A Cultural Psychological Analysis of Collective Memory as Mediated Action: Constructions of Indian History

A Cultural Psychological Analysis of Collective Memory as Mediated Action: Constructions of Indian History

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The present research applies a cultural psychological perspective on collective memory as mediated action to examine how constructions of a national past serve as tools that both reflect and shape national identity concerns.We employ a situation-sampling method to investigate collective memory in a series of studies concerning intergroup relations in the Indian context.In Study 1, participants (N = 55) generated three historical events that they considered important/relevant for Indian history.In Study 2, participants (N = 95) rated the importance and relevance of these events Lamps in a within-participant design.Illuminating the psychological constitution of cultural reality, frequency of recall (Study 1) and ratings of importance/relevance (Study 2) were greater for nation-glorifying events celebrating ingroup triumph than for typically silenced, critical events acknowledging ingroup wrongdoing.

Moreover, these patterns were stronger among participants who scored higher in national identification.In Studies 3 (N = 65) and 4 (N = 160), we exposed participants to different categories of events in a between-participants design.Illuminating the cultural constitution of psychological experience, participants exposed to typically silenced, critical events reported lower national identification and greater perception of injustice Circle Jewelry Dish_FULL against marginalized groups than did participants exposed to nation-glorifying events.Together, results illuminate a conception of collective memory as mediated action.Producers invest memory products with an identity-interested charge that directs subsequent intergroup relations toward identity-consistent ends.