At present, intermediary analysis in psychological research in China is often used for relevant research data. In fact, traditionally, intermediary analysis is mainly used for experimental research data. Although relevant research has the advantage of convenient data collection, from the perspective of constructing and testing theory, experimental research is a more appropriate and powerful case for intermediary analysis. After all, intermediary analysis is to test the causal relationship between variables, especially the causal series. Obviously, experimental research is more conducive to infer the causal relationship and causal series than relevant research.

If you are used to the intermediary analysis of relevant research data, it seems difficult to imagine how to conduct intermediary analysis of experimental research data. Learning literature is a shortcut to understand the experimental orientation of intermediary analysis. An example of this kind of research is detailed below.

Through three experiments, this paper shows that both the cleanliness obtained by physical cleaning and the cleanliness obtained by imaginative task can lead to severe judgment on moral controversial issues; Moral self is the intermediary between cleanliness and moral judgment (Zhong, strejcek, & sivanathan, 2010).

In the introduction, the author points out that physical cleanliness has been praised in history as a measure to separate pollution and improve individual health and collective survival. The pursuit of purity and rejection of dirt is one of the most clear standards to separate human beings from animals. However, this paper explores a potential negative result. In view of the relationship between cleanliness and moral purity, the author believes that a clean person may not only feel that he is not dirty, but also feel that he is morally spotless. This high moral self will make individuals make severe moral judgments.

Many examples show that some social groups not only have strict hygiene habits, but also have strict moral judgments about others. This highlights the relationship between strict hygiene practices and moral condemnation of members of society. The author believes that this situation is not a coincidence, but reflects a psychological connection between physical cleanliness and morality, that is, a cleaner self may directly make more severe moral judgment.

When exploring the psychological correspondence between cleanliness and morality, Zhong & liljenquist (2006) found that the challenge to individual moral quality caused the need to clean the body; Cleaning the body reduces moral self condemnation and restores moral self image. Specifically, subjects who were asked to write down their unethical behavior and then allowed to wash their hands were less likely to help a stranger than those who did not. Therefore, the simple body cleaning activity of washing hands is enough to "clean" the moral "dirty". It can be seen that morality can be understood and felt partly through physical cleanliness. If people combine cleanliness with moral purity and dirty with evil, a clean person may also feel moral. Therefore, the author believes that this high moral self is easy to make more severe moral judgments on others.

Experiment 1 investigated whether the clean state caused by hand washing could make strict moral judgment. 58 college students (38 girls, average age = 21.14 years) were randomly assigned to two experimental conditions designed by single factor (clean start: clean, control) subjects, and each person received $5 subject fee. When the subjects arrived, they were introduced to the laboratory and asked to sit down. Under clean conditions, tell the subjects that everything in the laboratory is brand-new (indeed, it is the case), and the unit requires the main test taker to keep the laboratory as clean as possible. Therefore, subjects were required to wipe their hands with a sterile towel before using the keyboard and mouse. Under controlled conditions, subjects did not clean their hands. Then, subjects with both conditions were asked to use an 11 point scale (from - 5 "very immoral" to 5 "very moral") to evaluate six social problems in the moral dimension.

The results showed that, as expected, the subjects who cleaned their hands before assessing social problems (M = -2.62, SD = 1.30) were more morally wrong than the subjects who did not clean their hands (M = -1.85, SD = 1.46), t (56) = 2.10, P =. 04.

In Experiment 2, the findings of Experiment 1 were repeated with a wider range of social problems, so as to eliminate the possible deviation caused by any special aspects of the problems used in the previous experiment. The subjects were recruited from a national database of 15000 registered in the United States. They have a wide range of demographic characteristics. 323 subjects (201 women, average age = 33.89) participated in the experiment in order to obtain the lucky draw qualification of $25 and $50. They were randomly assigned to three conditions of online experiment between single factor (clean start: clean, dirty and control).

After obtaining the informed consent, the subjects were informed that the experiment included some unrelated tasks. Subjects with clean and dirty conditions first imagined a declarative sentence in the first person and entered the sentence into a text column. They were told that their ability to recall these sentences would be tested after some "irrelevant" questions. Under clean conditions, the test reads, "my hair is clean and bright. My breath is fresh. My clothes are not corroded and like new. My fingernails have just been trimmed, and my shoes are clean. I feel very clean." under dirty conditions, the test reads, "My hair is greasy and rough. My breath stinks. I see oil and dust everywhere on my clothes. My fingernails are covered with dirt and my shoes are covered with mud. I feel very dirty." the subjects under control did not engage in the imagination task.

After that, 16 social problems were assessed on the moral dimension with an 11 point scale (from - 5 "very immoral" to 5 "very moral"). These problems cover a wide range of social problems or activities, from issues hotly debated in society to acts considered as personal indulgence.

The results showed that the subjects in clean start group (M = -1.76, SD = 1.13) made more severe moral judgment than those in dirty start group (M = -1.42, SD = 1.14) and control group (M = -1.49, SD = 1.55), t (320) = 2.02, P =. 045; there was no difference between dirty condition and control condition, t (320) =. 42, P =. 675. That is, the findings of both experiments show that starting self-cleaning leads to severe moral judgment.

Experiment 3 measured moral self perception and directly investigated whether self cleanliness could improve the severity of moral judgment by enhancing personal moral self-image. 136 college students (98 girls, average age = 22.00) were randomly assigned to a single factor (clean start: clean, dirty) For the two conditions designed between subjects, each person received $5 subject fee. Because there was no difference between the dirty condition and the control condition in Experiment 2, the researchers took the dirty condition as the control condition.

The procedure of Experiment 3 is similar to that of Experiment 2. The difference is that after the clean start, the subjects are required to assess their level compared with other college students in our university in 8 different dimensions (sense of humor, intelligence, character, creativity, physical charm, health, social sensitivity and Leadership). The subjects are marked with the percentile describing their relative position with others, from 0 (worse than others) to 100 (better than others). Finally, the subjects provided their moral evaluation of the same problem as experiment 2 as the dependent variable.

The results showed that the clean start subjects (M = -2.04, SD = 1.28) gave more severe moral judgment on 16 questions or activities than the dirty start subjects (M = -1.59, SD = 1.16), t (134) = 2.13, P =. 04. Moreover, the clean start subjects also rated their own character (M = 80.44, SD = 15.24) higher than the dirty start subjects (M = 75.03, SD = 15.70) , t (134) = -2.03, P =. 045. Clean start did not affect the subjects' self-evaluation in any other dimension (∣ t ∣ <. 78, P >. 40).

Finally, the researchers tested whether the elevated moral self is the intermediary between clean start and moral judgment. When clean start and moral self-image are both independent variables of ordinary least squares regression analysis, only moral self-image（ Β = -. 018, SE =. 007, t = -2.73, P =. 007) instead of clean start（ Β = -. 348, SE =. 208, t = -1.67, P =. 097) significantly predicted moral judgment. Therefore, when considering the intermediary variable (moral self-image), the significant relationship between the previous clean start and moral judgment is no longer significant.

In the discussion part, the author points out that the three experiments adopt different clean manipulation conditions, which shows that the subjects started with self cleanliness make more severe moral judgment on controversial social problems and activities with vague moral meaning. Experiment 3 shows that the elevated moral self-image is the intermediary variable of the effect of cleanliness on moral judgment. Therefore, a clean self is like a Tao The moral self; the resulting high moral foundation allows for more severe moral judgment of others.

This discovery is very consistent with the research on embodiment and metaphor, which reveals the psychological correspondence between specific physical experience and abstract social experience. Metaphor is the basic lens through which we understand the social environment and has important social meaning. The discovery of this paper provides unique enlightenment to the clean social and historical significance, and puts forward a potential negative conclusion Fruit: if a "clean" If members of society perceive those different people as immoral, it is easier to be justified to separate and isolate them. This may be the internal mechanism of caste system or other more extreme forms of social cleanliness. The results of this paper highlight the complexity and struggle of self moral management. On the surface, people's rational desire and action for cleanliness not only have One's own moral pendulum turns to the potential of a more moral self and allows for more severe moral judgments about others.

Through this example, it is not difficult to find that the experimental oriented mediation effect test attaches great importance to the role of theory, and even does not need the statistical procedures usually used for mediation analysis. At the same time, the logic of such research is very clear, that is, first determine an innovative phenomenon, then verify this phenomenon, and finally investigate the possible mechanism of this phenomenon, that is, in progress Therefore, advocating the experimental orientation of intermediary analysis will help to cultivate correct psychological research ideas and improve psychological research literacy.