Dealing with divergent narratives after a transgression

Victims and offenders tend to remember and recount transgressions differently. What does this mean for reconciliation prospects? This study tested whether being confronted with a victim's divergent account reduces offenders' engagement with the victim's point of view, and offenders' willingness to reconcile. Furthermore, we tested whether leading offenders to recommit to the values violated by their transgression increases offenders' engagement with the divergent perspective. A 2 (divergent narrative; similar narrative) x 2 (value recommitment; no value recommitment) between-subjects design (N = 130) showed that narrative divergence increased negative attributions to a victim's character, although there was no effect on conciliatory attitudes. Results also suggested that value recommitment may improve offender engagement with a victim's perspective by moderating the effects of narrative divergence on guilt, shame and offender perspective-taking.