Cognitive reconstruction, hindsight, and reactions to victims and perpetrators

Two studies provide evidence that reconstructive memory contributes to the hindsight bias. In the first study, participants read identical scenarios that either had no ending or ended with a rape. Those receiving the rape ending reconstructed the story to be more stereotypically associated with rape than did those in the no-ending condition. In the second study, participants read an identical scenario that ended in a marriage proposal or a rape. Participants' memories of the events in the story were reconstructed to be stereotypically consistent with whichever ending they received. The hindsight bias was obtained in both studies; participants rated the ending they received as more likely than participants not receiving that ending. Fm both studies, regression analyses revealed causal paths in which the ending of the story predicted stereotypical memories, which predicted the hindsight bias. The hindsight bias predicted derogation of the characters in the stories.