
Study Suggests Hand Washing Cleanses The Mind - mahipal
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126611413
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mahmud
I heard the study author on NPR's Talk of the Nation - Science Friday podcast
and skipped it within 5 minutes. The researcher sounded like he already had a
religious/mystical predisposition and wanted to confirm his own biases.

He said something to the effect of: "We know from religion that washing
purifies the soul .. and I wanted to see if it's true".

NEXT.

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mahipal
Interesting. His quotes (as reported in this and other articles) make it seem
like he's just referencing the existing ideas in popular culture about the
metaphor of hand-washing.

Regardless of his personal beliefs though, I'd assume that the study had
standard double-blind procedures and only reported the result because it's
statistically significant (especially considering that it's being published in
_Science_ ).

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frossie
Their control sample seems to have done something else entirely (like
evaluated bottle designs or something). The correct control would have been
something involving water but without the psychosocial overtones of hand
washing - for example asking people to pull marbles out of a bowl of water.

The reality is that "water play" is very soothing. Put an angry toddler in
front of a sink full of warm sudsy water, and I don't think they are happy
because they are channeling Lady Macbeth.

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InclinedPlane
Very interesting. But I'm not convinced this has anything to do with washing
specifically. I suspect it might just be that performing an ordinary, rote
activity interrupts the normal process of the decision making activity and the
feeling of completion carries over back into the other activity. I wonder if
tasks such as tying one's shoes, packing a box and sealing it, etc. would have
a similar effect.

Ultimately the study doesn't provide enough data to fully support the
hypothesis (that cleansing, washing away provides some mental, decision making
benefit), though the fact that there's any effect at all warrants a lot of
further study.

