The moderating effects of nostalgia on mood and optimism during the COVID-19 pandemic

Mental journey to the future and memory for future thoughts during the COVID‐19 pandemic lockdown

“…Even the few errors of recall in Experiment 1 and the transformation from negative to positive cues observed in the production and recall in Experiment 2 reveal this effect of positivity bias. The nostalgia for pleasant activities of the near past (Faul & De Brigard, 2022), the conviction that negative events do not affect us or our relatives— showing an unjustified optimism (Salgado & Berntsen, 2021; Weinstein, 1980)—, or the need to think positively to improve mood and the feeling of well‐being (Barsics et al, 2016), could potentially explain this positivity bias for personal future thoughts.…”

“…In addition, simple experiences that were pleasing to them in the past (e.g., bathing on the beach, visiting grandparents in the village, or climbing a mountain with one's dog), which were perceived as everyday activities, take on a new dimension during the lockdown. Nostalgia for better times can explain this observed tendency in the events produced and remembered (Faul & De Brigard, 2022; Gammon & Ramshaw, 2021). In pre‐pandemic studies of autobiographical memory (e.g., García‐Bajos & Migueles, 2013), these daily activities are rated as having moderate emotional intensity, but during the pandemic, it seems that they acquired a greater emotional intensity.…”

“…This pattern shows an optimism that helps maintain one's mood and the feeling that, although the situation and the social context may not look particularly hopeful, participants foresee their own future with optimism. They grant value to simple activities and future events that they enjoyed before the pandemic and that now acquire an exaggerated emotional value (Faul & De Brigard, 2022; Gammon & Ramshaw, 2021). Another index that shows this preference for the positive is the way memory is organized.…”

“…In fact, research has highlighted the adaptive value of memory by allowing people to prepare for the future (Schacter & Addis, 2007; Szpunar et al, 2012). In this line, nostalgia for better times while envisioning the future can help us distance ourselves from the source of stress by strengthening resilience and emotional balance, and repairing or improving our mood (Faul & De Brigard, 2022). In addition, the unrealistic optimism phenomenon , a general belief or bias that one's future will be better than the future of comparable others, has been previously documented (Salgado & Berntsen, 2021; Weinstein, 1980).…”

Pandemic Nostalgia: Reduced Social Contact Predicts Consumption of Nostalgic Music During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Based on these findings, it is possible that when pandemic-era stay-at-home restrictions deprived people of contact with close others, they felt lonely and found comfort in nostalgia. Consistent with this possibility, loneliness during lockdown took a toll on people's psychological well-being (Aknin et al, 2022;Brooks et al, 2020;Fried et al, 2022) and predicted engagement with nostalgia, which in turn counteracted loneliness and improved happiness (Dennis & Ogden, 2022;Faul & De Brigard, 2022;Zhou et al, 2022).…”