Washing away postdecisional dissonance.
After choosing between two alternatives, people perceive the chosen alternative as more attractive and the rejected alternative as less attractive. This postdecisional dissonance effect was eliminated by cleaning one's hands. Going beyond prior purification effects in the moral domain, physical cleansing seems to more generally remove past concerns, resulting in a metaphorical "clean slate" effect.
Lee
Spike W S
SW
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. spikelee@umich.edu
Schwarz
Norbert
N
D001290:Attitude; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003073:Cognitive Dissonance; D005260:Female; D006235:Hand Disinfection; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male