Dear old love: Effects of reflecting on nostalgic memories about ex‐partners on current romantic relationship

Ai, Ting; Gillath, Omri; Landau, Mark J.

doi:10.1002/ejsp.2880

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 54 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Although we focused in our review on self-esteem, coherence, and control, MTT affects a broad array of self-related cognitive, emotional, and motivational outcomes. For example, nostalgia promotes a growth orientation (i.e., intrinsic self-expression or growth-oriented self-perception; Ai et al, 2022; Baldwin et al, 2015; Baldwin & Landau, 2014), inspiration (Evans et al, 2021; Stephan, Sedikides, Wildschut, et al, 2015), and creativity (Van Tilburg et al, 2015; Ye et al, 2013). We reason that beyond fortifying psychological resources, MTT might serve as a buffer in coping with psychological threats.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In work by Evans et al (2022), nostalgia for past experiences shared with one’s partner (i.e., romantic nostalgia) was positively associated with relationship commitment, satisfaction, and closeness. Also, inducing romantic nostalgia—either with the Event Reflection Task or via music—strengthened these relationship outcomes (see also Ai et al, 2022). Finally, participants reported more positive relationship-specific experiences on days when they felt greater romantic nostalgia.…”

Section: Mental Time Travel and The Self: Roadmap For Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 93%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Mental Time Travel as Self-Affirmation

Stephan,

Sedikides

2023

Pers Soc Psychol Rev

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Academic Abstract This article integrates and advances the scope of research on the role of mental time travel in bolstering the self. We propose that imagining the self in the future (prospection) or in the past (retrospection) highlights central and positive self-aspects. Thus, bringing to mind one’s future or past broadens the perceived bases of self-integrity and offers a route to self-affirmation. In reviewing corresponding research programs on self-prospection and nostalgia, we illustrate that mental time travel serves to affirm the self in terms of self-esteem, coherence, and control. Mental time travel could be implemented as a source of self-affirmation for facilitating coping and behavior change in several domains such as relationships, health, education, and organizational contexts. Public Abstract People can mentally travel to their future or to their past. When people imagine what they will be like in the future, or what they were like in the past, they tend to think about themselves in terms of the important and positive attributes that they possess. Thinking about themselves in such an affirming way expands and consolidates their self-views. This broader image of themselves can increase self-esteem (the extent to which one likes who they are), coherence (the extent to which one perceives life as meaningful), and control (the extent to which one feels capable of initiating and pursuing goals or effecting desirable outcomes). Mental time travel, then, has favorable or affirming consequences for one’s self-views. These consequences can be harnessed to modify one’s behavior in such life domains as relationships, health, education, and work.

show abstract