Washing Away Your Sins: Threatened Morality and Physical Cleansing
Has this study been replicated?
The atlas records 5 replications of this study. Recorded outcomes: 4 failed, 1 successful. The earliest on record is from 2009.
Replications
- Out, Damned Spot: Can the "Macbeth Effect" Be Replicated?, Earp et al. (2014). Basic and Applied Social Psychology. Outcome recorded: failed.
Despite multiple good-faith efforts, however, we were unable to detect a "Macbeth Effect" in any of our experiments.
Outcome read from the abstract. View paper - The Effect of Physical Cleaning on Threatened Morality in Individuals With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Reuven et al. (2013). Clinical Psychological Science. Outcome recorded: successful.
Replicating previous findings, physical cleaning reduced the willingness to help and relieved moral emotions.
Outcome read from the abstract. View paper - Many Labs 2: Investigating Variation in Replicability Across Samples and Settings, Klein et al. (2018). Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science. Outcome recorded: failed.
This result is not consistent with the hypothesis that copying an account of an unethical action increases the desirability of cleans- ing products compared with copying an account of an ethical action.
Outcome read from p. 22. View paper - The Uncertain Universality of the Macbeth Effect with a Spanish Sample, Gámez et al. (2011). The Spanish journal of psychology. Outcome recorded: failed.
We were unsuccessful in replicating the Zhong & Liljenquist ́s results that supported cleansing as a psychological mechanism for compensating guilty: results couldn't confirm an increased mental accessibility of cleansing-related concepts or even a greater desire for cleansing products, neither a greater likelihood of taking antiseptic wipes.
Outcome read from the abstract. View paper - Is cleanliness next to godliness? Dispelling old wives' tales: Failure to replicate Zhong and Liljenquist (2006), Fayard et al. (2009). Journal of Articles in Support of the Null Hypothesis. Outcome recorded: failed.
Despite larger samples and thus greater power to detect effects, both studies failed to replicate the original work of Zhong and Liljenquist (2006).
Outcome read from the abstract.
Cite this record
Zhong, C.-B., & Liljenquist, K. (2006). Washing Away Your Sins: Threatened Morality and Physical Cleansing. Science, 313(5792), 1451–1452. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1130726
Other studies in the atlas
Failed replications · Successful replications · All browse pages