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Forgetting and blame: When cognitive lapses excuse and when they backfire
Matthew Stanley1, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong2
1Department of Management and Organisation, National University of Singapore Business School.
Journal of Experimental Psychology. Applied
|May 11, 2026
Summary
Appealing to forgetting often backfires, increasing blame because failures are seen as preventable. However, forgetting can reduce blame if the failure seems less preventable due to effort or cognitive impairment.
Area of Science:
- Moral Psychology
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Forgetting is frequently used to excuse failures in obligations and duties.
- The impact of forgetting on blame attribution remains incompletely understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate when and why forgetting mitigates or exacerbates blame.
- To examine the role of perceived preventability in mediating the relationship between forgetting and blame.
Main Methods:
- Seven preregistered experiments involving 6,181 participants.
- Investigated blame judgments following failures attributed to forgetting.
Main Results:
- Under normal conditions, citing forgetting increases blame, as failures are perceived as preventable.
- Perceived preventability mediates the effect, leading to heightened blame and impacting compensatory justice.
- Forgetting reduces blame when failures are less preventable (e.g., due to effort or cognitive impairment).
Conclusions:
- Judgments of preventability are crucial in determining the moral impact of cognitive lapses.
- Findings refine theories of blame and have implications for law, policy, and organizational behavior.
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