Toward a more positive outlook for the collective future: The role of tangible experiences and identity.

Abstract

People tend to view the collective future, and the national future in particular, in a negative light. However, recent theoretical and empirical work has suggested that tangible experiences and group identification may support a more positive collective outlook. Across two preregistered studies (N = 597), participants indicated how positive/negative they expected the future of their family and country to be in the next 10-20 years, how central their family and country were to their identity, and the extent to which they had tangible experiences with or on behalf of their country. Consistent with prior research, participants consistently viewed the future of their country in a less positive (and more negative) light than their family, although this valence-based difference was diminished for participants who identified more closely with their country than their family. Similarly, participants who reported more tangible experiences with or on behalf of their country were more positive about the national future. Mediation analyses revealed that the impact of tangible experiences on a positive national outlook was mediated by increases in identification with country. Taken together, the data indicate that tangible experiences with abstract entities (i.e., nations) may play an important role in creating a more positive outlook about the collective future. Implications for collective cognition research are discussed.