In four studies, we investigated the role of remembering, reflecting on, and mutating personal past moral transgressions to learn from those moral mistakes and to form intentions for moral improvement. Participants reported having ruminated on their past wrongdoings, particularly their more severe transgressions, and they reported having frequently thought about morally better ways in which they could have acted instead (i.e., morally upward counterfactuals; Studies 1–3). The more that participants reported having mentally simulated morally better ways in which they could have acted, the stronger their intentions were to improve in the future (Studies 2 and 3). Implementing an experimental manipulation, we then found that making accessible a morally upward counterfactual after committing a moral transgression strengthened reported intentions for moral improvement—relative to resimulating the remembered event and considering morally worse ways in which they could have acted instead (Study 4). We discuss the implications of these results for competing theoretical views on the relationship between memory and morality and for functional theories of counterfactual thinking.

中文翻译：

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对过去错误行为的记忆和反事实模拟促进道德学习和改进

在四项研究中，我们调查了记忆、反思和改变个人过去的道德违规行为以从这些道德错误中吸取教训并形成道德改进意图的作用。参与者报告说他们对过去的错误行为进行了反思，特别是他们更严重的违规行为，并且他们报告说经常考虑他们可以采取的更好的道德行为方式（即道德向上的反事实；研究 1-3）。参与者报告说，他们在心理上模拟出更好的道德行为方式，他们未来改善的意图就越强烈（研究 2 和 3）。实施实验操作，然后我们发现，在犯下道德违规后，让道德上向上的反事实变得容易理解会加强报告的道德改进意图——相对于重新模拟记忆中的事件并考虑他们本可以采取的道德上更糟糕的方式来代替（研究 4）。我们讨论了这些结果对关于记忆和道德之间关系的竞争理论观点以及反事实思维的功能理论的影响。