Department of Psychology.
Department of Management and Organization.
J Exp Psychol Gen. 2020 May;149(5):889-900. doi: 10.1037/xge0000691. Epub 2019 Oct 7.
Most people have been both the victim and the perpetrator of a moral transgression at some point in their lives; this article asks whether one set of moral experiences is easier to remember than the other, and why. In Study 1, we documented this basic asymmetry, finding that individuals recalled more instances in which they were the victim of a moral transgression than instances in which they were the perpetrator. In Study 2, we found that this asymmetry in memory arises because experiences of being the victim are perceived more negatively than experiences of being the perpetrator. In Studies 3 and 4, we demonstrated the critical role of intent in this asymmetry, finding that victim memories emphasize perpetrator intent to a greater degree than do perpetrator memories (Study 3), and that the memory asymmetry disappeared when individuals recalled unintentional moral violations (Study 4). Finally, in Study 5, we ruled out a potential alternative mechanism for these effects-that of self-protective motivation on the part of perpetrators. We found that the threat associated with the moral violation moderated victim (but not perpetrator) memories, a finding that is inconsistent with a motivational account for perpetrator memories. This research demonstrates that perceived agency shapes emotional experience and autobiographical memory and speaks to the importance of studying morality as it occurs in everyday contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
大多数人在其生活中的某个时刻都曾既是道德违规的受害者又是施害者；本文探讨了人们是否更容易记住其中一种道德体验，以及原因是什么。在研究 1 中，我们记录了这种基本的不对称性，发现个体回忆起更多的自己是道德违规受害者的例子，而不是自己是施害者的例子。在研究 2 中，我们发现这种记忆不对称是因为人们对作为受害者的体验的感知比作为施害者的体验更负面。在研究 3 和研究 4 中，我们证明了意图在这种不对称中的关键作用，发现受害者记忆比施害者记忆更强调施害者的意图（研究 3），并且当个体回忆起非故意的道德违规时，记忆不对称就消失了（研究 4）。最后，在研究 5 中，我们排除了这些效应的一种潜在替代机制，即施害者自我保护动机的影响。我们发现，道德违规所带来的威胁调节了受害者（而不是施害者）的记忆，这一发现与施害者记忆的动机解释不一致。这项研究表明，感知到的能动性塑造了情感体验和自传体记忆，并说明了在日常情境中研究道德的重要性。（PsycInfo 数据库记录（c）2020 APA，保留所有权利）。
