The power of the past: Nostalgia as a meaning-making resource

In three experiments we tested whether nostalgia bolsters meaning in life relative to two other modes of autobiographical thought: imagining a desired future experience and recalling a positive past experience. In Experiment 1 participants thought about a nostalgic or desired future experience and then completed a presence of meaning scale. Thinking about a nostalgic (compared to desired future) experience increased perceived presence of meaning. In Experiment 2 we examined whether nostalgia can additionally reduce the search for meaning. Participants thought about a nostalgic, desired future or recent positive experience, and then completed a search for meaning scale. Nostalgia, relative to both comparison conditions, decreased the search for meaning. Finally we tested whether, by virtue of its capacity to increase meaning, nostalgia can mitigate threats to meaning. In Experiment 3 participants were exposed to either absurd or representational art, under the guise that they would later have to interpret its meaning, and then thought about either a nostalgic or a recent positive experience. Meaning was subsequently measured. The absurd art interpretation condition decreased the perceived presence of meaning but nostalgic reflection attenuated this effect.     

The power of the past: nostalgia as a meaning-making resource

In three experiments we tested whether nostalgia bolsters meaning in life relative to two other modes of autobiographical thought: imagining a desired future experience and recalling a positive past experience. In Experiment 1 participants thought about a nostalgic or desired future experience and then completed a presence of meaning scale. Thinking about a nostalgic (compared to desired future) experience increased perceived presence of meaning. In Experiment 2 we examined whether nostalgia can additionally reduce the search for meaning. Participants thought about a nostalgic, desired future or recent positive experience, and then completed a search for meaning scale. Nostalgia, relative to both comparison conditions, decreased the search for meaning. Finally we tested whether, by virtue of its capacity to increase meaning, nostalgia can mitigate threats to meaning. In Experiment 3 participants were exposed to either absurd or representational art, under the guise that they would later have to interpret its meaning, and then thought about either a nostalgic or a recent positive experience. Meaning was subsequently measured. The absurd art interpretation condition decreased the perceived presence of meaning but nostalgic reflection attenuated this effect.     

A prologue to nostalgia: savouring creates nostalgic memories that foster optimism

How are nostalgic memories created? We considered savouring as one process involved in the genesis of nostalgia. Whereas nostalgia refers to an emotional reflection upon past experiences, savouring is a process in which individuals deeply attend to and consciously capture a present experience for subsequent reflection. Thus, having savoured an experience may increase the likelihood that it will later be reflected upon nostalgically. Additionally, to examine how cognitive and emotional processes are linked across time, we tested whether nostalgia for a previously savoured experience predicts optimism for the future. Retrospective reports of having savoured a positive event were associated with greater nostalgia for the event (Study 1). Retrospective reports of savouring a time period (college) were associated with greater nostalgia for that time period when participants were in a setting (alumni reunion event) that prompted thoughts of the time period (Study 2). Savouring an experience predicted nostalgia for the experience 4–9 months later (Study 3). Additionally, nostalgia was associated with greater optimism (Studies 2-3). Thus, savouring provides a foundation for nostalgic memories and an ensuing optimism.     

Nostalgic bonding: exploring the role of nostalgia in the consumption experience

The recently awakened awareness of the past has produced a flurry of research directed towards understanding the nostalgic aspects of the human condition, towards investigating the role of nostalgia in the lives of consumers, and towards the application of such knowledge to the design of marketing strategies. With rare exceptions, however, such research has pursued a quantitative survey‐based approach to establishing the chronology‐related and personality‐driven aspects of nostalgia. To explore the nature and types of nostalgic bonding in greater depth, the present study pursues an interpretive approach to understanding the role of nostalgia in the consumption experience. Specifically, it applies a collective approach to subjective personal introspection to draw inferences concerning the key types of nostalgic experience. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications.     

权力感知对怀旧偏好的影响机制

作者考察了权力感知对消费者怀旧偏好的影响及其心理机制。通过3个实验, 作者发现低权力者比高权力者更加偏好怀旧产品或怀旧品牌, 而寻找生活意义的动机在该影响过程中起中介作用。具体而言, 权力的缺失导致个体认为自己的生活缺乏意义, 进而激发出寻找生活意义的动机。由于怀旧可以通过回忆有意义的事件和提供社会支持两条途径来帮助个体重拾生活意义, 因此低权力的消费者倾向于进行怀旧消费。这一研究发现进一步丰富了现有的权力和怀旧文献, 并对怀旧营销的设计具有重要的实践指导意义。     

Sociality and intergenerational transfer of older adults’ nostalgia

Interest in nostalgia has blossomed, yet its nature in older adulthood and potential for intergenerational transfer to younger adults has remained neglected. In Experiment 1, we focused on the content of older adults’ nostalgic (vs. ordinary) recollections and asked whether older adults’ nostalgia could be transferred to younger adults. We showed that nostalgia expressed in older adults’ narratives was positively associated with nostalgia reported by young-adult readers. In Experiment 2, undergraduates read a nostalgic or ordinary narrative written by an older adult. Then they rated their own nostalgia as well as their perceived social connectedness, self-continuity, and meaning in life. Exposure to older adults’ nostalgic (vs. ordinary) narratives promoted concurrent nostalgia among young adults, along with associated psychological benefits (social connectedness, self-continuity, meaning). The findings illustrate the potential for intergenerational transfer of nostalgia through written narratives, and attest to the universality of nostalgic themes across younger and older adults.     

The relationship between shame and guilt: cultural comparisons between Ireland and the United Arab Emirates

The current study examines whether proneness to shame and guilt is related to the cultural dimensions of collectivism and individualism. Two groups of participants from Ireland (n?=?120) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (n?=?115) completed measures assessing collectivism, individualism, and shame and guilt proneness. Results indicated that both samples displayed similar levels of individualism and collectivism. The UAE sample reported significantly higher levels of guilt proneness and shame proneness characterised by negative self-evaluation. In contrast, the Irish sample displayed significantly higher levels of shame characterised by withdrawal tendencies. Guilt was positively correlated with individualism, but shame was not correlated with either scores on collectivism or individualism. Young Arab women appear to experience higher levels of guilt and shame characterised by negative self-evaluation in comparison to their Irish counterparts who displayed higher levels of guilt proneness.     

Nostalgia's fulfillment of agentic and communal needs: How different types of self‐concepts shape consumer attitudes toward nostalgia

This research investigates how consumers' different types of self‐concepts (agentic vs. communal) shape their attitudes toward nostalgia. Experiment 1, using a two (self‐concept: agentic vs. communal) by two (nostalgia: nostalgic vs. non‐nostalgic) between‐subjects design and a series of multivariate analysis of variance and Hayes's PROCESS Model 8, showed that agentic and communal participants' preference was not increased in the non‐nostalgic condition but was increased in the nostalgic condition. Self‐concept indirectly influenced participants' preference for the nostalgic product through different functions of nostalgia; Agentic participants' likelihood of buying a nostalgic product and recommending it to others increased through enhanced self‐positivity, whereas communal participants' likelihood of buying a nostalgic product and recommending it to others increased through enhanced social connectedness. In Experiment 2, these results were replicated in the context of a public education campaign, and participants' chronic self‐concepts were measured. Participants with different chronic self‐concept tendencies were randomly assigned to nostalgic or non‐nostalgic conditions and were asked to indicate their attitudes toward the campaign. As in Experiment 1, a series of regression and Hayes' PROCESS Model 8 revealed that agentic and communal participants' attitudes were not enhanced in the non‐nostalgic condition but were enhanced in the nostalgic condition. Agentic (communal) individuals' favorability toward the nostalgic message about advocacy increased through enhanced self‐positivity (social connectedness). It appears that consumers with different self‐concepts (agentic vs. communal) experience enhanced feelings relevant to their self‐concepts (self‐positivity vs. social connectedness) when presented with nostalgic appeals for an object, and these heightened feelings drive an increased preference for it. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Heartwarming memories: Nostalgia maintains physiological comfort

Nostalgia, a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, is a predominantly positive and social emotion. Recent evidence suggests that nostalgia maintains psychological comfort. Here, we propose, and document in five methodologically diverse studies, a broader homeostatic function for nostalgia that also encompasses the maintenance of physiological comfort. We show that nostalgia--an emotion with a strong connotation of warmth--is triggered by coldness. Participants reported stronger nostalgia on colder (vs. warmer) days and in a cold (vs. neutral or warm) room. Nostalgia, in turn, modulates the interoceptive feeling of temperature. Higher levels of music-evoked nostalgia predicted increased physical warmth, and participants who recalled a nostalgic (vs. ordinary autobiographical) event perceived ambient temperature as higher. Finally, and consistent with the close central nervous system integration of temperature and pain sensations, participants who recalled a nostalgic (vs. ordinary autobiographical) event evinced greater tolerance to noxious cold.     

Nostalgic recollections of high and low narcissists

Two functions of nostalgia are consistently documented in the literature: self-positivity and social connectedness. These reflect agency and communion, respectively. Such dimensions are polarized no more than in narcissists, who are high in agency and low in communion. In three studies we tested whether high and low narcissists differ in the content of nostalgic recollections, whether they become nostalgic about different objects, and whether nostalgia serves different functions for them. High (versus low) narcissists made more agentic references in their narratives and manifested nostalgic proclivity toward agentic objects. Furthermore, nostalgia served a self-positivity function, but not a social connectedness function, for high (versus low) narcissists. Findings highlight the relevance of personality—narcissism, in particular—for the experience of nostalgia.     

The contradictory effects of nostalgic advertisements on nostalgia for products and on remembering advertisements1

Our purpose was to investigate the relationships between the names of items that easily evoke nostalgic feelings and nostalgic advertisements from the perspective of nostalgia for the names of these items and from the perspective of source monitoring. We measured the effect of nostalgia on source monitoring and whether the names of items evoked nostalgic feelings when they were presented alone. We found that, from the perspective of the nostalgic feelings, we directly demonstrated that the names of articles that easily evoke nostalgic feelings are more likely to evoke nostalgia when they are presented with nostalgic advertisements than when they are presented with non‐nostalgic advertisements. From the perspective of source monitoring, we revealed that nostalgic advertisements are more forgettable than non‐nostalgic advertisements when they present the names of articles that easily evoke nostalgic feelings.     

社会排斥对消费选择偏向的影响：怀旧的调节作用及社会联结的中介作用

社会排斥会导致许多消极影响,人们会尝试通过各种策略对此进行缓解,而消费是其中重要的一种应对方式。本文通过3个实验考察了社会排斥和消费选择偏向（体验性消费vs.实物性消费）的关系,同时探讨了怀旧的调节作用和社会联结的中介作用。结果发现,社会排斥可以提高消费者对体验性消费的偏好,怀旧调节了社会排斥与体验性消费偏向的关系,并通过社会联结的中介作用进一步缓冲了社会排斥对消费选择偏向的影响。     

怀旧的触发、研究范式及测量

怀旧指的是个体怀念过去的事物、人物、地方甚至经历或感受。它大多与美好的记忆联系在一起, 并会带来积极的情绪体验, 但同时可能也会引起消极的情绪体验。怀旧对维持个体身心健康有一定的积极效用。本文着重介绍了怀旧的触发因素包括客观刺激的视觉、嗅觉、听觉及主观刺激的消极情绪与低温知觉, 分析了其研究范式有质化研究(内容分析与扎根理论)、量化研究(问卷调查与经验取样法)和实验研究(单因素随机实验设计与多因素实验设计), 并介绍了其相关的测量工具。未来研究要加强主动怀旧与被动怀旧、积极怀旧与消极怀旧的探讨; 整合各种研究范式与强化纵向的追踪研究; 以及要区分特质型怀旧与状态型怀旧。     

The Immigrant, the Exile, and the Experience of Nostalgia

Resulting from a retrospective idealization of lost objects, nostalgia helps the immigrant defend against the aggression resulting from current frustrations. This experience is missing in the exile whose deeply traumatizing departure from his land of origin spoils whatever good memories of that land might exist within him. Retrospective idealization is not possible and the ego is deprived of the nostalgic defense. The psychoanalyst dealing with the immigrant's nostalgia must offer psychic space for its development while keeping an eye upon the hidden transference allusions in the nostalgic pleasure as well as upon its screen functions vis-à-vis aggression in the here and now. Psychoanalytic work with the exile requires a different slant. Empathy with how bad the land of origin was must precede for a long while before defenses against the emergence of nostalgia can be analyzed.     

When past meets present: the relationship between website‐induced nostalgia and well‐being

The present research examined whether social media websites increase feelings of nostalgia, and whether this nostalgic reverie promotes psychological and social health. Specifically, in comparison to control conditions, participants exposed to the websites Dear Old Love and Dear Photograph reported greater feelings of nostalgia (Studies 1–3), positive affect (Studies 1 and 3), life satisfaction (Study 1), and relationship need satisfaction (Study 2). Further, mediational analyses revealed that increased thoughts of nostalgia heightened subjective well‐being and social connectedness. Study 3 showed that the relationship between nostalgia and positive affect was specific to the Dear Photograph website and did not generalize to any website focused on close relationships. The implications of this research for nostalgia, internet use, and well‐being are further discussed.     

Childhood brand nostalgia: A new conceptualization and scale development

This research seeks to expand the current understanding of nostalgia towards childhood as it relates to consumer brand relationships and provide a framework for better understanding the phenomenon as it appears in both academic and real‐world settings. In this paper, the authors use existing literature on nostalgia and consumer interviews to define childhood brand nostalgia as a positively valenced emotional attachment to a brand because of the brand's association with fond memories of the individual's non‐recent lived past. A scale to measure an individual's childhood brand nostalgia is developed and tested to ensure convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity. The scale is found to capture individual differences in nostalgic feelings towards a single brand, and individuals are found to have varying levels of nostalgic feelings for multiple brands across multiple product categories. This demonstrates the usefulness of this scale in determining a consumer's nostalgia towards a particular brand from their childhood. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Proneness for psychological flow in everyday life: Associations with personality and intelligence

Flow is an experience of enjoyment, concentration, and low self-awareness that occurs during active task performance. We investigated associations between the tendency to experience flow (flow proneness), Big Five personality traits and intelligence in two samples. We hypothesized a negative relation between flow proneness and neuroticism, since negative affect could interfere with the affective component of flow. Secondly, since sustained attention is a component of flow, we tested whether flow proneness is positively related to intelligence. Sample 1 included 137 individuals who completed tests for flow proneness, intelligence, and Big Five personality. In Sample 2 (all twins; n = 2539), flow proneness and intelligence, but not personality, were measured. As hypothesized, we found a negative correlation between flow proneness and neuroticism in Sample 1. Additional exploratory analyses revealed a positive association between flow proneness and conscientiousness. There was no correlation between flow proneness and intelligence. Although significant for some comparisons, associations between intelligence and flow proneness were also very weak in Sample 2. We conclude that flow proneness is associated with personality rather than intelligence, and discuss that flow may be a state of effortless attention that relies on different mechanisms from those involved in attention during mental effort.     

Individual differences in nostalgia proneness: The integrating role of the need to belong

Who is the nostalgia-prone person? The ‘sociality view’ sees an individual who frequently recalls meaningful memories rich in social content. The ‘maladaptation view’ sees an emotionally unstable, neurotic individual. In four studies, we integrated these contrasting views. We hypothesized that the link between neuroticism and nostalgia proneness arises because (a) neuroticism is associated with the need to belong and (b) the need to belong triggers nostalgia, with its abundant social content. Consistent with this hypothesis, Studies 1–2 found that the correlation between neuroticism and nostalgia proneness was eliminated when controlling for the need to belong. The need to belong predicted increased nostalgia proneness, above and beyond neuroticism. Specifically, Study 2 revealed that a deficit-reduction (rather than growth) belongingness orientation predicted increased nostalgia proneness. When the role of this deficit-reduction belongingness orientation was controlled, the positive correlation between neuroticism and nostalgia disappeared. Studies 3–4 showed that experimental inductions of a belongingness deficit augmented nostalgia, providing support for its compensatory role.     

Nostalgia,Gratitude, or Optimism: The Impact of a Two-Week Intervention on Well-Being During COVID-19

Research indicates that brief 2-min positive psychology interventions (PPIs) increase well-being during COVID-19 lockdowns. The present study extended this to assess the effectiveness over two-weeks. Participants (n?=?150) were randomly allocated to one of three PPIs; nostalgia, gratitude, best possible self (BPS), or control. The interventions were slightly adapted for the lockdown and were completed three times, every seven days over two-weeks. Well-being measures were completed immediately after the first intervention (T1), after the next two interventions (T2?T3) and at one-week follow-up (T4) (but no baseline measure of well-being was taken). At T1, participants in the nostalgia, gratitude, and BPS intervention had higher self-esteem than those in the control intervention. At T1 and T2, participants in the gratitude and BPS intervention reported higher social connectedness than participants in the nostalgia and control intervention. Then at follow-up (T4), participants in the nostalgia, gratitude, and BPS intervention had lower fear of COVID-19 than those in the control intervention. Overall, the results show the benefits of nostalgia, gratitude and optimism, compared to the control, during lockdown.

     

Odyssey's end: lay conceptions of nostalgia reflect its original Homeric meaning

Nostalgia fulfills pivotal functions for individuals, but lacks an empirically derived and comprehensive definition. We examined lay conceptions of nostalgia using a prototype approach. In Study 1, participants generated open-ended features of nostalgia, which were coded into categories. In Study 2, participants rated the centrality of these categories, which were subsequently classified as central (e.g., memories, relationships, happiness) or peripheral (e.g., daydreaming, regret, loneliness). Central (as compared with peripheral) features were more often recalled and falsely recognized (Study 3), were classified more quickly (Study 4), were judged to reflect more nostalgia in a vignette (Study 5), better characterized participants' own nostalgic (vs. ordinary) experiences (Study 6), and prompted higher levels of actual nostalgia and its intrapersonal benefits when used to trigger a personal memory, regardless of age (Study 7). These findings highlight that lay people view nostalgia as a self-relevant and social blended emotional and cognitive state, featuring a mixture of happiness and loss. The findings also aid understanding of nostalgia's functions and identify new methods for future research.