Ripple effects in memory: judgments of moral blame can distort memory for events.

Full Abstract

Can judging an individual as being morally responsible for a negative act affect memory for details of the act? We presented participants with a story describing an individual (Frank) who committed a crime (he walked out on a restaurant bill). Some participants were told that the negative act was not intentional and that Frank was essentially a good person. Others were told that the negative act was intentional and that Frank actually enjoyed it. Control participants were given no extra information. All the participants then judged Frank's moral responsibility for walking out on the bill. When asked a week later to recall information about the event, the participants who had received negative information about Frank remembered that Frank had walked out on a larger restaurant bill than he actually had. Moreover, the degree of memory distortion was predicted by the degree of moral blame that had been attributed to Frank.

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Author information

Author/s: Pizarro, David A (DA); Laney, Cara (C); Morris, Erin K (EK); Loftus, Elizabeth F (EF);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Cornell University, 211 Uris Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. dap54(-atsign-)cornell.edu

Grants: T32 MH19958-06 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: Memory & cognition (Mem Cognit), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Apr; vol 34 (issue 3) : pp 550-5

Dates: Created 2006/08/28; Completed 2006/09/21; Revised 2007/11/14;

PMID: 16933764, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Guilt
Humans
Judgment

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