Maciek Sekerdej, Mirjana Rupar, Katarzyna Jamróz-Dolińska and Maryna Kołeczek from our lab just published a paper in the British Journal of Social Psychology!
In order to clarify the perceptual underpinnings of critical national attachment, they examined the links between constructive (critical) and conventional patriotism, and evaluations of the actual and ideal representations of the country. Across four studies conducted on US and Polish samples (total N = 3457), perception of a discrepancy between the actual and the ideal representations of the country was positively linked to constructive but negatively to conventional patriotism. Moreover, constructive patriotism was linked positively and conventional patriotism negatively with being critical of the actual functioning of the country. However, both constructive and conventional patriotisms were positively linked with the height of expectations of how the country should function. Additionally, they showed that discrepancy may motivate constructive patriots to be civically engaged (Study 4). Overall, the findings suggest that the difference between constructive and conventional patriots lies principally in how they evaluate the actual state of the country rather than in the degree to which they set high expectations or standards for the country.
The article is available here: https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12634
Highly recommended!
