When long memories become a liability

It appears that judgmental views can distort memory.

Viewing a person as dishonest or immoral can distort memory, a Cornell study suggests. So much so, that when we attempt to recall that person's behavior, it seems to be worse than it really was.
"In other words, our study shows that morally blaming a person can distort memory for the severity of his or her crime or misbehavior," said David Pizarro, assistant professor of psychology at Cornell.

The obvious result is that this leads to a self-reinforcing cycle, as memory may be distorted to reinforce existing judgmental biases. Similarly, I would not be surprised if viewing a person as honest or moral results also in polarizing distortions in a partisan manner.

Distorion of memory combined with the tendency of partisan ideologues to ignore problematic facts leads to the obvious conclusion that partisans are further at risk of creating flawed cognitive realities due to biased recall.