Implicit intertemporal trajectories in cognitive representations of the self and nation

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Mental representations of the self and collectives can follow intertemporal trajectories (progress, decline, stasis).
• Major public events, like COVID-19 restrictions, may influence these temporal self and collective perceptions.
• Implicit temporal trajectories are inferred from cognitive availability of positive/negative events across time (past memory vs. imagined future).

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the relationship between intertemporal trajectories for the self and the nation.
• To investigate how these trajectories changed during and after COVID-19 restrictions in American and British samples.
• To explore the influence of major public events on personal and collective temporal thought.

Main Methods:

• Assessed implicit temporal trajectories via cognitive availability of positive and negative events across time.
• Collected data from American and British samples at the beginning and end of major COVID-19 restrictions.
• Analyzed explicit beliefs about national progress, decline, and hope.

Main Results:

• At the start of COVID-19 restrictions, both personal and collective temporal thought showed implicit decline trajectories (future less positive than memory).
• Personal implicit decline trajectories attenuated after restrictions lifted, suggesting reversibility of positivity biases.
• Collective temporal thought exhibited a pervasive negativity bias, with the future consistently perceived as more negative than the past, irrespective of restrictions.

Conclusions:

• Major public events can override typical positivity biases in personal temporal thought.
• Collective temporal thought demonstrates a persistent negativity bias, particularly concerning the national future.
• Explicit national beliefs align with implicit temporal biases in collective thought.