Am. Stillwell et Rf. Baumeister, THE CONSTRUCTION OF VICTIM AND PERPETRATOR MEMORIES - ACCURACY AND DISTORTION IN ROLE-BASED ACCOUNTS, Personality & social psychology bulletin, 23(11), 1997, pp. 1157-1172
To study how roles shape the construction of narrative accounts, parti
cipants read a story while identifying with its victim or perpetrator
and then retold the story in their own words. In Study 5 participants
told the story twice, the second time after a 3- to 5-day retention in
terval. In Study 3, some participants were given instructions to tell
as accurate a story as possible In all three studies, victims and perp
etrators distorted to about the same extent, significantly more than c
ontrol participants and especially by selective omission of uncongenia
l facts. Specific distortions suggested self-serving, role-based motiv
ations Perpetrators embellished mitigating circumstances and their own
benevolent actions while omitting facts that emphasized severity and
responsibility. Victims concentrated on details that described the sev
erity of the offense and downplayed the perpetrator's positive actions
.