The past as a resource for the bereaved: nostalgia predicts declines in distress

Mental Time Travel as Self-Affirmation

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.

Distress prospectively predicts higher nostalgia, and nostalgia prospectively predicts lower distress

OBJECTIVE

We were concerned with the relation between distress and nostalgia. At the state level, extensive research has established that momentary nostalgia is evoked by (experimentally manipulated) distress. However, at the trait level, the directionality of this relation is unclear. We conducted a longitudinal study to clarify the directional relation between these two constructs.

METHOD

We surveyed first-year university students (N = 3167) twice across six months. We assessed nostalgia, psychological distress (depression), and physical distress (somatization) at both timepoints. We also assessed Big Five personality at the first timepoint.

RESULTS

Initial distress prospectively predicted increased nostalgia, and initial nostalgia prospectively predicted reduced distress, six months later and independently of the Big Five.

CONCLUSIONS

Habitual nostalgia follows rather than precedes naturalistically occurring distress and serves to relieve it.

The proust effect: Scents, food, and nostalgia

Autobiographical memories activated by the senses, particularly smell and taste, can be among the most potent and influential, an experience labelled the Proust Effect. Contemporary research has helped to explain the physiological, neurological, and psychological reasons underlying this phenomenon. Nostalgic memories triggered by taste and smell are especially self-relevant, arousing, and familiar. These memories have an even more positive emotional profile than nostalgic memories elicited by other means, with individuals reporting lower levels of negative or ambivalent emotions. Scent-evoked and food-evoked nostalgia also confer numerous psychological benefits, including enhanced self-esteem, feelings of social connectedness, and deeper meaning in life. Such memories might be harnessed in clinical or other settings.

From rosy past to happy and flourishing present: Nostalgia as a resource for hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing

We review recent evidence of nostalgia's ability to enhance and buffer different types of wellbeing. Nostalgia has been associated with increased hedonic wellbeing (e.g., life satisfaction, happiness) in various contexts. Nostalgia is triggered by and can mitigate against threats to hedonic wellbeing. Nostalgia also increases eudaimonic wellbeing (e.g., perceptions of vitality, environmental mastery, positive relationships) and mitigates threats to eudaimonic wellbeing through varying mechanisms. Two applications of these wellbeing benefits are being explored in recent research: nostalgia can help understand how people buffer negative psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic; and is being harnessed for wellbeing interventions. More experimental and longitudinal research is needed to establish and maximize the potential of nostalgia for bolstering resilience.

Nostalgia in the brain

Nostalgia, a complex emotion that arises from one's yearnful memories, involves multiple psychological processes. Cognitive neuroscience research has shed light on the neural mechanism of nostalgia as well as its adaptive functions. Nostalgia involves brain regions implicated in self-reflection, autobiographical memory, emotion regulation and reward processing. Also, nostalgia buffers various psychological and physical threats by modulating activities in brain regions implicated in emotion regulatory processing (i.e., both top-down emotion regulation and bottom-up sensory and attention processing) and reward processing. These findings deepen understanding of nostalgia and have implications for its application in clinical situations.

The past promotes the picture of health: Nostalgia as a resource for physical well-being

Nostalgia, a sentimental longing for the past, confers an array of psychological, emotional, and social benefits. This review article discusses emerging evidence that exemplify how nostalgia also contributes to better physical health. Nostalgia's capacity for health promotion is highlighted in relation to five key areas: (a) nurturing positive health attitudes, (b) increasing physical activity, (c) improving dietary choices, (d) reducing health risk behavior, and (e) attenuating physical pain. These recent developments demonstrate that nostalgia serves as a resource to enhance multiple dimensions of physical well-being. Suggestions for future research on the nostalgia-physical health relationship include identifying additional mechanisms, extending the scope of its health benefits, and determining the efficacy of long-term health promotion.

Nostalgia: A potential pathway to greater well-being

Nostalgia is a bittersweet-yet predominantly positive-emotion felt when one reflects on personally meaningful memories, especially those that are shared with close others. Research demonstrates that nostalgizing can promote well-being, but nostalgic reflection is not often discussed among other cognitive and behavioral strategies used to enhance long-term well-being (i.e., Positive Psychology Interventions [PPIs]). Accumulating evidence shows that PPIs increase well-being, and we think that nostalgizing should be considered among these types of practices. We discuss the mechanisms by which nostalgizing may promote well-being over time, as well as the potential boundary conditions of this effect. Lastly, we present evidence that nostalgia's bittersweet character does not undermine its ability to promote well-being over time.

Food-evoked nostalgia

In three studies, we examined food as an elicitor of nostalgia. Study 1 participants visualised eating either a nostalgic or regularly consumed food. Study 2 participants visualised consuming 12 foods. Study 3 participants consumed 12 flavour samples. Following their food experiences, all participants responded to questions regarding the profile of food-evoked nostalgia (i.e. autobiographical relevance, arousal, familiarity, positive and negative emotions) and several psychological functions (i.e. positive affect, self-esteem, social connectedness, meaning in life). Study 2 and 3 participants also reported their state nostalgia. Results revealed that food is a powerful elicitor of nostalgia. Food-evoked nostalgia has a similar contextual profile to previously examined elicitors, but is a predominantly positive emotional experience. Food-evoked nostalgia served multiple psychological functions and predicted greater state nostalgia.

Personal reminiscence styles and adaptation to bereavement: how meaning mediates their relationship

OBJECTIVES

Personal reminiscence styles are known to influence a person's well-being, but research regarding their impact on bereavement outcomes is limited. Based on previous findings, we assumed ruminative and reflective reminiscence styles to be associated with feelings of grief and personal growth, and that meaning-making efforts and the degree of having meaning-made of losing a loved one potentially mediate these relationships.

METHODS

The final study sample consisted of 198 participants aged between18 and 75 years (M_age = 40.58, SD = 39.0), 83.3% were female. In a first step, we ran separate mediation models to examine the associations between reminiscence styles, processes of making meaning of the loss and bereavement. Based on these results, we build a parsimonious, inclusive pathway model.

RESULTS

Our findings indicate that a ruminative reminiscence style is related to feelings of grief and personal growth through its associations with meaning-made. A reflective reminiscence style, in contrast, is associated with feelings of grief through its relation to meaning-making efforts. Moreover, a reflective reminiscence style is directly related to personal growth.

CONCLUSION

Findings are discussed regarding their implications for both areas of research - autobiographical remembering and adaptation to bereavement, as well as their applicability in clinical settings.

Uses and Gratifications of Music in Bereavement: A Qualitative Inquiry

This study investigates the role of music during bereavement. Music plays a role in peoples' bereavement experiences and gets associated with numerous memories. Despite widespread recognition of the importance of music, little research has considered what bereaved individuals "gain" through their musical selections. This study takes a uses and gratifications approach to analyze interview data about how bereaved individuals incorporate music in their grief journey. Interviews were conducted with 28 participants. Two coders analyzed the data to identify common themes regarding uses of music during bereavement. Data show 5 reasons the bereaved offer for using music: creating connections, co-presence, positive and negative mood management, and projection. The findings demonstrate everyday ways that individuals process their grief in a way that has been largely ignored in the bereavement literature and offer insight into the ways that music can be strategically used by laypeople to process grief.

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

The initial waves of the coronavirus pandemic amplified feelings of depression, psychological fatigue and pessimism for the future. Past research suggests that nostalgia helps to repair negative moods by boosting current and future-oriented positive affect, thereby strengthening psychological resilience. Accordingly, the present study investigated whether nostalgia moderated the relationship between pandemic experience and individual differences in mood and optimism. Across two studies we assessed psychosocial self-report data from a total of 293 online participants (22-72 years old; mean age 38; 109 females, 184 males) during the first two waves of the pandemic. Participants completed comprehensive questionnaires that probed state and trait characteristics related to mood and memory, such as the Profile of Mood States, Nostalgia Inventory and State Optimism Measure. Our findings indicate that during the initial wave of coronavirus cases, higher levels of nostalgia buffered against deteriorating mood states associated with concern over the pandemic. Nostalgia also boosted optimism for participants experiencing negative mood, and optimism predicted subjective mood improvement one week later. This shielding effect of nostalgia on optimism was replicated during the second wave of coronavirus cases. The present findings support the role of nostalgia in promoting emotional homeostasis and resilience during periods of psychological distress.

Low Income Amplifies the Negative Relationship Between Nostalgia Proneness and Well-Being

Nostalgia is a sentimental longing for the past that can influence people's well-being. How this mixed emotion influences well-being may depend on current life circumstances. Nostalgia elicited in negative contexts could be particularly harmful to people's well-being, whereas nostalgia elicited in positive contexts may not be as detrimental. This hypothesis was tested at the level of individual differences with a nationally representative sample of Americans (N = 6,732) who completed measures of nostalgia proneness and several indicators of well-being. Income was measured as an objective indicator of current life circumstances. Results showed that nostalgia proneness was negatively related to well-being, and income was positively related to well-being. Importantly, these relationships were moderated such that the negative relationships between nostalgia and well-being were stronger among members of low income households than among members of high income households. Consistent with the hypothesis, nostalgia proneness was particularly detrimental to well-being under objectively less desirable circumstances. These findings support an emerging body of research that contends that the effect of nostalgia on well-being depends on the context in which nostalgia is elicited.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11482-022-10066-8.

Nostalgia and Spirituality

Abstract. We investigated the relation between nostalgia and spirituality. We hypothesized that nostalgia is linked to greater spirituality through self-continuity and, in turn, meaning in life. In Study 1, we measured nostalgia and spirituality. Nostalgia predicted greater spirituality. In Study 2, we tested this relation in a nationally representative sample. Nostalgia again predicted greater spirituality, and this relation remained significant after controlling for key demographic variables and core personality traits. In Study 3, we manipulated nostalgia and measured self-continuity, meaning in life, and spirituality. Nostalgia predicted spirituality serially via self-continuity and meaning in life.