The Role of Forgetting in Undermining Good Intentions
View/ Open
Author
Olson, Kristina R.
Heberlein, Andrea S.
Kensinger, Elizabeth
Burrows, Christopher
Dweck, Carol S.
Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0079091Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Olson, Kristina R., Andrea S. Heberlein, Elizabeth Kensinger, Christopher Burrows, Carol S. Dweck, Elizabeth S. Spelke, and Mahzarin R. Banaji. 2013. “The Role of Forgetting in Undermining Good Intentions.” PLoS ONE 8 (11): e79091. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0079091. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0079091.Abstract
Evaluating others is a fundamental feature of human social interaction–we like those who help more than those who hinder. In the present research, we examined social evaluation of those who not only intentionally performed good and bad actions but also those to whom good things have happened (the lucky) and those to whom bad things have happened (the unlucky). In Experiment 1a, subjects demonstrated a sympathetic preference for the unlucky. However, under cognitive load (Experiment 1b), no such preference was expressed. Further, in Experiments 2a and 2b, when a time delay between impression formation (learning) and evaluation (memory test) was introduced, results showed that younger (Experiment 2a) and older adults (Experiment 2b) showed a significant preference for the lucky. Together these experiments show that a consciously motivated sympathetic preference for those who are unlucky dissolves when memory is disrupted. The observed dissociation provides evidence for the presence of conscious good intentions (favoring the unlucky) and the cognitive compromising of such intentions when memory fails.Other Sources
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3827336/pdf/Terms of Use
This article is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of-use#LAACitable link to this page
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:11879041
Collections
- FAS Scholarly Articles [18256]
Contact administrator regarding this item (to report mistakes or request changes)