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

Routledge, Clay; Wildschut, Tim; Sedikides, Constantine; Juhl, Jacob; Arndt, Jamie

doi:10.1080/09658211.2012.677452

Cited by 174 publications

(152 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Also, nostalgia typically (Hepper et al, 2012;Stephan et al, 2012;Verplanken, 2012;Wildschut et al, 2006) but not always (Zhou, Wildschut, Sedikides, Shi, & Feng, 2012, Studies 2-4) increases positive affect. Although research has begun to establish unique effects of nostalgia above and beyond positive affect (Cheung et al, 2013;Routledge, Wildschut, Sedikides, Juhl, & Arndt, 2012, Studies 2-3; Stephan et al, 2012, Study 2), it is not clear whether nostalgia would uniquely engender creativity. Experiment 4 sought to address this issue by comparing nostalgia against an affectively positive control: experiencing a stroke of luck.…”

Section: Mediation Analysesmentioning

confidence: 96%

The mnemonic muse: Nostalgia fosters creativity through openness to experience

Tilburg

Sedikides

Wildschut

2015

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

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We examined the effect of nostalgia on creativity.• Four experiments show that nostalgia increased creativity.• The effect of nostalgia emerged above and beyond general positive affect.• The effect of nostalgia on creativity was mediated by openness to experience. a b s t r a c tWe proposed and tested the hypothesis that nostalgia fosters creativity. In Experiments 1 and 2, we examined whether nostalgia increases creativity. Nostalgia, relative to control, sparked creative prose in a writing task. We proceeded to test the mediating role of openness to experience. As hypothesized, openness to experience emerged as a plausible mediator of nostalgia's positive influence on creativity in Experiment 3. Finally, in Experiment 4, nostalgia, mediated by openness, boosted creativity above and beyond positive affect. The findings showcase the relevance of nostalgic reverie for the present and future, and establish nostalgia as a force of creative endeavors.

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Section: Mediation Analysesmentioning

confidence: 96%

The mnemonic muse: Nostalgia fosters creativity through openness to experience

Tilburg

Sedikides

Wildschut

2015

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

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“…Next, participants completed a 3-item nostalgia manipulation check (1 = strongly disagree, 6 = strongly agree): "Right now, I am feeling quite nostalgic," "Right now, I am having nostalgic feelings," "I feel nostalgic at the moment" (α = .97, M = 3.92, SD = 1.47). Both the nostalgia induction and manipulation check have been validated by prior research in the UK (Hepper, Ritchie, et al, 2012;Stephan et al, 2012;Wildschut et al, 2006,) the US Routledge et al, 2011Routledge et al, , 2012, and also in China (Zhou et al, 2008;Zhou, Wildschut, Sedikides, Chen, & Vingerhoets, 2012;Zhou, Wildschut, Sedikides, Shi, et al, 2012).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Back to the Future

Cheung

Wildschut

Sedikides

et al. 2013

Pers Soc Psychol Bull

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This research examined the proposition that nostalgia is not simply a past-oriented emotion, but its scope extends into the future, and, in particular, a positive future. We adopted a convergent validation approach, using multiple methods to assess the relation between nostalgia and optimism. Study 1 tested whether nostalgic narratives entail traces of optimism; indeed, nostalgic (compared to ordinary) narratives contained more expressions of optimism.Study 2 manipulated nostalgia through the recollection of nostalgic (vs. ordinary) events, and showed that nostalgia boosts optimism. Study 3 demonstrated that the effect of nostalgia (induced with nomothetically-relevant songs) on optimism is mediated by self-esteem.Finally, Study 4 established that nostalgia (induced with idiographically-relevant lyrics) fosters social connectedness, which subsequently increases self-esteem, which then boosts optimism. The nostalgic experience is inherently optimistic and paints a subjectively rosier future.Keywords: nostalgia, optimism, emotion, memory, self-esteem, social connectedness Nostalgia and Optimism 3 Back to the Future: Nostalgia Increases OptimismThe capacity for mental time travel is considered uniquely human (Sedikides & Skowronski, 1997;Suddendorf & Corballis, 2007). Recollection of the past, consideration of the present, and projection onto the future are interdependent cognitive processes with a shared neurological substrate (Johnson & Sherman, 1990;Klein, Robertson, & Delton, 2010).Hence, if the present self derives positivity from one's past, as research shows is typically the case in nostalgic reverie (Hepper, Ritchie, Sedikides, & Wildschut, 2012;, this positivity could stretch out in time and produce a brighter outlook on the future. Stated otherwise, when individuals become nostalgic, they may accordingly feel optimistic about their future. We test this proposition while also examining mechanisms through which nostalgia may elicit optimism. Historical and Contemporary Conceptions of NostalgiaNostalgia has historically been conceptualized as pathological maladaptation to the present reality and as trepidation of the future Sedikides, Wildschut, & Baden, 2004). In the 17 th century, physician Johannes Hofer (1688/1934) coined the term nostalgia to describe physical and psychological symptoms among Swiss mercenaries fighting away from home and for assorted European monarchs. Since then, nostalgia has been labeled a neurological disease (Scheuchzer, 1731) and a psychological disorder (e.g., repressive compulsion, psychosis; Sterba, 1940). The consensus was that nostalgic individuals are preoccupied with bygone events or objects, such that "their longing for the past matches their dislike of the present and their dread of the future" (Castelnuovo-Tedesco, 1980, p.121). In nostalgia, "the past is lost. The future can never be realized. All is empty. All is lost." (Kleiner, 1977, p.472).Nostalgia, then, was long considered a doomed state of mind: an escapist reaction to the demands of the present and an...

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“…Instructions in the collective-nostalgia and personalnostalgia conditions were based on an existing nostalgia induction that has been validated by prior research in the UK (Cheung et al, 2013;Hepper et al, 2012;Stephan et al, 2012;Wildschut et al, 2006Wildschut et al, , 2010 as well as Ireland (Van Tilburg et al, 2013), the US Routledge et al, 2011Routledge et al, , 2012, and China (Zhou et al, 2008;Zhou, Wildschut, Sedikides, Chen, & Vingerhoets, 2012;Zhou, Wildschut, Sedikides, Shi, et al, 2012). We instructed participants in the collective-nostalgia condition to bring to mind a nostalgic event from their student life that they had experienced together with other students at their university.…”

Section: Procedures and Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collective nostalgia: A group-level emotion that confers unique benefits on the group.

Wildschut¹,

Bruder²,

Robertson³

et al. 2014

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

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139

215

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This research established collective nostalgia as a group-level emotion and ascertained the benefits it confers on the group. In Study 1, participants who reflected on a nostalgic event they had experienced together with ingroup members (collective nostalgia) evaluated the ingroup more positively and reported stronger intentions to approach (and not avoid) ingroup members than those who recalled a nostalgic event they had experienced individually (personal nostalgia), those who reflected on a lucky event they had experienced together with ingroup members (collective positive), and those who did not recall an event (no recall). In Study 2, collective (vs. personal) nostalgia strengthened behavioral intentions to support the ingroup more so than did recalling an ordinary collective (vs. personal) event. Increased collective self-esteem mediated this effect. In Study 3, collective nostalgia (compared to recalling an ordinary collective event) led participants to sacrifice money in order to punish a transgression perpetrated against an ingroup member. This effect of collective nostalgia was more pronounced when social identification was high (compared to low). Finally, in Study 4, collective nostalgia converged toward the group average (i.e., was socially shared) when participants thought of themselves in terms of their group membership. The findings underscore the viability of studying nostalgia at multiple levels of analysis and highlight the significance of collective nostalgia for understanding group-level attitudes, global action tendencies, specific behavioral intentions, and behavior.

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

Cited by 174 publications

References 37 publications

The mnemonic muse: Nostalgia fosters creativity through openness to experience

The mnemonic muse: Nostalgia fosters creativity through openness to experience

Back to the Future

Collective nostalgia: A group-level emotion that confers unique benefits on the group.

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