Previous research has shown that nostalgia is a highly social emotion that provides a sense of social connectedness. In the present research, we tested a social motivational function of nostalgia. Specifically, across 7 studies we found converging evidence that nostalgia mobilizes social goals. In Study 1, nostalgia increased the importance people assigned to relationship goals and how optimistic they felt about achieving these goals. In Study 2, nostalgia increased intentions to pursue goals of connecting with friends. In Study 3, experimentally-induced pessimism about achieving relationship goals instigated nostalgia. In Study 4, we found evidence that it is the interpersonal nature of nostalgia that is associated with striving to connect with others. Specifically, nostalgia about aspects of the past that were high in sociality was associated with intentions to interact with others, whereas nostalgia for aspects of the past that were low in sociality was not. In Study 5, nostalgic reflection increased friendship-approach goal striving relative to reflecting on ordinary social memories, but did not increase friendship-avoidant goal striving. Finally, in Studies 6 and 7, we found evidence that social-efficacy mediated the effect of nostalgia on striving to connect with others and striving to overcome interpersonal challenges.Together, these findings establish nostalgia as catalyst for social goal pursuit and growth. (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Gardener, Pickett, and Knowles (2005) asserted that belongingness needs can be met directly or indirectly. Direct strategies are efforts to meet belongingness needs by actually connecting with other people. However, opportunities for direct social interaction are not always available. Gardner and colleagues (2005) suggested that when social contact is unavailable, people look to meet their belongingness needs with indirect strategies. One way people can meet belongingness needs indirectly is by seeking out reminders of a meaningful social bond (e.g., a photograph of a close friend). These reminders reassure people that they belong and have meaningful social relationships. Gardner and colleagues (2005) refer to this indirect strategy as "social snacking", because the reminders help people meet belongingness needs quickly, but can only temporarily satisfy the need to belong. Nostalgic reflection is one way of indirectly satisfying belongingness needs (for a review, see . Research indicates that nostalgic reflection is a potent reminder of social relationships which reassures people that they are connected with others (Abeyta et al., 2015;Sedikides et al., 2015;Wildschut, Sedikides, Arndt, & Routledge, 2006). In the present research, we investigate whether nostalgia is merely a "social snack" that helps people temporarily appease the need to belong, or if nostalgia also promotes more enduring means of satisfying this need. Specifically, we examined whether nostalgia motivates goals to connect with others. Additionally, we tested whether nostalgia promotes goal...

The reported research tested whether the social and agentic content of nostalgic memories varies as a function of attachment-related avoidance. We measured individual differences in attachment-related avoidance and anxiety and coded the interpersonal and agentic content of nostalgic and non-nostalgic narratives. Results revealed that nostalgic (relative to non-nostalgic) narratives contained more social content and that this link was not moderated by attachment-related avoidance. There was a significant association between attachment-related avoidance and attachment-related social content in nostalgic, but not non-nostalgic, past narratives. There was also a significant association between attachment-related avoidance and agency content in nostalgic, but not non-nostalgic narratives.

According to terror management theory, people are motivated to protect themselves from the potential for anxiety resulting from awareness of mortality. It was hypothesized that increased concern for future generations, and the symbolic immortality this produces, may be particularly important to older adults when awareness of their mortality is increased. In two studies, older and younger adults' generative concern was examined following mortality or control primes. As hypothesized, older adults' generative concern and preference for pro-social over pro-self generativity were greater following reminders of mortality, whereas neither effect was observed among younger adults. For both studies, age differences were only observed when mortality salience was heightened; older and younger adults' generative concern did not differ in control conditions. Results provide support for the hypothesis that younger and older adults differ in their responses to increased awareness of mortality and suggest that older adults respond to death reminders by adopting a more pro-social generative orientation.

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