Washing Hands Affects Moral Judgment Summary

The article, Washing hands 'affects moral judgment', published in the Telegraph UK summarizes the conclusions found in a British experiment about washing hands and moral judgement. The 2008 article states the findings of the British researchers was that participants who washed their hands had better moral judgement than those that did not wash their hands. The article summarizes how the researchers came to this conclusion as it recalls the participants were split into two groups. One group washed their hands and one group did not. Both groups then watched a clip from the film Trainspotting. Researchers then asked each group how morally wrong various actions are on a scale from one to nine. Though the article includes some information about how the experiment was conducted, it lacks credibility. The article is not credible as it claims causation, lacks detailed information of sample characteristics, …show more content…
No information is included on if the chosen participants were chosen randomly or were selected in a specific manner. This is important to the credibility of the research conclusion because a random sample versus a selected sample of participants can greatly affect the results. A random sample would provide a group of people with various traits or backgrounds while a selected experiment group could select people by a certain trait or aspect which could greatly affect the outcome of the experiment. For example, if the participants were hand picked and all from similar backgrounds where most activities are deemed morally okay, then the results will be skewed. There is also no background information included on the participants. This information is necessary because it is important to know if the participants regularly wash their hands, or if they do not. It is also important to know what the background for the participants was, as this can greatly affect if they deem certain activities morally acceptable or