Seven methodologically diverse studies addressed 3 fundamental questions about nostalgia.Studies 1 and 2 examined the content of nostalgic experiences. Descriptions of nostalgic experiences typically featured the self as a protagonist in interactions with close others (e.g., friends) or in momentous events (e.g., weddings). Also, the descriptions contained more expressions of positive than negative affect and often depicted the redemption of negative lifescenes by subsequent triumphs. Studies 3 and 4 examined triggers of nostalgia and revealed that nostalgia occurs in response to negative mood and the discrete affective state of loneliness.Studies 5, 6, and 7 investigated the functional utility of nostalgia and established that nostalgia bolsters social bonds, increases positive self-regard, and generates positive affect. These findings demarcate key landmarks in the hitherto uncharted research domain of nostalgia.Nostalgia 3

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The culture movement challenged the universality of the self-enhancement motive by proposing that the motive is pervasive in individualistic cultures (the West) but absent in collectivistic cultures (the East). The present research posited that Westerners and Easterners use different tactics to achieve the same goal: positive self-regard. Study 1 tested participants from differing cultural backgrounds (the United States vs. Japan), and Study 2 tested participants of differing self-construals (independent vs. interdependent). Americans and independents self-enhanced on individualistic attributes, whereas Japanese and interdependents self-enhanced on collectivistic attributes. Independents regarded individualistic attributes, whereas interdependents regarded collectivistic attributes, as personally important. Attribute importance mediated self-enhancement. Regardless of cultural background or self-construal, people self-enhance on personally important dimensions. Self-enhancement is a universal human motive.

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 (compared to 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 selfrelevant 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.Keywords: nostalgia, prototype, emotions, memory, self Nostalgia 3 Nostalgia is part of the fabric of everyday life. After centuries of scientific neglect, the construct has recently been the focus of burgeoning empirical and theoretical developments. According to Boym (2001), nostalgia is experienced by almost everyone.Indeed, 79% of undergraduates report experiencing nostalgia at least once a week (Wildschut, Sedikides, Arndt, & Routledge, 2006), as do over half of adults in every five-year age cohort from age 18 to 90 (Hepper, Wildschut, Sedikides, Routledge, & Arndt, 2011). Moreover, recent research suggests that nostalgia serves vital psychological functions .Despite emerging evidence for the functional relevance of nostalgia, the mechanisms by which it operates are poorly understood. A major reason for this is that there exists no coherent definition of nostalgia; in fact, its nature has long been the subject of debate. The purpose of the present research is to resolve this debate by uncovering conclusively what "nostalgia" means to people. In particular, we propose that lay persons' views of nostalgia have a prototype structure characterized by a core set of central features. In examining this proposal, we aim to clarify what contemporary scholars have been studying and to provide new directions and methods for studying nostalgia further. Historical Conceptions of NostalgiaThe term "nostalgia" derives from the Greek words nostos, meaning return to one's native land, and algos, meaning pain or suffering: literally, suffering caused by longing to return home. However, the idea existed long before the word. In probably its first exploration in classical literature, the theme of nostalgia runs strongly through Homer's Odyssey, in which the hero Odysseus nurtures memories of Ithaca and his family throughout his lon...

Experiments testing the self-serving bias (SSB; taking credit for personal success but blaming external factors for personal failure) have used a multitude of moderators (i.e., role, task importance, outcome expectancies, self-esteem, achievement motivation, self-focused attention, task choice, perceived task difficulty, interpersonal orientation, status, affect, locus of control, gender, and task type). The present meta-analytic review established the viability and pervasiveness of the SSB and, more important, organized the 14 moderators just listed under the common theoretical umbrella of self-threat. According to the self-threat model, the high self-threat level of each moderator is associated with a larger display of the SSB than the low self-threat level. The model was supported: Self-threat magnifies the SSB.

The authors hypothesized that both narcissism and high selfesteem are associated with positive self-views but each is associated with positivity in different domains of the self. Narcissists perceive themselves as better than average on traits reflecting anTwo constructs that continue to command the attention of social and personality psychologists are narcissism and self-esteem. These two constructs are partially overlapping. First and foremost, both narcissists and high-self-esteem individuals have a high self-opinion: They are said to like-and even love-themselves. Indeed, this similarity may explain why the two variables correlate positively, as a recent meta-analysis indicated (r=. 29, k= 11, n= 2,963, p < .001) ( Campbell, 2001). However, narcissism and high self-esteem also have critical differences. Of particular note are the interpersonal implications of these traits. Narcissism is rather detrimental to i nterpersonal relationships, whereas self-esteem may be beneficial. Perhaps this is why in our culture narcissism is 358 considered to be a curse, whereas high self-esteem is regarded as a boon.Our objective in the present research is to explore the bases of the positive self-views that narcissists and' highself-esteem (HSE) individuals have. In particular, we wish to uncover those aspects of the self in which narcissists and HSE individuals hold themselves in the highest (and lowest) regard. To presage our hypotheses: We predict that even though both narcissists and HSE individuals have positive self-views, these groups hold self-views that are distinct in theoretically meaningful ways. Specifically, narcissists' self-conceptions reflect agentic (but not communal) concerns and HSE individuals' self-conceptions reflect both agentic and communal concerns. That is, narcissists manifest an egoistic bias, whereas HSE individuals display both an egoistic and a moralistic bias. Narcissists perceive themselves as intelligent and outgoing but not as caring or conscientious. HSE individuals perceive themselves as both intelligent and caring.Our research paradigm is derived primarily from work on the better-than-average effect (Alicke, 1985;Alicke, Klotz, Breitenbecher, Yurak, & Vredenberg, 1995). We ask participants to compare themselves to the average other on a range of theoretically relevant traits. We rely on two widely used personality instruments, the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) (Raskin & Hall, 1979)

ABSTRACT-Self-enhancement denotes a class of psychological phenomena that involve taking a tendentiously positive view of oneself. We distinguish between four levels of self-enhancement-an observed effect, an ongoing process, a personality trait, and an underlying motiveand then use these distinctions to organize the wealth of relevant research. Furthermore, to render these distinctions intuitive, we draw an extended analogy between selfenhancement and the phenomenon of eating. Among the topics we address are (a) manifestations of self-enhancement, both obvious and subtle, and rival interpretations; (b) experimentally documented dynamics of affirming and threatening the ego; and (c) primacy of self-enhancement, considered alongside other intrapsychic phenomena, and across different cultures. Self-enhancement, like eating, is a fundamental part of human nature.Many thinkers have remarked that human beings hold an excessively flattering view of themselves and of things associated with the self.

Five studies established that normal narcissism is correlated with good psychological health. Specifically, narcissism is (a) inversely related to daily sadness and dispositional depression, (b) inversely related to daily and dispositional loneliness, (c) positively related to daily and dispositional subjective well-being as well as couple well-being, (d) inversely related to daily anxiety, and (e) inversely related to dispositional neuroticism. More important, self-esteem fully accounted for the relation between narcissism and psychological health. Thus, narcissism is beneficial for psychological health only insofar as it is associated with high self-esteem. Explanations of the main and mediational findings in terms of response or social desirability biases (e.g., defensiveness, repression, impression management) were ruled out. Supplementary analysis showed that the links among narcissism, self-esteem, and psychological health were preponderantly linear.