Name: Making America Great Again? National Nostalgia Influences Political and Racial Perceptions - The Debrief
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Making America Great Again? National Nostalgia Influences Political and Racial Perceptions - The Debrief

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“People’s views of the past can be based on misperceptions or flawed memories—even of their own experiences,”&nbsp; professor of psychology at N.C. State University and lead-author on the recent study, Dr. Anna Behler, explained to The Debrief in an email. “National nostalgia specifically, people can have a sentimental view of a time that they themselves never been a part of, and may have experienced only secondhand through the lens of storytelling, TV shows, or films that portrays the past in a very specific light.”&nbsp;&nbsp;“Personal nostalgia is all based on experience, even if the memories naturally become somewhat distorted over time, whereas national nostalgia can occur even when someone has not experienced something for themselves,” explained Dr. Behler.“I think that the ambiguity of the phrase was actually part of its political effectiveness, in that it could have a unique significance for every voter. In terms of relating to national nostalgia, the phrase “Make America Great Again” likely spoke to some voters’ desires to recreate a time when they felt America was “better off” as a country—whenever and however they perceive that to be,” Dr. Behler told The Debrief.When it comes to the question of whether national nostalgia can invoke positive perception for majority ingroups, while eliciting negative views from minority outgroups, “I think that it can, and we saw some evidence of this in open-ended responses that we collected that were not a part of this particular paper,” said Dr. Behler.“A number of our participants indicated that they viewed the phrase “Make America Great Again” as calling back to a time when members of marginalized groups faced significant oppression, or that it was a coded way of expressing a desire to reverse social progress. However, this does not mean that minority groups cannot have a positive view of a nation’s past. As we mention in the article, national nostalgia seems to be influenced by a combination of various facets of a person’s identity, such as age, racial/ethnic background, and political views (just to name a few). I suspect the time period being referenced would also play a role here (for example, I’m sure many Democratic voters experienced a sense of nostalgia for the Obama years during the Trump presidency, and over time, Republican voters may feel the same way during the Biden presidency).”&nbsp;&nbsp;See Also&nbsp;When it comes to the idea that people inherently are more likely to have positive feelings toward the past and more apprehension towards the unknown future, “This is a really interesting question, and some people are certainly more likely to experience nostalgia more often, and garner greater psychological benefits from personal nostalgia than others,” said Dr. Behler. “However, I don’t know if a direct comparison between how people view the past and future has been explored yet. We do know that personal nostalgia can certainly influence our future perspectives, and some recent research suggests that nostalgia can inspire creativity and motivate us towards future goals.”Follow and connect with author Tim McMillan on Twitter:Don’t forget to follow us on,, and, to weigh in and share your thoughts. You can also get all the latest&nbsp; news and exciting feature content from The Debrief on, and. And subscribe to to check out all of The Debrief’s exciting original shows:

“People’s views of the past can be based on misperceptions or flawed memories—even of their own experiences,”&nbsp; professor of psychology at N.C. State University and lead-author on the recent study, Dr. Anna Behler, explained to The Debrief in an email. “National nostalgia specifically, people can have a sentimental view of a time that they themselves never been a part of, and may have experienced only secondhand through the lens of storytelling, TV shows, or films that portrays the past in a very specific light.”&nbsp;&nbsp;“Personal nostalgia is all based on experience, even if the...

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Tim McMillan is a retired police lieutenant, investigative reporter and co-founder of The Debrief. His writing covers defense, science, and the intelligence community. You can follow him at lttimmcmillan.com and on Twitter @lttimmcmillan.

https://thedebrief.org/author/tim-mcmillan/

Tim McMillan

Science, technology, and defense news for the bold and rebelliously curious. Send tips to tips@thedebrief.org.

Making America Great Again? National Nostalgia Influences Political and Racial Perceptions - The Debrief

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