Variation in bittersweet nostalgic feelings and their divergent effects on daily well-being.

Abstract

Experimental manipulations of nostalgia that privilege positive aspects of the bittersweet emotion have led to the conclusion that nostalgia is a predominantly positive emotion, yet nostalgia covaries negatively with wellbeing in daily life. To reconcile this discrepancy, we developed and tested the bittersweet variation model of nostalgia that posits that (a) nostalgic feelings vary not only in intensity but also in valence (i.e., how bitter or sweet a nostalgic feeling is); (b) daily events influence the valence of nostalgic feelings; and (c) nostalgia's valence influences well-being. Across two daily diary studies (N = 151; 1,356 daily reports), we found that the valence of nostalgic feelings varied considerably within-persons. Daily positive events predicted more positively rated nostalgic feelings, whereas daily negative events predicted more negatively rated nostalgic feelings. Controlling for the effects of daily events on well-being, positive nostalgic feelings predicted greater well-being, whereas negative nostalgic feelings predicted lower well-being. To provide more robust causal evidence of the effect of nostalgia valence on well-being, we conducted two experiments (N = 445) in which we manipulated nostalgia valence by asking participants to write about positive nostalgic feelings (involving people they remain close to) or negative nostalgia feelings (involving people they no longer remain close to), mimicking typical nostalgic feelings in daily life. Positive nostalgic feelings improved well-being compared with negative nostalgic feelings. Thus, nostalgia is not inherently positive or negative. Rather, the effect of nostalgia on well-being depends on its valence, which is influenced by the eliciting event.

Unique affective profile of music-evoked nostalgia: An extension and conceptual replication of Barrett et al.’s (2010) study.

“…As with all observations in this study, we cannot infer a causal relationship. Yet, these findings do align with previous work indicating that the valence felt after a nostalgic experience is largely congruent with the valence of the nostalgic trigger (Newman & Sachs, 2023). Overall, the interactive effects of person and context-level factors on the nostalgic experience highlight the importance of individual differences when considering the feeling experience of an emotion like nostalgia.…”

Happy Days: Resolving the Structure of Daily Subjective Well-Being, Between and Within Individuals

“…Each study included additional measures (e.g., rumination, nostalgia, emotion regulation, meaning in life, and gratitude), none of which were relevant to, or examined as part of, the present analysis. Details can be found in the original reports of the individual studies (Newman et al, 2019, 2020, 2021; Newman, Nezlek, et al, 2018; Newman, Schug, et al, 2018; Newman & Nezlek, 2019, 2022; Newman & Sachs, 2020, 2022; Nezlek et al, 2017). None of these previous studies examined all three SWB components in the same analysis or evaluated competing structural conceptualizations based on associations among LS, PA, and NA.…”

Individual Differences in Feelings of Certainty Surrounding Mixed Emotions

“…Interestingly, many studies on mixed feelings have focused on life satisfaction, often finding positive effects (Berrios et al, 2018b;Sedikides et al, 2016) while others have found vast individual differences and even negative effects (Berrios et al, 2017;Newman & Sachs, 2022;Newman et al, 2019;Oh, 2022;Scheibe et al, 2011;Verplanken, 2012). Clarity may be an important factor in explaining these individual differences, where reported mixed feelings that stem from a lack of clarity about one's affective state are related to distress, whereas clear mixed feelings can be a sign of processing complicated affective scenarios.…”