by Kaspar (2012) participants who failed a task, then washed their hands, were more optimistic then those who did not wash their hands.

Unfortunately, hand washing seems to reduce the motivation to try to redo their mission.

Anyway, washing hands can help improve optimism after a failure.

2. Feeling less guilty

In the mind, filthiness is associated with sin, so theoretically washing hands not only eliminates dirt, but also eliminates a sense of guilt.

A study requires participants to think about some of their past immoral behaviors (Zhong & Liljenquist, 2006). A group is then asked to use a disinfectant handkerchief, and the other group does not.

Those who have wiped their hands after thinking about an immoral act feel less guilty. Literally sterilized handkerchiefs have cleaned their sins.

Photo: discovery.com

3. Moral

Feeling clean directly affects our views on others.

When people in a study wash their hands, they feel more disgusted by the bad behavior of others (Zhong, Strejcek & Sivanathan, 2010):

'…' Clean 'participants give more harsh moral judgments about a series of questions.

threads, from abortion to substance use and masturbation. They also value themselves as moral than their student friends (Lee & Schwarz, 2011).

Therefore, when people feel that they are clean, they become more moral and more strict with the wrong behavior of others.

4. Eliminate doubts

Sometimes, after people make the wrong decision, they try to justify it by pretending that it is the right decision.

It is the result of cognitive dissonance, and it is a way that people lie to themselves.

However, washing your hands can eliminate the need to justify yourself in some situations, making it possible to better assess your decision (Lee & Schwarz, 2010).

5. Eliminate bad luck

Hand washing can psychologically clean the effects of belief in bad luck.

When participants in a study were made 'unlucky' while gambling, their hand washing seemed to purify their psychological misfortune (Xu et al., 2012).

Compared to those who do not wash their hands, those who wash their hands continue to bet as their bad luck has been forgotten.

6. Make others feel sorry for them to wash their hands

Hand washing is the cheapest and most effective way to control the spread of diseases such as colds and infectious diseases.
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So it is important to make others wash their hands.

A public health study produced messages on public restrooms walls when people entered, such as 'Water does not kill germs, only soap' (Judah et al., 2009). .

The most effective message is: 'Is the person next to you washing your hands with soap "?

Thus, it seems that when you wash your hands in a public restroom, you help others feel sorry to wash their hands. Not only are you healthy, you also help the community by embarrassing others to wash their hands.