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Heroic Memory: Remembering the Details of Others' Heroism in the Aftermath of a Traumatic Public Event Can Foster Our Own Prosocial Response
Author(s) -
Ford Jaclyn Hennessey,
Gaesser Brendan,
DiBiase Haley,
Berro Tala,
Young Liane,
Kensinger Elizabeth
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
applied cognitive psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.719
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1099-0720
pISSN - 0888-4080
DOI - 10.1002/acp.3377
Subject(s) - prosocial behavior , psychology , narrative , event (particle physics) , social psychology , helping behavior , empathy , developmental psychology , linguistics , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics
Summary Humans, while not wholly altruistic, will often come together to selflessly support and provide aid to others in need. To date, little attention has been paid to how memory for such positive events in the aftermath of a traumatic event can influence subsequent behavior. The current study examined how the way in which people represent and remember helping events immediately following the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing related to their tendency to support Boston‐related charities in the following months. People who recalled helping‐related events in greater detail reported engaging in more helping behaviors in the following months. The relation between memory narratives and reports of helping behavior six months later has important implications for future work investigating the role of memory‐based mechanisms in citizens' decisions to provide aid in times of collective need.Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.