Does modifying personal responsibility moderate the mental contamination effect?

•Mental contamination was induced in a healthy sample of men who imagined a moral violation.•Modifying personal responsibility appeared to moderate the mental contamination effect.•Responsibility modification had the strongest effects on shame, dirtiness and urge to wash.

Background and objectivesMental contamination is the psychological sense of internal dirtiness that arises in the absence of physical contact with a perceived contaminant. Mental contamination can be evoked through imagining perpetrating a moral transgression. This study experimentally evoked mental contamination by asking men to imagine perpetrating a non-consensual kiss. It explored whether reducing sense of personal responsibility for the kiss moderated the mental contamination effect.MethodsMale students (N = 60) imagined giving either a consensual or non-consensual kiss. Personal responsibility for the kiss was manipulated in one of two non-consensual kiss conditions by way of the inclusion of social influence information. Feelings of mental contamination were assessed by self-report and through a behavioural index.ResultsMental contamination was successfully induced in the two non-consensual kiss conditions. There was evidence to support the hypothesis that reducing personal responsibility might moderate specific components of mental contamination (shame, dirtiness and urge to cleanse). The effect of responsibility modification was evident in the self-report measures, but not in the behavioural index.LimitationsThe sample comprised male university students which limits generalizability of the findings. The behavioural assessment of mental contamination was limited to a proxy measure.ConclusionsImagined moral violations are associated with increases in indices of mental contamination. Further research should investigate whether feelings of shame, dirtiness and urge to cleanse are particularly responsive to responsibility modifications.