“Narratives of our past:” Taking a journey through history for collective well‐being

Abstract

Past research on life satisfaction is examined mostly at the individual level and with attention to the influence of demographics, personality, and intergroup factors. There has been little, if any, research on how historical narratives affect subjective satisfaction. The current study interviewed a national sample of 1,516 Singapore citizens on how they perceive the history of Singapore. The results identified three distinct narratives that can be broadly themed as Nation-Building, Conflicts and Contestations, and National Resilience events. Further analyses using hierarchical linear regression models showed that these events vary in their relationships to present and future life satisfaction, after controlling for past/current satisfaction and demographics. Interestingly, the Nation-Building narrative positively predicted present life satisfaction and negatively predicted future satisfaction. The narrative measuring National Resilience was positively linked to perceived current and future life satisfaction. The Conflicts and Contestations narrative, however, inversely predicted current life satisfaction only. The findings suggest that social constructions of history and shared memories provide a roadmap to understanding psychological well-being, sense of nationhood, and social resilience at the national level.

Whose narratives? Divergence in how history is organised across generations and its impact on well‐being

“…The association between historical narratives and subjective well-being has since been empirically demonstrated in samples from Singapore (Ho et al, 2018), Estonia (Kus, Ward, & Liu, 2013), and the United States (Adler & Poulin, 2009). In their Singaporean sample, Ho et al (2018) found that historical events associated with a strong identification of Singaporean identity had a positive link to subjective well-being (presumably because they reinforced feelings of belongingness and pride), while those associated with questions about Singapore's future survivability had a negative link to subjective well-being. This finding suggests that the type of historical narrative can either positively or negatively predict subjective well-being.…”

“…With the exception of Ho et al (2018), no study has been conducted on life satisfaction and history in the context of a developed Asian country like Singapore. Given how the generational character affects collective remembering, this exploratory study thus attempts to (a) explore intergenerational differences in collective remembering, and (b) examine whether intergenerational differences in collective remembering predict well-being.…”

“…The majority of Singaporeans were unskilled, and the country had neither economic nor natural resources. In addition, the city-state was surrounded by hostile neighbours and had no capability to defend itself (Ho et al, 2018;Leong et al, 2014).…”

“…History is the study of the past, and how historical events are narrated in the present serve different purposes in civilisation. One purpose is for the construction of a distinct identity that is unique to members of an ingroup (Ho, Leong, & Lim, 2018;Tajfel & Turner, 1979). This mission is often demarcated along the lines of culture, geography, or national boundaries, and is represented in the form of historical charters (Hilton & Liu, 2017).…”

Polyculturalism and Attitudes Toward the Continuing Presence of Former Colonizers in Four Postcolonial Asian Societies

“…We do not aim to review or summarize this vast body of literature but suggest that social psychologists can also contribute to this area of inquiry. For example, the social representations of history approach (Liu and Hilton, 2005) suggests that people’s collective representations of local and international histories influence local social identities and intergroup processes and relations (Hakim et al, 2015) and collective well-being (Ho et al, 2018). It is very likely that how people in these postcolonial societies represent facets of their colonial history would be associated with various social psychological processes related to their former colonizers (see e.g., Liu et al, 2002).…”