1 What do National Flags Stand For? An Exploration of Value Associations across 11 Nations Julia C. Becker University of Osnabrueck, Germany David A. Butz Morehead State University, U.S. Chris G. Sibley University of Auckland, New Zealand Fiona Kate Barlow Griffith University, The University of Queensland, Australia Lisa Bitacola University of Western Ontario, Canada Sammyh Khan Keele University, UK Chan-Hoong Leong National University of Singapore Samuel Pehrson University of St Andrews, Scotland Narayanan Srinivasan University of Allahabad, India Aline Sulz TU Dresden, Germany Nicole Tausch University of St Andrews, Scotland Steve Wright Simon Fraser University, Canada Author note: Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Julia C. Becker, University of Osnabrueck, Department of Psychology, Seminarstr. 20, 49074 Osnabrueck, Germany, email:
[email protected] 2 Abstract We examined the attributes and emotions people associate with their national flag and how these associations are related to nationalism and patriotism across 11 nations. Positive emotions and democratic values were associated with national flags across most nations in our sample. However, notable differences between nations were found due to current and historical politics. In societies known for their peaceful politics (e.g., Canada, New Zealand) or nations that were currently involved in struggles for independence (e.g., Northern Ireland, Scotland), democratic associations were particularly important; in nations with a negative past (i.e., Germany), the primary association was sports; in imperialist nations (the U.S., the United Kingdom), the flag was associated with power as well as democratic values; in nations with disruption due to separatist or extremist movements (e.g., Northern Ireland, Turkey), associations referring to aggression were not fully rejected; in nations that emphasize hierarchies (India, Singapore, Turkey), obedience was an important association.