When the Personal and the Collective Intersects: Memory, Future Thinking, and Perceived Agency During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Do collective crises have an impact on the characteristics of mental time travel for individuals and collectives? The COVID-19 pandemic provides a unique context to address this question due to the intersection it created between the personal and the collective domains. In two studies (N = 273), we examined the valence and perceived agency involved in memory and future thinking for personal and collective domains. The second study also included a longitudinal component with 43 participants completing both studies. In research done prior to the pandemic, a valence-based dissociation between personal and collective events was consistently observed in Western samples. We wanted to see if these patterns changed during different stages of the pandemic. In the first study, participants no longer exhibited the usual positivity bias for the personal future, while in the second study, they did not exhibit the usual negativity bias for the collective future. The second aim of the current article was to assess the agency people attribute to themselves and their nation over events and how that relates to valence. People always attributed more agency to themselves over positive events than negative events in both personal and collective domains. Perceived nation agency, however, was associated with positivity in the collective domain but with negativity in the personal domain. Longitudinal analyses confirmed these patterns. Taken together, these results indicate that a collective crisis that has immediate and profound effects on personal lives can alter the patterns observed for mental time travel, especially for the future. © 2024 American Psychological Association