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Analyses of mental contamination: Part I, experimental manipulations of morality

Corinna M Elliott1, Adam S Radomsky

  • 1Department of Psychology, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke St. West, Montreal, QC, H4B 1R6, Canada.

Behaviour Research and Therapy
|April 10, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Non-consensual acts cause greater mental contamination than consensual ones, regardless of the perpetrator's morality. This research separates act and actor morality in contamination studies.

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Social Psychology
  • Clinical Psychology

Background:

  • Fear of contamination comprises physical and mental contamination.
  • Prior research confounded act and actor morality in mental contamination studies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To disentangle the effects of act morality versus actor morality on mental contamination.
  • To investigate the impact of consensual versus non-consensual acts, and moral versus immoral actors, on mental contamination.

Main Methods:

  • 148 female undergraduates listened to scenarios involving consensual or non-consensual kisses from moral or immoral men.
  • Participants rated their mental contamination and underwent a behavioral task measuring spontaneous washing.

Main Results:

  • Non-consensual kisses induced significantly higher mental contamination than consensual kisses.
  • The greatest mental contamination was reported following non-consensual kisses, irrespective of the man's morality.
  • Consensual kisses with a moral man elicited the least mental contamination.

Conclusions:

  • The nature of the act (non-consensual) is a stronger predictor of mental contamination than the actor's morality.
  • Findings inform cognitive-behavioral models and treatments for contamination fears.

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