Washing One’s Hands After Failure Enhances Optimism but Hampers Future Performance

Previous studies showed that washing one’s hand not only removes dirt from the body, it also weakens one’s guilt after immoral behavior, makes moral judgment of others’ misdeeds less severe, reduces post-decisional dissonance effects, and can help wash off bad luck. The present study broadens this scope by investigating the psychological impact of physical cleansing in a performance setting. The results show that physical cleansing enhances...