Unethical amnesia is the tendency to forget the dishonest actions we commit, or to remember them in a blurred or very limited way. While we remember the immoral actions of others with precision, we tend to remember our own similar actions less easily.[1] This phenomenon is thought to help maintain self-esteem and limit bad conscience or fear of punishment.[2][3] The phenomenon has been studied by Harvard University in the US, and by the CNRS in France.
References
- ^ "Scientists say there's such a thing as "ethical amnesia" and it's probably happened to you". Quartz. 2016-05-16. Retrieved 2025-01-06.
- ^ "Unethical Amnesia: Why We Tend to Forget Our Own Bad Behavior | Working Knowledge". Harvard Business School. 2016-05-18. Retrieved 2025-01-06.
- ^ Baer, Drake (2016-05-19). "'Unethical Amnesia' Explains Why People Conveniently Forget Their Awful Behavior". The Cut. Retrieved 2025-01-06.
Further reading
- Kouchaki, Maryam; Gino, Francesca (2016). "Memories of unethical actions become obfuscated over time". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 113 (22): 6166–6171. Bibcode:2016PNAS..113.6166K. doi:10.1073/pnas.1523586113. PMC 4896721. PMID 27185941.
- Galeotti, Fabio; Saucet, Charlotte; Villeval, Marie Claire (2020). "Unethical amnesia responds more to instrumental than to hedonic motives". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 117 (41): 25423–25428. Bibcode:2020PNAS..11725423G. doi:10.1073/pnas.2011291117. PMC 7568269. PMID 32989133.
- Xu, Xinyi Julia; Mobbs, Dean; Wu, Haiyan (2024). "Unethical amnesia brain: Memory and metacognitive distortion induced by dishonesty". bioRxiv 10.1101/2024.03.03.583239.