Perceived societal anomie and the implicit trajectory of national decline: Replicating and extending Yamashiro and Roediger (2019) within a French sample

Abstract

To date, most research has investigated people’s representations of the national past and future separately and the few that examined the relationships between the two overlooked the role of the group’s present. The present study aimed to replicate previous results showing an implicit trajectory of national decline among Americans within a French sample and additionally examined whether perceived societal anomie— that is, perceiving that present society is disintegrated and disregulated—would accentuate this trajectory of decline. Results first showed a positivity bias for the French past and a negativity bias for the French future; thus, replicating previous results showing an implicit trajectory of national decline in another national context. Moreover, the trajectory of decline was steeper for participants who perceived present French society as highly anomic; but only because they projected more negative national futures. Explanations for the conflicting results in the literature regarding valence biases in collective memory are discussed.