The original hypotheses from Banerjee et al (2012, p. 407).
> Specifically, we hypothesized that individuals who recall a time when they
> performed an ethical deed should perceive their immediate surroundings
> to be brighter than should individuals who recall a time when they
> performed an unethical deed. We tested our prediction in two studies.
> In addition, in Study 2, we tested a second prediction that follows
> from our first one: If people perceive less light after recalling an
> unethical behavior than after recalling an ethical behavior,
> participants who have recalled an unethical behavior should exhibit a
> greater preference for light-producing objects (but not for other
> objects) than should participants who have recalled an ethical
> behavior.
**Potential moderators**
Additionally, the original authors suggested to us in an e-mail that their participants may be unique because they were from conservative, and Puritan backgrounds (the studies were conducted at the University of Kansas). We added measures in the demographics section to capture these variables and to see if they may moderate the results.
We also thought that perhaps the importance with which one believes it is important to be moral might moderate the results, such that people who think morality is particularly important would be more likely to be affected by writing about moral and immoral deeds.