Port Apathy

I was reading an article over at Saint Gasoline about being judgmental of others and found a very interesting study on that subject.

This study found that those who think that they are physically clean don’t judge others as harshly as those who think they are physically dirty. So, the dirtier you feel the more negatively you judge others.

Simone Schnall and colleagues’ study “With a Clean Conscience” demonstrated that an act as simple as washing one’s hands can decrease moral outrage and harsh judgments. Basically, the study recorded the moral judgments of a group of people who were exposed to cognitive concepts of cleanliness and purity (the handwashing group) versus a control group (the dirty group). The results showed that those who washed their hands rated an assortment of immoral actions in a significantly less severe manner than those in the group with the filthy, uncleansed hands. The study mentions and builds off studies that have shown that when people are exposed to disgusting, impure conditions, they tend to be more severe in their moral judgments. Basically, those that see themselves as cleansed and pure are more forgiving, and those that see themselves as somehow dirtied or disgusted harden their hearts.

The ending of this summary seems to imply that the same is true if you feel morally clean or unclean. For example, hippies who don’t believe that human nature is vile and evil don’t judge people as harshly as social conservatives. In North America most social conservatives are Christian and tell themselves that they are evil (original sin) and impure in thought and act (all fall short of the glory of God). People who believe they are impure and wretched will judge others as impure and wretched. The important thing here is that it doesn’t matter if what they are judging is positive or negative.

The upshot: Those who express moral outrage seem to be those who think less of themselves. People who think they are good people are not as judgmental of others.