Research

Collective Memory and Future Thinking

Collective memory isn't just about the past; it also involves future projections. This research area explores how people draw on past collective events to build images of what might come next. We investigate the relation between past and future collective events in terms of phenomenal details, valence, and perceived agency. Our findings show that remembering the collective past and imagining the collective future are tightly connected. Moreover, people generally feel more positive about their nation's future than its past and this relative optimism is related to the agency people attribute to their nation. We continue to explore the factors involved in such "collective mental time travel".

  • Topcu, M. N. & Hirst, W. (2022). Collective mental time travel: Current research and future directions. Progress in Brain Research, 274(1), 71-97. Link

  • Topcu, M. N. & Hirst, W. (2020). Remembering a nation's past to imagine its future: The role of event specificity, phenomenology, valence, and perceived agency. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 46(3), 563-579. Link

  • Merck, C., Topcu, M. N., & Hirst, W. (2016). Collective mental time travel: Creating a shared future through our shared past. Memory Studies, 9(3), 284-294. Link

The Intersection of Personal and Collective Cognition

As human beings we cannot isolate ourselves from the communities that we are part of. In this line of research, we investigate the intersection of personal and collective experiences, focusing on how events at the societal level, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, shape individual memory and future thinking. During the pandemic, our longitudinal study revealed that personal and collective future perceptions converged, with shifts in emotional valence and perceived agency playing a key role. In a second longitudinal study we explored emotional reactions, perceived agency, and behavior in the U.S. and China during COVID-19, showing how personal and collective memories and future projections evolved during the pandemic.
Additionally, research on flashbulb memories (FBM) demonstrated that personal recollections of public events, such as the U.S. Capitol Riots, influence how people envision the collective future, highlighting the role of memory in shaping cultural narratives. These findings illuminate the dynamic interplay between personal and collective cognition in times of societal upheaval.

  • Topçu, M. N. & Hirst, W. (2024). When the personal and the collective intersects: Memory, future thinking, and perceived agency during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 153(9), 2258- 2278. Link

  • Cheriet, N.*, Topçu, M. N.*, Bastin, C., Hirst W., & Folville, A. (2023). A day that America will remember: Flashbulb memory, collective memory, and future thinking for the Capitol Riots. Memory, 31(5), 715-731, (*Equal contribution). Link

  • Topçu, M. N., Wang, Z., & Hirst, W. (in prep.). Past, present, and future perceptions of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US and in China: A longitudinal exploration.

National Narratives and Future Goals

Narratives play an important role in structuring how we remember the past, but they are also critical in our imagination of the future. This line of research explores how collective memory, and national narratives shape collective future thinking.
Building on the concept of schematic narrative templates and national narrative projects, we studied narratives and future thinking in the American context with a focus on the narrative of American Exceptionalism. The findings revealed that recalling national past events through narratives facilitates imagining the collective future in a similar narrative structure. Activating deeper national narratives further strengthens this connection, offering experimental evidence for the role of narrative organization in linking the collective past and future.
Narratives usually involve an explicit or implicit "telos" for the future, which can manifest itself in specific national goals. Therefore, in a second project we explore how national goals structure collective future thinking. Our analysis revealed that people view their nation to be more agentic when they imagine the national future through goals, this increase in agency was in turn related to an increase in positivity. Ongoing work examines how media and past events influence these processes, and their combined effect on collective action.

  • Topçu, M. N., Wertsch, J., & Hirst, W. (in prep.). The role of narratives in collective future thinking: The case of American exceptionalism.

  • Topçu, M. N. (2024). National goals and collective future thinking: Structural influences. Psychonomic Society 65th Annual Meeting, New York, NY; USA.

Collective Anxiety and Political Elections

Narratives can structure future thinking and with it emotional experiences like collective anxiety. In this line of research we examine the interplay of memory, future thinking, and collective anxiety in the context of political elections. Through studies conducted during the 2023 Turkish presidential and 2024 Istanbul local elections, this research reveals how collective remembering can influence the experience of collective anxieties along sociopolitical identities. Findings indicate that recalling national past events heightened collective anxiety and nostalgia, particularly among opposition voters. The results highlighted how schematic narrative templates influence group-based emotions and perceptions of agency.
In ongoing studies, we explore these dynamics in the context of the 2024 Georgian parliamentary elections and 2024 U.S. presidential elections, aiming to replicate and extend findings in different sociopolitical landscapes. This line of work provides critical insights into how memory and narrative frameworks shape collective anxieties, influencing attitudes and behaviors during high-stakes political events.

  • Topçu, M. N., Mutaf, S., & Boduroglu, A. (submitted). Collective memory and future thinking shape the experience of collective anxiety in the context of elections.

  • Sözer, E., Topçu, M. N., Boduroglu, A. (2024). What's next? Turkish general elections as a historic moment for remembering the past and projecting the future. Psychonomic Society 65th Annual Meeting, New York, NY, USA.