* + Abstract + The Sociality of Nostalgia + National Nostalgia vs. Personal Nostalgia + National Nostalgia and Outgroup Threat + National Nostalgia and Outgroup Perceptions in the Context of Political Messaging + The Current Study -- https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.555667 Making America Great Again? National Nostalgia's Effect on Outgroup Perceptions -- Richmond, VA, United States Nostalgia is a fond longing for the past that has been shown to increase feelings of meaning, social connectedness, and self-continuity. Although nostalgia for personal memories provides intra- and interpersonal benefits, there may be negative consequences of group-based nostalgia on the perception and acceptance of others. The presented research examined national nostalgia (a form of collective nostalgia), and its effects on group identification and political attitudes in the United States. In a sample of US voters (N = 252), tendencies to feel personal and national nostalgia are associated with markedly different emotional and attitudinal profiles. Higher levels of national nostalgia predicted both positive attitudes toward President Trump and racial prejudice, though there was no evidence of such relationships with personal nostalgia. National nostalgia most strongly predicted positive attitudes toward president Trump among those high in racial prejudice. Furthermore, nostalgia's positive relationship with racial prejudice was partially mediated by perceived outgroup threat. Results from this study will help us better understand how the experience of national nostalgia can influence attitudes and motivate political behavior. -- rhetoric (Skelley, 2017). One concept repeatedly emerged within these discussions as a mainstay of Trump's political appeal: that of nostalgia, broadly defined as a bittersweet longing for the past. Evidence of Trump's appeals to an earlier time in American history have been cited from the beginning of the 2016 presidential campaign through -- voters' latent feelings of threat to their economic welfare, or to the racial or cultural homogeneity of American culture (Brownstein, 2016; Smeekes et al., 2020). On a broad scale, nostalgia focused on nationality is a prominent feature of right-wing populist party rhetoric, and evidence from voters in the Netherlands suggests that the emphasis of stigmatizing outgroups and preserving cultural hegemony within nostalgic messaging is what explains the link between nostalgia and right-wing populist support (Smeekes et al., 2020). In the United States, several studies provide strong evidence of a link between -- has of yet established whether Trump's nostalgic rhetoric may be associated with voters' attitudes toward racial outgroups. To this end, in this paper, we present evidence that national nostalgia, an emotion distinct from personal nostalgia, is associated with increased prejudice as well as support for the populist messaging of Donald Trump. The Sociality of Nostalgia Nostalgia is a mostly positive emotion that increases self-regard, attenuates self-esteem defense, enhances meaning in life, increases perceptions of self-continuity, and lessens feelings of existential threat (Wildschut et al., 2006; Routledge et al., 2008). Most people report experiencing nostalgia on a regular basis (Wildschut et al., 2006) and often structure their present in anticipation of experiencing nostalgia in the future (Cheung et al., 2020). Nostalgia is triggered in various ways, including by music, scents, and reflecting on past momentous events (Barrett et al., 2010; Reid et al., 2015; Sedikides et -- et al., 2008). The social connectedness function of nostalgia is a primary avenue through which nostalgia confers positive psychological benefits. Although nostalgic memories are more likely to be evoked while experiencing negative affect (Wildschut et al., 2006) and loneliness -- memories seem to indirectly regulate these positive emotions by evoking and making more salient one's symbolic connections with others (Sedikides and Wildschut, 2019). For example, nostalgia felt in response to loneliness has been shown to reduce perceptions of isolation and low social support (Zhou et al., 2008). In organizational -- et al., 2015). Importantly, those who are more likely to experience nostalgia (i.e., those high in personal nostalgia) are also more motivated to control prejudicial feelings and reduce their expression of prejudices against outgroups as a result of these positive benefits (Cheung et al., 2017). Four studies of Caucasian Americans examined the links between personal nostalgia and the expression of both blatant and more subtle prejudice toward African Americans (Cheung et al., 2017). They found that the link between personal nostalgia and prejudice reduction was mediated by feelings of empathy, suggesting that the experience of nostalgia offers advantages beyond the self. National Nostalgia vs. Personal Nostalgia The link between nostalgia and sociality becomes more complex when considering nostalgia felt for one's group. Although nostalgia felt at the individual level confers both intra- and interpersonal benefits, group-based nostalgia appears to have a distinct psychological profile from personal nostalgia. Group-based emotions, as distinct from individual-level emotions, arise when individuals self-categorize with a social group and integrate the group into their sense of self (Seger -- Mastro, 2015). Group-based nostalgia—operationalized as nostalgia felt for events shared with one's ingroup, or collective nostalgia—can be experienced in a variety of social settings, including organizations, school classes (e.g., Class of 2021), cities, and nations (Wildschut et al., 2014; Smeekes, 2015; Green et al., 2021). Like individual-level nostalgia, shared memories can include notable events, such as a special performance (band or orchestra), graduation day, homecoming (college class), or sports championships (city). However, unlike individual-level nostalgia, group-based nostalgia can occur in the form of a longing for a past that individuals themselves did not experience, but rather one that was passed down through collective memory (Martinovic et al., 2017). Additionally, collective nostalgia has been shown to increase positive attitudes as well as an approach-oriented action tendency toward the ingroup relative to an individually experienced nostalgic memory (Wildschut et al., 2014, Study 1). Collective nostalgia also can increase group-oriented prosociality (e.g., willingness to volunteer or donate money to help the ingroup; Wildschut et al., 2014; Green et al., 2021). Collective self-esteem -- collective self-esteem, which, in turn, increased intentions to volunteer. Other research has found additional ingroup benefits to collective nostalgia, such a preference for domestic (vs. foreign) consumer products (Dimitriadou et al., 2019) and a promotion of collective political action (in Hong Kong; Cheung et al., 2017). -- an ordinary collective memory) were more willing to punish outgroup members who were unfair to an ingroup member (Wildschut et al., 2014, Study 3). However, in some cases, collective nostalgia might increase intergroup contact when individuals can feel collective nostalgia for a superordinate group (Martinovic et al., 2017). In a study of former Yugoslavians who had settled in Australia, Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs -- ethnic groups). National nostalgia is one type of collective nostalgia that is felt while self-categorizing as a citizen of a specific country, and is likely to be associated with particular intra- and intergroup attitudes and behavioral intentions. Just as personal nostalgia during times of change and upheaval can facilitate coping (e.g., attenuating loneliness) (Zhou et al., 2008), national nostalgia—a reverie for a country's good old days—may increase felt closeness to fellow natives during times of national stress or uncertainty. However, nostalgic revelry at the national level may exclude other citizens, such as recent immigrants or minorities (Smeekes and Jetten, 2019). Studies of national nostalgia among Dutch participants indicated that national nostalgia predicted prejudice toward religious minorities in the country (Smeekes et al., 2014) as well as prejudice toward Muslim countries (Smeekes, 2015). Notably, these outgroup attitudes were not predicted by personal nostalgia, which has been shown to be associated with decreased intergroup prejudice (Cheung et al., 2017). This distinction between personal and national nostalgia may lie in the extent to which outgroups pose an emotional threat to the self. National Nostalgia and Outgroup Threat The intergroup threat theory (Stephan et al., 1999) posits that -- 2a and 2b) prejudice toward non-White outgroups and pro-White attitudinal bias. One possible explanation on why national and personal nostalgia are associated with different intergroup attitudes may be due to different levels of social categorization evoked, leading to differing levels of perceived threat. Personal nostalgia, which is associated with continuity of personal identity (Sedikides et al., 2015a) and evokes strong feelings of social connectedness, also has downstream implications for reducing anxiety and hostility toward outgroup members (for a review, see Sedikides and Wildschut, 2019). In contrast, feeling national nostalgia is associated with self-categorizing at the group level, evoking one's national identity (Smeekes and Verkuyten, 2015). Similar to how personal nostalgia may be evoked when feeling disconnection at the individual level, national nostalgia has been shown to be evoked in response to existential concerns about one's group-based identity, and may have the beneficial effect of reducing anxiety by bolstering perceptions of group continuity and connection (Smeekes et al., 2018). For example, trait national nostalgia among Dutch participants was positively associated with wanting to protect national ingroup identity (Smeekes, 2015). Similarly, a cross-national survey across 27 countries found that existential concerns about the future of one's country predicted increased collective nostalgia, which in turn predicted greater ingroup belonging and anti-immigrant sentiment (Smeekes et al., 2018). However, when the presence or power of outgroups is salient (e.g., chronically or by the rhetoric of politicians), national nostalgia may increase perceived threat. Moreover, ingroup continuity may be threatened by consideration of outgroups (Smeekes et al., 2018). This may be -- distorted—for example, when whites in the United States feel a longing for a (whiter and more homogenized) past that never was. Thus, national nostalgia could increase this fear of the future, leading to increased prejudice. -- ethnic identities, we extended this line of inquiry by examining whether perceived intergroup threat explains any found relationship between national nostalgia and endorsement of symbolic prejudice. National Nostalgia and Outgroup Perceptions in the Context of Political Messaging Recent work has highlighted the prominence of national nostalgia in the rhetoric of right-wing populist political parties, and in particular its role in posing racial or national outgroups as scapegoats for perceived economic or cultural decline (Mols and Jetten, 2014; Smeekes et al., 2020). Political leaders often utilize national nostalgia in rhetorical strategy by emphasizing the discontinuity between a nation's past and present (Mols and Jetten, 2014), which then serves to evoke collective angst about group status (Smeekes et al., 2018). A content analysis of speeches by right-wing populist leaders in Western Europe found consistent themes of nostalgia for their country's “glorious past” while denigrating the country's present, as well as themes emphasizing that a) opponents of the party were the cause of this -- outlet for restoring psychological well-being by denigrating the outgroups believed to be responsible (Smeekes et al., 2018). Indeed, national nostalgia has been shown to explain support for right-wing populist policies and leaders via the denigration of immigrant and racial outgroups (Smeekes et al., 2020). -- To build upon this research, the aim of our study was to directly examine how voters' propensity to feel national nostalgia may explain support for Trump's populist rhetoric as well as increases in racial prejudice in the United States following the 2016 presidential election -- The Current Study We examined the role of national nostalgia in propagating intergroup racial hostility above and beyond political orientation. We explored how national nostalgia relates to political and racial attitudes among voters who participated in the 2016 US presidential election. We also examined the interplay between national nostalgia, pro-Trump attitudes, outgroup prejudice, and perceived outgroup threat. -- office for some time, and whether the nostalgic message of “Making America Great Again” still resonated with voters. Minimal work on national nostalgia has been conducted, and to date, nearly all of this work has been conducted outside of the United States; thus, this research would explore the potential link between national nostalgia and political attitudes as well as study the phenomenon in the US sociopolitical landscape. In addition, we included a validated measure of personal nostalgia in order to better examine the association between personal and national nostalgia as well as to assess whether each type of nostalgia might be associated with political attitudes. Hypotheses -- (https://osf.io/mwh6n). Hypothesis 1. National nostalgia would be positively related to pro-Trump attitudes (1a). No relationship was expected to be found between personal nostalgia and positive attitudes toward President Trump (1b). -- related to pro-Trump attitudes? Research Question 2. Will national nostalgia be positively related to racial prejudice? Research Question 3. Will the relationship between national nostalgia and racial prejudice be mediated by increased threat sensitivity? -- Measures Personal Nostalgia The Southampton Nostalgia Scale (SNS; Routledge et al., 2008) measured personal nostalgia, operationalized as how frequently participants experience nostalgia and how significant participants felt nostalgic experiences were to them. The scale included seven items (e.g., “How valuable is nostalgia for you?”) rated from 1 (Not at all) to 7 (Very much). To build on past national nostalgia research (Smeekes et al., 2014), we use a validated measure of personal nostalgia (proneness to feeling personal nostalgia). National Nostalgia The National Nostalgia Scale (NNS; Smeekes et al., 2014, Study 1) measured participants' propensity to feel nostalgia on the basis of one's national ingroup membership. The scale included four items rated from 1 (Very rarely) to 5 (Very frequently) scale. The NNS used in this -- In terms of political attitudes, we wanted to assess positive sentiment toward the President as related to the experience of nostalgia. Therefore, we used a modified version of the State Functions of Nostalgia Scale (SFN; Hepper et al., 2012), which measures the extent to which nostalgia confers the positive benefits of social connectedness, well-being, self-regard, and overall positive affect. Each item was modified to assess how participants experienced these -- Table 1. To test our hypotheses, we conducted a series of hierarchical linear regression models and bootstrapped mediation and moderation analyses to assess the relationship between nostalgia (national and personal) and political and intergroup attitudes using SPSS v. 20 and Hayes' PROCESS macro v.3 (Hayes, 2013). Following these baseline models, we also support our findings using path analyses employing maximum likelihood estimation using IBM AMOS v. 26 (Due to a computer error, the national nostalgia data from 72 participants were unusable, reducing the n for analyses including national nostalgia to 193, still above the target based on the power analysis). TABLE 1 -- Main Hypothesis We first assessed whether national nostalgia and personal nostalgia would be related to pro-Trump attitudes in the ways previously predicted. National nostalgia and personal nostalgia proneness were entered simultaneously in step 2 of the model to identify their unique relationship with attitudes toward Trump. In step 1 of the hierarchical -- attitudes such that higher conservatism was associated with more positive attitudes of Trump, β = 0.59 t(192) = 10.08, p < 0.001. In step 2 of the model, national nostalgia was associated with more pro-Trump attitudes above and beyond political affiliation, β = 0.30, t(192) = 4.43, p < 0.001, supporting Hypothesis 1a. In contrast, personal nostalgia was not associated with pro-Trump attitudes above and beyond political orientation, β = −0.07, t(192) = −1.13, p = 0.259. Nostalgia predicted a significant proportion of variance in attitudes above and beyond political orientation, F[(2, 189)] = 9.90, p < 0.001, R^2Δ = 0.06. -- To examine this relationship in a consolidated path model^5, Figure 1 displays Path Model 1, quantifying the relationship between national and personal nostalgia and race, political orientation, ethnic identity salience, and pro-Trump attitudes. The model fit the data somewhat weakly due to the lower sample size [χ2(1) = 23.01, p < 0.001; CFI = 0.89; RMSEA = 0.34; SRMR = 0.03]. As shown in Model 1, Hypothesis 1 was again supported: national nostalgia predicted pro-Trump attitudes (β = 0.24, p < 0.001), whereas personal nostalgia was unrelated to pro-Trump attitudes (β = −0.08, p = 0.156). FIGURE 1 -- Figure 1. Path analysis of relationships between national/personal nostalgia, ethnic identity, and pro-Trump attitudes (Model 1). Note. Path coefficients represent standardized estimates. -- We also examined whether racial identity salience qualified the relationship between national nostalgia and pro-Trump attitudes. A moderation analysis using Hayes' PROCESS macro (model 1) indicated that higher racial identity salience somewhat strengthened the relationship between national nostalgia and positive attitudes toward Trump, but only among White participants; ΔR^2 = 0.03, F[(1, 77)] = 3.94, p = 0.051. Among those low in racial identity salience, national nostalgia was unrelated to attitudes toward Trump; b = 0.27, 95% CI = (−0.03, 0.58). Those moderate [b = 0.43, 95% CI = (0.18, 70)] and high [b = 0.64, 95% CI = (0.31, 0.97)] in racial identity salience showed a strong relationship between national nostalgia and pro-Trump attitudes. As a final examination of Research Question 1, a second path model (Path Model 2, Figure 4) was compared with Path Model 1 to again examine the interaction between nostalgia and ethnic identity (on pro-Trump attitudes), and the interaction between political orientation and race (assessing its relationship with ethnic identity). When -- on a continuous scale) was not significantly associated with ethnic identity (β = −0.08, p = 0.210). Additionally, the interaction term between national nostalgia and ethnic identity was no longer associated with pro-Trump attitudes (β = 0.13, p = 0.607). This suggests that for White participants, greater national nostalgia was associated with increased ethnic identity. FIGURE 4 -- Figure 4. Path analysis estimating interaction effects (race × political orientation and ethnic identity × nostalgia) on pro-Trump attitudes. Note. Path coefficients represent standardized estimates. Research Question 2 We next examined whether national nostalgia was positively related to racial prejudice. Bivariate correlations indicated that national nostalgia was positively associated with both anti-Black racial prejudice measured by the Symbolic Racism Scale (SRS) as well as perceived realistic threat measured by the Realistic Threat Scale (RTS, see Table 1). To further examine the link between national nostalgia and racial prejudice, we tested whether racial prejudice moderated the link between national nostalgia and positive attitudes toward President Trump using Hayes' PROCESS macro (model 1) with 5,000 resamples. A significant moderation effect was identified. Participants reporting higher prejudice exhibited a stronger relationship between national nostalgia and pro-Trump attitudes; ΔR^2 = 0.05, F[(1, 178)] = 19.60, p < 0.001. Simple slopes were calculated and visualized using the interActive online utility, and are presented in Figure 5 (McCabe et al., 2018). The relationship between national nostalgia and positive attitudes toward Trump was non-significant at low levels of prejudice (those at least −1 SD below the mean of SNS). However, for those moderate to high in racial prejudice (0, +1, or +2 SDs above the mean of SNS), national nostalgia positively predicted pro-Trump attitudes (see Figure 5). Interestingly, this effect was found separately for both White [ΔR^2 = 0.03, F[(1, 77)] = 5.93, p = 0.02] and Black participants [ΔR^2 = 0.09, F[(1, 97)] = 17.44, p < 0.001], but there was no significant three-way interaction between national nostalgia, prejudice, and race (p = 0.14), so the results in Figure 5 are displayed for all participants. -- www.frontiersin.org Figure 5. Relationship between national nostalgia and pro-Trump attitudes moderated by anti-Black racial prejudice. Note. Plots display simple slopes at −2, −1, 0, +1, and +2 SDs away from the mean of racial -- Research Question 3 Will the relationship between national nostalgia and racial prejudice be mediated by increased threat sensitivity? We last examined whether the relationship between national nostalgia and racial prejudice would be mediated by outgroup threat perception (measured by the Realistic Threat Scale, RTS). A moderated mediation -- European-American and African-American participants. As shown in Figure 6, the model indicated a significant indirect effect of national nostalgia on prejudice through the mediator of perceived threat for both White/EA participants [β = 0.23, 95% CI = (0.12, 0.36)] and Black/AA participants [β = 0.22, 95% CI = (0.13, 0.32)]. The -- www.frontiersin.org Figure 6. Mediation of national nostalgia relationship with racial prejudice by outgroup threat perception, moderated by participant race. To examine this question in the context of a path model, Path Model 3 (Figure 7) displays the proposed relationships between national nostalgia and racial prejudice. Model 3 showed a moderate fit with the data, χ(2) = 65.80, p < 0.001; CFI = 0.79; RMSEA = 0.41; SRMR = 0.07). When accounting for political orientation, race, national nostalgia, personal nostalgia, racial threat sensitivity, and racial prejudice in a structural equation mediation model, national nostalgia directly predicted racial prejudice (β = 0.21, p < 0.001), whereas personal nostalgia did not (β = 0.03, p = 0.581). The relationship between national nostalgia and racial prejudice was significantly mediated by threat sensitivity [indirect effect β = 0.18, 95% bias-corrected CI (0.10, 0.26)]. Interestingly, personal nostalgia also showed a weak indirect effect on national nostalgia via threat sensitivity, but in a negative direction [indirect effect β = −0.07, 95% bias-corrected CI (−0.14, −0.01)]. This suggests that greater personal nostalgia may weakly predict lower racial prejudice via reduced racial threat sensitivity. -- Figure 7. Path analysis of relationships between national/personal nostalgia and prejudice, mediated by racial threat sensitivity (Model 3). Note. Path coefficients represent standardized estimates. Indirect effect of national nostalgia on racial prejudice through racial threat sensitivity was significant [β = 0.18; 95% bias-corrected CI (0.10, 0.26)]. -- Discussion In our study, national nostalgia was associated with more positive feelings about President Trump, as well as increased perceived racial threat among White respondents. In contrast, personal nostalgia was unrelated to support for Trump or perceived racial threat. When assessed in a path model, personal nostalgia was actually associated indirectly with lower anti-Black prejudice via decreased racial threat sensitivity. These findings align with evidence from samples outside the United States (e.g., Smeekes and Verkuyten, 2015; Smeekes et al., 2020) that personal and national nostalgia are distinct experiences with unique ramifications for intergroup attitudes and relations. Though our overall finding that national nostalgia predicted Trump support could reflect a strong semantic connection between Trump and its 2016 presidential campaign slogan, it also may point to the appeal of Trump's campaign—and its right wing, populist sentiments—among those initially prone to feeling national nostalgia. To better answer this question, our next analyses investigated more closely the relationship between national nostalgia and identity. Our first research question asked whether identity was associated with national nostalgia. We found partial evidence for this idea, as Republican participants expressed greater positive attitudes toward Trump. However, there was no evidence of a relationship between race -- Trump's messaging appealed mostly to White voters. However, although race itself did not predict support for the President, racial identity salience moderated the link between national nostalgia and pro-Trump attitudes. White Republicans felt more strongly connected to their racial identity than Whites who identified as either Democrats or -- that the threat to White identity, along with other related constructs, may influence political attitudes and may also offer an explanation on why leaders invoking national nostalgia may be so attractive to some individuals. This type of rhetoric typically emphasizes collective identity discontinuity in order to foment anxiety about the state of -- The role of intergroup attitudes was apparent when examining the relationship between national nostalgia and pro-Trump support. We found that national nostalgia significantly predicted racial prejudice and that this relationship was mediated by perceived outgroup threat. Interestingly, this mediational effect was found among both White/EA and Black/AA participants, although the lack of a significant interaction effect may have been due to lower power. Additionally, we found a stronger relationship between national nostalgia and pro-Trump attitudes among those who reported more prejudice toward Black individuals. These findings align with evidence that group emotions -- when outgroups are perceived to be a threat (Smith et al., 2007; Wildschut et al., 2014). In particular, these findings align with converging evidence that the content of collective nostalgia—what individuals perceive to be “the good old days” for their identity group—reflects salient sources of perceived threat (Wohl et al., 2020). This conceptual model, highlighting the content of collective nostalgia, also explains differences between the emotional outcomes of personal and national nostalgia. Whereas, personal nostalgia enhances feelings of belonging by evoking memories of positive intrapersonal experiences in the face of ostracism or loneliness, national nostalgia may enhance belongingness by evoking positive thoughts about the “good old days” when one's group was perceived to be higher in status or less threatened by outgroups. It is also possible that national nostalgia, like personal nostalgia, may enhance feelings of continuity in its own way, by allowing individuals to feel connected to a time in which they believed their ingroup identity was less threatened or somehow stronger. Recent work supports the notion that, analogous to personal nostalgia, enhancing feelings of self-continuity (Sedikides and Wildschut, 2019), national nostalgia is linked to feelings of ingroup continuity (Smeekes et al., 2018). A study across 27 countries found that national nostalgia was associated with stronger feelings of ingroup continuity (Smeekes et al., 2018); ingroup belonging but not prejudice (outgroup rejection) appeared to mediate this link. Since relatively little research on collective nostalgia, particularly national nostalgia, has been undertaken, future work should examine these questions via multiple methods, particularly longitudinal and experimental designs, which can identify whether and to what extent self-continuity is enhanced by (or itself predicts) collective nostalgia in response to outgroup threat. Constraint on Generalizability -- Additionally, these considerations of intergroup threat perception and prejudice are most generalizable to White/EA and Black/AA social groups within the United States, and future analysis of national nostalgia should continue to assess different ethnicities, races, and other relevant social categories. -- Future Directions These findings raise the question on whether national nostalgia stems from a desire by some to go back in time, due to perceived group identity threats. Future research should employ longitudinal or experimental methods, such as manipulating identity threat, to examine whether national nostalgia arises as a defense against perceived threats to one's ingroup. Relatedly, it is only recently that national nostalgia has been manipulated (Smeekes and Verkuyten, 2015; Wohl et al., 2020), as the majority of national nostalgia research has been at the trait level. Further work evoking national nostalgia in experimental contexts would allow us to better understand how this emotion interacts with intergroup attitudes, prejudice, and feelings of -- An additional question to be explored is the extent to which national nostalgia operates within specific cultures and nations. Although Trump's presidential tenure has ended, the importance of these findings is not constrained only to the rhetoric from his campaign. Rather, the use of national nostalgia in political communication is widespread (Mols and Jetten, 2014; Smeekes et al., 2020) and has far-reaching implications. Future research should examine the role of national nostalgia in shaping attitudes toward demagogues in a variety of settings and when considering a variety of societal outcomes. Our findings suggest that national nostalgia may influence intergroup attitudes as a group-based emotion broadly through evoking positive emotions about one's national group identity. However, the nature of -- recent history, and a call to return to a former time may imply a call for a return to a former and less egalitarian social hierarchy. Future research on national nostalgia should explore the nuances of this emotion and its expression among various ethnic and social groups in different countries. Expressions of national nostalgia may evoke intergroup hostility to a lesser extent within nations with different histories. -- Coda National nostalgia, a form of collective nostalgic experience, is a promising lens through which to analyze attitudes, such as political and prejudicial attitudes, particularly when combined with assessments of identity salience and perceived outgroup threat. Research to date on national nostalgia is relatively new. Although this phenomenon has been studied elsewhere (mostly in European and Asian nations), this is the first study, to our knowledge, to examine the US political landscape. Personal nostalgia—a wistful longing for one's personal past—does not have the same associations with political and group attitudes, and only moderately correlates with national nostalgia. In contrast, national nostalgia, particularly in combination with white identity salience and outgroup threat perception, predicted both prejudice and political attitudes. There may be some irony in the possibility that national nostalgia may include beliefs for a past that never was; in this case, an America that was not as white as some recollect. Nevertheless, these national -- group to the Caucasian sample. 3. ^The Pearson correlation between national nostalgia and outgroup prejudice reported by Smeekes and Verkuyten, 2015, study 2). -- time this study was developed. 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