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The Influence of Cleanliness Behavior and Cleanliness Perception on Moral Judgment

Dongxia Wang, Chen Chen, Shuangzhen Lin
International Journal of Social Science and Education Research, (2026), Vol.9, No.3, pp.143-148
Published: March 16, 2026
DOI: 10.6918/IJOSSER.202603_9(3).0017
PDF: Download Full Text PDF
Abstract

This study examines the influence of clean priming types on moral judgments. Using the Stroop paradigm, participants were asked to judge the part-of-speech of moral and immoral words under clean behavioral and clean cognitive priming conditions. Results indicate a strong association between clean priming and moral judgments, with different clean priming types exerting distinct effects on moral judgment directionality.

Keywords: Clean behavior, Clean cognition, Stroop paradigm, Moral judgment
APA Citation: Dongxia Wang, Chen Chen, Shuangzhen Lin (2026). The Influence of Cleanliness Behavior and Cleanliness Perception on Moral Judgment. International Journal of Social Science and Education Research, 9(3), 143-148. https://doi.org/10.6918/IJOSSER.202603_9(3).0017

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