The influence of negative incident with significant others on subjective temporal distance

Abstract

The need to belong is a fundamental social motive. Previous research have shown that victims forgive transgressors over time as a result of such motive (Wohl & McGrath, 2007). From this standpoint, we hypothesized that the victims, compared to the transgressors, recall their transgression with a significant other as being more distant in the past. In experiment 1, participants recalled a past transgression with a significant other either from a victim's or a transgressor's viewpoint, and reported the subjective temporal distance from the incident. As a result, the victims reported feeling more distant from the incident than the transgressors. In experiment 2, participants recalled a past transgression with either a significant or a non-significant other, either from a victim's or a transgressor's viewpoint, and reported the subjective temporal distance from the incident. Consistent with experiment 1, victims reported feeling more distant than transgressors when the transgression was between significant others, but the difference between victims and transgressors was not significant when it was between non-significant others. The results were consistent with our hypotheses. The influence of the need to belong on reconstructive autobiographical memory is discussed.View full abstract