Course Description: This course is based upon material published in the International Journal of Applied Psychology is available as an open access article.

This study examined cultural effects on memory for interpersonal transgressions and the relation to self-acceptance. Asian and European American college students each recalled two specific incidents, one in which they hurt or wronged others (perpetrator memory) and one in which others hurt or wronged them (victim memory). Although both Asians and European Americans tended to minimize the harm in the perpetrator memory and maximize the harm in the victim memory, Asians exhibited a greater degree of harm minimization in both types of memories than did European Americans. Furthermore, for the victim memory, harm maximization (i.e., amplifying harms done by others) was negatively associated with self-acceptance for Asians, whereas harm minimization (i.e., downplaying harms done by others) was negatively associated with self-acceptance for European Americans. The culturally divergent implications of self-serving and relationship-serving biases in constructing interpersonal transgression memories are discussed.

This course on interpersonal transgression memory and self-acceptance is designed for social workers, professional counselors, psychologists, nurses, and substance abuse counselors, who do clinical work.  This course is appropriate for beginning, intermediate and advanced level practitioners who wish to develop their understanding of the influence culture has on interpersonal transgression memory. The course material includes a literature review of a conducted study having to do with interpersonal transgression memory among different cultures. It may also be useful for licensed clinicians who require clinical continuing education courses for license renewal.  

The course is based on a journal article which includes research.  It contains statistical analysis and data that some clinicians enjoy reading and others do not.  A major benefit of reading research based articles for continuing education is they provide practitioners with the latest findings in their field.  

Authors:  Song, Wang

Learning Objectives: This course will provide the practitioner with detailed information regarding interpersonal transgression memory among different cultures. Specifically, a professional will:

• Describe the influence culture imposes on interpersonal transgression memory.

• Identify culture, self-serving bias, and relationship-serving bias.

• Recognize what self-serving motivation is and how it relates to interpersonal transgression memory and self-acceptance.