Morality functions as a social ideology, a code of conduct, and a standard for evaluating both personal and others’ behavior. However, moral standards vary among individuals and are influenced by external factors. Such inconsistencies may lead to misperceptions, conflicts, or even criminal behaviors. According to embodied cognition theory, physical experiences, such as cleanliness, temperature, and movement, can unconsciously shape moral perceptions, judgments, and behaviors through metaphorical mapping. This study investigates the influence of environmental context on individuals’ moral and legal judgments of others' behaviors. A reaction time experiment was conducted via using images of clean and dirty environments as background stimuli. Participants were presented with 10 text-based behavioral scenarios and asked to make moral or legal judgments accordingly. Response choices and reaction time were recorded for each scenario. The study involved 20 Chinese and 20 American participants to explore potential cultural differences. The results show that dirty environments significantly increased the severity of moral judgments to others, although they had no significant effect on overall reaction time. Cultural backgrounds also had impacts. American participants responded faster in clean environments. Meanwhile, the severity of Chinese participants’ moral judgments was less influenced by environmental context. These findings challenge the decontextualized rational reasoning hypothesis in moral development theory and support the social intuitionist model. Furthermore, they highlight cultural differences in embodied moral cognition. The study also provides practical implications for urban design and public management. Maintaining environmental cleanliness of public places may reduce potential interpersonal conflicts, and lower violent behaviors via improving social tolerance.

Zhou Zhiyu. The Dirty–Immoral Association: Effects of Environmental Cleanliness on Moral Evaluation. Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences (2025), Vol. 8, Issue 8: 35-39. https://doi.org/10.25236/AJHSS.2025.080806.

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