Why a clean-up is good for the soul

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Updated:

Those who live in clean homes are more moral than messy people, according to researchers

Those who live in clean homes are more moral than messy people, according to researchers

Cleanliness may really be next to godliness – researchers say those who live in clean homes are more moral than messy people.

They claim fresh aromas make people unconsciously fairer and research found a dramatic improvement in ethical behaviour with a few sprays of lemon-scented cleaner.

The authors of the U.S. study, from Brigham Young University, Utah, said their findings could be useful for offices and other organisations which use security measures to enforce rules.

As part of the research, which was titled The Smell of Virtue and published in the journal Psychological Science, volunteers performed tasks in scented and unscented rooms.

The first experiment set out to test whether clean scents would enhance fairness.

Participants played a trust game in which they were given money and then had to decide how much of it to either keep or return to their partners who had trusted them to divide it fairly.

Subjects in clean-scented rooms were less likely to exploit the trust of their partners, returning nearly twice as much as those in the unscented room.

A second experiment measured whether clean scents would encourage charitable behaviour.

Subjects indicated their interest in volunteering for a good cause and their interest in donating funds to it.

Volunteers in the scented room were significantly more interested in volunteering than those in a normal room, while 22 per cent of those in a scented room were willing to donate money, compared to only six per cent of those in a normal room.

Follow-up questions confirmed that participants did not notice the scent in the room and that their mood at the time of the experiment did not affect the outcomes.

Co-author Adam Galinsky said: 'Our study shows that morality and cleanliness can go hand in hand.'

Lead researcher Prof Katie Liljenquist hopes study's results will be used by shops and offices to promote more honest behaviour among customers and workers.

She said: 'Companies often employ heavy-handed methods to regulate conduct, but they can be costly or oppressive. This is a very simple, unobtrusive way to promote ethical behaviour. 

'The findings could even be useful for parents.It could be that getting our kids to clean up their rooms might help them clean up their acts too.'

The research is published in the journal Psychological Science.


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