Anouk Smeekes
Biographic Data
| ID | 236860 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Anouk Smeekes |
| GIVEN NAMES | Anouk |
| FAMILY NAME | Smeekes |
| SIGNATURE | SMEEKES A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Utrecht University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7726-837X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 150 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Longing for a better country in the past and future: How hope and nostalgia affect support for the populist radical-right
Recent social psychological literature has started to examine the affective appeal of rising populist radical-right parties (PRRP). This paper builds on this line of work by investigating whether the relationship between group-based emotions of national nostalgia and national hope, on the one hand, and PRRP support, on the other hand, depends on whether national identity is understood in an exclusionary (i.e. ethnic nationhood) or inclusionary fa…
Feeling anxious and being engaged in a warming world: Climate anxiety and adolescents' pro‐environmental behavior
BACKGROUND: Climate anxiety is increasingly prevalent among adolescents worldwide. Are climate-anxious adolescents prone to engage in pro-environmental behavior? Or might the association between climate anxiety and pro-environmental be curvilinear, such that high levels of climate anxiety become 'paralyzing'? And do these associations depend on whether adolescents believe that, with effort, the worst impacts of climate change can still be prevent…
“Our Christian nation”: The role of Christian religiosity in explaining opposition to Muslim expressive rights
This research aimed to investigate to what extent the relationship between endorsing a Christian representation of Dutch national identity and opposition to Muslim expressive rights can be explained by perceived ethnocultural incompatibility (between the Dutch and Muslim ways of life), and to what extent these relationships depend on individuals’ level of Christian religiosity. We hypothesized that for nominal Christians – but not for religious C…
Our gloomy future and glorious past: Societal discontent, national nostalgia and support for populist radical-right parties in the Netherlands
Political campaign slogans, such as “Make America Great Again” or “The Netherlands Ours Again,” indicate that right-wing populists in Western countries use nostalgia to depict the national past as glorious. At the same time, populist radical-right parties (PRRP) portray this glorious past as being in stark contrast with the gloomy present of their country, which is portrayed as being in a state of decline. This suggests that PRRP in Western socie…
Understanding causes of adolescents' ascriptions of peers' dual ethnic and national belonging
Descendants of migrants often feel belonging to the ethnic minority group of their parents and the national group (i.e., dual identifiers). If second‐generation migrants are recognized as members of both groups, they can create social bridges and improve intergroup relations. However, people often ascribe them only minority belonging, thereby not recognizing dual belonging. Following the social identity approach, we examined who ascribes dual bel…
Domain‐Dependent National Pride and Support for the Radical Right: Pride in the Nation's History
Populist radical right‐wing's rhetoric often includes a reference to the nation's past when everything was supposed to be better. This runs from considered heroic times of the country in terms of war victory and economic grandeur to an idealized past which fits the ideology of nativism, meaning that a homogeneous society is preferred over a multicultural one. In this contribution, we study to what extent voters for the radical right indeed differ…
Tolerance of the Muslim headscarf: Perceived reasons for wearing a headscarf matter
In many West European countries, debates about Muslim women wearing a headscarf in public positions evolve around the question whether the reason for wearing it is personal choice, religious freedom or community pressures. This study uses national samples of Dutch and German majority group members (N = 3734) and an experimental design to investigate whether their tolerance of the headscarf worn by a civil servant depends on four perceived reasons…
Longing for the “good old days” of our country: National nostalgia as a new master‐frame of populist radical right parties
Scholars and commentators have argued that national nostalgia forms a germane element of the rhetoric of populist radical right parties (PRRP). We addressed the national nostalgia component of PRRP ideology with respect to voters. Relying on political science theorizing and social psychological evidence, we proposed that national nostalgia forms a new emotion-based explanation for PRRP support within the cultural grievance framework. National nos…
Different Pasts for Different Political Folk: Political Orientation Predicts Collective Nostalgia Content
Collective nostalgia is a bittersweet emotion that reflects sentimental longing for valued aspects of the past of one’s group. Given that conservatism is typically associated with a general desire to preserve the societal status quo or return society to its traditional way of being, nostalgia has been theorized to be characteristic of those on the political right (i.e., conservatives). In the current work, we proposed and tested the hypothesis th…
The Different Faces of Social Tolerance: Conceptualizing and Measuring Respect and Coexistence Tolerance
In the theoretical literature on tolerance a distinction is proposed between coexistence and respect tolerance. In three studies with four national samples of Dutch majority members, we demonstrate that these two forms of tolerance can be distinguished empirically in relation to different immigrant target groups. The findings of all studies further show that the more principled respect tolerance was negatively associated with prejudice towards im…
Longing is in the memory of the beholder: Collective nostalgia content determines the method members will support to make their group great again
Longing for one’s home country: National nostalgia and acculturation among immigrants and natives
Collective memory of a dissolved country: Group-based nostalgia and guilt assignment as predictors of interethnic relations between diaspora groups from former Yugoslavia
In this study we examined intergroup relations between immigrants of different ethnic backgrounds (Croats, Serbs, and Bosniaks) originating from the same conflict area (former Yugoslavia) and living in the same host country (Australia). For these (formerly) conflicted groups we investigated whether interethnic contacts depended on superordinate Yugoslavian and subgroup ethnic identifications as well as two emotionally laden representations of his…
Regaining In-Group Continuity in Times of Anxiety About the Group's Future: A Study on the Role of Collective Nostalgia Across 27 Countries
Collective nostalgia for the good old days of the country thrives across the world. However, little is known about the social psychological dynamics of this collective emotion across cultures. We predicted that collective nostalgia is triggered by collective angst as it helps people to restore a sense of in-group continuity via stronger in-group belonging and out-group rejection (in the form of opposition to immigrants). Based on a sample (N = 5,…
Endorsing narratives under threat: Maintaining perceived collective continuity through the protective power of ingroup narratives in Northern Ireland and Cyprus
In historically divided societies, narratives play an important role in understanding the maintenance and perception of identities and group status over time. Moving beyond the consequences of identity continuity perceptions, in this paper we were interested in the antecedents of perceived collective continuity, specifically the role of narratives and threat perceptions. We predicted that endorsement of ingroup narratives would be associated with…
The endorsement of unity in diversity: The role of political orientation, education and justifying beliefs
Using data from three national surveys, the present research investigates among the native Dutch (Studies 1 to 3) and three immigrant‐origin groups (Study 3) the endorsement of a shared sense of national belonging across cultural differences. The endorsement is examined in relation to political orientation and education, and sociocultural (deprovincialization) and egalitarian (autochthony) beliefs. In all three studies, a more right‐wing orientat…
Longing for the country's good old days: National nostalgia, autochthony beliefs, and opposition to Muslim expressive rights
Four studies tested the prediction that feelings of national nostalgia (i.e. nostalgia on the basis of one's national ingroup membership) result in more opposition towards expressive rights for Muslim immigrants, because they strengthen the belief that a place belongs to its original inhabitants, and that they are therefore more entitled (i.e. autochthony). Study 1 found that national nostalgia can be distinguished from personal nostalgia, and th…
The presence of the past: Identity continuity and group dynamics
Social psychologists are increasingly interested in the temporal dimensions of social life and in identity continuity in particular. Focusing on ethnicity and national identity we discuss the implications of perceived group continuity and collective self-continuity, and their interplay, for group dynamics. Using the social identity perspective and theories of identity motivation, we show, first, that the need for collective self-continuity forms …
National nostalgia: A group-based emotion that benefits the in-group but hampers intergroup relations
Perceived Group Continuity, Collective Self-Continuity, and In-Group Identification
The current research examined the proposition that particularly perceptions of essentialist (compared to narrativist) group continuity enhance group identification, because essentialist group continuity is more likely to satisfy the individual need for self-continuity. This prediction was tested in three studies, using the context of national identity. Study 1 confirmed that only essentialist (and not narrativist) group continuity increased group…
When national culture is disrupted: Cultural continuity and resistance to Muslim immigrants
In three studies we examined the importance of cultural continuity for attitudes towards Muslim immigrants. Study 1 showed that perceiving national culture to be temporally enduring predicted opposition to Muslim expressive rights, and this effect was mediated by perceptions of continuity threat. Studies 2 (survey) and 3 (experiment), examined whether attitudes towards Muslim immigrants are dependent on the specific content of cultural continuity…
Collective self-continuity, group identification and in-group defense
Regaining In-Group Continuity in Times of Anxiety About the Group's Future: A Study on the Role of Collective Nostalgia Across 27 Countries
Collective nostalgia for the good old days of the country thrives across the world. However, little is known about the social psychological dynamics of this collective emotion across cultures. We predicted that collective nostalgia is triggered by collective angst as it helps people to restore a sense of in-group continuity via stronger in-group belonging and out-group rejection (in the form of opposition to immigrants). Based on a sample (N = 5,…
Longing is in the memory of the beholder: Collective nostalgia content determines the method members will support to make their group great again
National nostalgia: A group-based emotion that benefits the in-group but hampers intergroup relations
Collective self-continuity, group identification and in-group defense
The Different Faces of Social Tolerance: Conceptualizing and Measuring Respect and Coexistence Tolerance
In the theoretical literature on tolerance a distinction is proposed between coexistence and respect tolerance. In three studies with four national samples of Dutch majority members, we demonstrate that these two forms of tolerance can be distinguished empirically in relation to different immigrant target groups. The findings of all studies further show that the more principled respect tolerance was negatively associated with prejudice towards im…
When national culture is disrupted: Cultural continuity and resistance to Muslim immigrants
In three studies we examined the importance of cultural continuity for attitudes towards Muslim immigrants. Study 1 showed that perceiving national culture to be temporally enduring predicted opposition to Muslim expressive rights, and this effect was mediated by perceptions of continuity threat. Studies 2 (survey) and 3 (experiment), examined whether attitudes towards Muslim immigrants are dependent on the specific content of cultural continuity…
The endorsement of unity in diversity: The role of political orientation, education and justifying beliefs
Using data from three national surveys, the present research investigates among the native Dutch (Studies 1 to 3) and three immigrant‐origin groups (Study 3) the endorsement of a shared sense of national belonging across cultural differences. The endorsement is examined in relation to political orientation and education, and sociocultural (deprovincialization) and egalitarian (autochthony) beliefs. In all three studies, a more right‐wing orientat…
Different Pasts for Different Political Folk: Political Orientation Predicts Collective Nostalgia Content
Collective nostalgia is a bittersweet emotion that reflects sentimental longing for valued aspects of the past of one’s group. Given that conservatism is typically associated with a general desire to preserve the societal status quo or return society to its traditional way of being, nostalgia has been theorized to be characteristic of those on the political right (i.e., conservatives). In the current work, we proposed and tested the hypothesis th…
Endorsing narratives under threat: Maintaining perceived collective continuity through the protective power of ingroup narratives in Northern Ireland and Cyprus
In historically divided societies, narratives play an important role in understanding the maintenance and perception of identities and group status over time. Moving beyond the consequences of identity continuity perceptions, in this paper we were interested in the antecedents of perceived collective continuity, specifically the role of narratives and threat perceptions. We predicted that endorsement of ingroup narratives would be associated with…
Collective memory of a dissolved country: Group-based nostalgia and guilt assignment as predictors of interethnic relations between diaspora groups from former Yugoslavia
In this study we examined intergroup relations between immigrants of different ethnic backgrounds (Croats, Serbs, and Bosniaks) originating from the same conflict area (former Yugoslavia) and living in the same host country (Australia). For these (formerly) conflicted groups we investigated whether interethnic contacts depended on superordinate Yugoslavian and subgroup ethnic identifications as well as two emotionally laden representations of his…
Domain‐Dependent National Pride and Support for the Radical Right: Pride in the Nation's History
Populist radical right‐wing's rhetoric often includes a reference to the nation's past when everything was supposed to be better. This runs from considered heroic times of the country in terms of war victory and economic grandeur to an idealized past which fits the ideology of nativism, meaning that a homogeneous society is preferred over a multicultural one. In this contribution, we study to what extent voters for the radical right indeed differ…
Longing for one’s home country: National nostalgia and acculturation among immigrants and natives
Our gloomy future and glorious past: Societal discontent, national nostalgia and support for populist radical-right parties in the Netherlands
Political campaign slogans, such as “Make America Great Again” or “The Netherlands Ours Again,” indicate that right-wing populists in Western countries use nostalgia to depict the national past as glorious. At the same time, populist radical-right parties (PRRP) portray this glorious past as being in stark contrast with the gloomy present of their country, which is portrayed as being in a state of decline. This suggests that PRRP in Western socie…
Tolerance of the Muslim headscarf: Perceived reasons for wearing a headscarf matter
In many West European countries, debates about Muslim women wearing a headscarf in public positions evolve around the question whether the reason for wearing it is personal choice, religious freedom or community pressures. This study uses national samples of Dutch and German majority group members (N = 3734) and an experimental design to investigate whether their tolerance of the headscarf worn by a civil servant depends on four perceived reasons…
Understanding causes of adolescents' ascriptions of peers' dual ethnic and national belonging
Descendants of migrants often feel belonging to the ethnic minority group of their parents and the national group (i.e., dual identifiers). If second‐generation migrants are recognized as members of both groups, they can create social bridges and improve intergroup relations. However, people often ascribe them only minority belonging, thereby not recognizing dual belonging. Following the social identity approach, we examined who ascribes dual bel…
When national culture is disrupted: Cultural continuity and resistance to Muslim immigrants
In three studies we examined the importance of cultural continuity for attitudes towards Muslim immigrants. Study 1 showed that perceiving national culture to be temporally enduring predicted opposition to Muslim expressive rights, and this effect was mediated by perceptions of continuity threat. Studies 2 (survey) and 3 (experiment), examined whether attitudes towards Muslim immigrants are dependent on the specific content of cultural continuity…
Collective self-continuity, group identification and in-group defense
Perceived Group Continuity, Collective Self-Continuity, and In-Group Identification
The current research examined the proposition that particularly perceptions of essentialist (compared to narrativist) group continuity enhance group identification, because essentialist group continuity is more likely to satisfy the individual need for self-continuity. This prediction was tested in three studies, using the context of national identity. Study 1 confirmed that only essentialist (and not narrativist) group continuity increased group…
Longing for the country's good old days: National nostalgia, autochthony beliefs, and opposition to Muslim expressive rights
Four studies tested the prediction that feelings of national nostalgia (i.e. nostalgia on the basis of one's national ingroup membership) result in more opposition towards expressive rights for Muslim immigrants, because they strengthen the belief that a place belongs to its original inhabitants, and that they are therefore more entitled (i.e. autochthony). Study 1 found that national nostalgia can be distinguished from personal nostalgia, and th…
The presence of the past: Identity continuity and group dynamics
Social psychologists are increasingly interested in the temporal dimensions of social life and in identity continuity in particular. Focusing on ethnicity and national identity we discuss the implications of perceived group continuity and collective self-continuity, and their interplay, for group dynamics. Using the social identity perspective and theories of identity motivation, we show, first, that the need for collective self-continuity forms …
National nostalgia: A group-based emotion that benefits the in-group but hampers intergroup relations
The endorsement of unity in diversity: The role of political orientation, education and justifying beliefs
Using data from three national surveys, the present research investigates among the native Dutch (Studies 1 to 3) and three immigrant‐origin groups (Study 3) the endorsement of a shared sense of national belonging across cultural differences. The endorsement is examined in relation to political orientation and education, and sociocultural (deprovincialization) and egalitarian (autochthony) beliefs. In all three studies, a more right‐wing orientat…
Endorsing narratives under threat: Maintaining perceived collective continuity through the protective power of ingroup narratives in Northern Ireland and Cyprus
In historically divided societies, narratives play an important role in understanding the maintenance and perception of identities and group status over time. Moving beyond the consequences of identity continuity perceptions, in this paper we were interested in the antecedents of perceived collective continuity, specifically the role of narratives and threat perceptions. We predicted that endorsement of ingroup narratives would be associated with…
Collective memory of a dissolved country: Group-based nostalgia and guilt assignment as predictors of interethnic relations between diaspora groups from former Yugoslavia
In this study we examined intergroup relations between immigrants of different ethnic backgrounds (Croats, Serbs, and Bosniaks) originating from the same conflict area (former Yugoslavia) and living in the same host country (Australia). For these (formerly) conflicted groups we investigated whether interethnic contacts depended on superordinate Yugoslavian and subgroup ethnic identifications as well as two emotionally laden representations of his…
Regaining In-Group Continuity in Times of Anxiety About the Group's Future: A Study on the Role of Collective Nostalgia Across 27 Countries
Collective nostalgia for the good old days of the country thrives across the world. However, little is known about the social psychological dynamics of this collective emotion across cultures. We predicted that collective nostalgia is triggered by collective angst as it helps people to restore a sense of in-group continuity via stronger in-group belonging and out-group rejection (in the form of opposition to immigrants). Based on a sample (N = 5,…
Longing for one’s home country: National nostalgia and acculturation among immigrants and natives
Longing is in the memory of the beholder: Collective nostalgia content determines the method members will support to make their group great again
Longing for the “good old days” of our country: National nostalgia as a new master‐frame of populist radical right parties
Scholars and commentators have argued that national nostalgia forms a germane element of the rhetoric of populist radical right parties (PRRP). We addressed the national nostalgia component of PRRP ideology with respect to voters. Relying on political science theorizing and social psychological evidence, we proposed that national nostalgia forms a new emotion-based explanation for PRRP support within the cultural grievance framework. National nos…
Different Pasts for Different Political Folk: Political Orientation Predicts Collective Nostalgia Content
Collective nostalgia is a bittersweet emotion that reflects sentimental longing for valued aspects of the past of one’s group. Given that conservatism is typically associated with a general desire to preserve the societal status quo or return society to its traditional way of being, nostalgia has been theorized to be characteristic of those on the political right (i.e., conservatives). In the current work, we proposed and tested the hypothesis th…
The Different Faces of Social Tolerance: Conceptualizing and Measuring Respect and Coexistence Tolerance
In the theoretical literature on tolerance a distinction is proposed between coexistence and respect tolerance. In three studies with four national samples of Dutch majority members, we demonstrate that these two forms of tolerance can be distinguished empirically in relation to different immigrant target groups. The findings of all studies further show that the more principled respect tolerance was negatively associated with prejudice towards im…
Domain‐Dependent National Pride and Support for the Radical Right: Pride in the Nation's History
Populist radical right‐wing's rhetoric often includes a reference to the nation's past when everything was supposed to be better. This runs from considered heroic times of the country in terms of war victory and economic grandeur to an idealized past which fits the ideology of nativism, meaning that a homogeneous society is preferred over a multicultural one. In this contribution, we study to what extent voters for the radical right indeed differ…
Tolerance of the Muslim headscarf: Perceived reasons for wearing a headscarf matter
In many West European countries, debates about Muslim women wearing a headscarf in public positions evolve around the question whether the reason for wearing it is personal choice, religious freedom or community pressures. This study uses national samples of Dutch and German majority group members (N = 3734) and an experimental design to investigate whether their tolerance of the headscarf worn by a civil servant depends on four perceived reasons…
Feeling anxious and being engaged in a warming world: Climate anxiety and adolescents' pro‐environmental behavior
BACKGROUND: Climate anxiety is increasingly prevalent among adolescents worldwide. Are climate-anxious adolescents prone to engage in pro-environmental behavior? Or might the association between climate anxiety and pro-environmental be curvilinear, such that high levels of climate anxiety become 'paralyzing'? And do these associations depend on whether adolescents believe that, with effort, the worst impacts of climate change can still be prevent…
“Our Christian nation”: The role of Christian religiosity in explaining opposition to Muslim expressive rights
This research aimed to investigate to what extent the relationship between endorsing a Christian representation of Dutch national identity and opposition to Muslim expressive rights can be explained by perceived ethnocultural incompatibility (between the Dutch and Muslim ways of life), and to what extent these relationships depend on individuals’ level of Christian religiosity. We hypothesized that for nominal Christians – but not for religious C…
Our gloomy future and glorious past: Societal discontent, national nostalgia and support for populist radical-right parties in the Netherlands
Political campaign slogans, such as “Make America Great Again” or “The Netherlands Ours Again,” indicate that right-wing populists in Western countries use nostalgia to depict the national past as glorious. At the same time, populist radical-right parties (PRRP) portray this glorious past as being in stark contrast with the gloomy present of their country, which is portrayed as being in a state of decline. This suggests that PRRP in Western socie…
Understanding causes of adolescents' ascriptions of peers' dual ethnic and national belonging
Descendants of migrants often feel belonging to the ethnic minority group of their parents and the national group (i.e., dual identifiers). If second‐generation migrants are recognized as members of both groups, they can create social bridges and improve intergroup relations. However, people often ascribe them only minority belonging, thereby not recognizing dual belonging. Following the social identity approach, we examined who ascribes dual bel…
Longing for a better country in the past and future: How hope and nostalgia affect support for the populist radical-right
Recent social psychological literature has started to examine the affective appeal of rising populist radical-right parties (PRRP). This paper builds on this line of work by investigating whether the relationship between group-based emotions of national nostalgia and national hope, on the one hand, and PRRP support, on the other hand, depends on whether national identity is understood in an exclusionary (i.e. ethnic nationhood) or inclusionary fa…
Psychology (19 works) · Political science (18 works) · Social Psychology (18 works) · Sociology (15 works) · Social and Intergroup Psychology (14 works) · Social Psychology (13 works) · Politics (12 works) · Law (10 works) · Nostalgia and Consumer Behavior (9 works) · Gender Studies (7 works)