This concept is also well known in the practice of the occult. It is known as the Law of Contamination. The gist of this is 'once in contact, always in contact'.
This principle is also the basis of using bits of hair in a construction of a voodoo doll, as the hair touches the doll, so the person is the doll.
Even though this thought is prevalent in the occult, it does easily translate out of that limited area. The paper below also explains for similar things, like not wanting to wear shirts worn by a disliked person.
Homeopathy also has roots in this idea, where a drop of "cure" is diluted somewhere by 10^50 times, and still is considered a cure.
That doesn't seem quite right to me. If there's any occult notion that fits, I'd imagine it's more things like "true name" or "astral body" or a "weird" that reflect a more honest representation of the self than is consciously noted.
I think there could possibly be a problem with the definition of alief. I think it's being used too broadly.
As the wikipedia article says, it includes 5 sections of disjoint ideas. And law of contagion is directly reffered to with the feces shaped brownies or clean bedpan drinking.
It seems I could attach any reflexive-emotional response and call it alief. That doesn't seem correct in the language of psychology. Their terms are usually much more delineated.
This principle is also the basis of using bits of hair in a construction of a voodoo doll, as the hair touches the doll, so the person is the doll.
Even though this thought is prevalent in the occult, it does easily translate out of that limited area. The paper below also explains for similar things, like not wanting to wear shirts worn by a disliked person.
Homeopathy also has roots in this idea, where a drop of "cure" is diluted somewhere by 10^50 times, and still is considered a cure.
http://www1.appstate.edu/~kms/classes/psy5150/Documents/Rozi...