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.

Trajectory of Nostalgia in Emerging Adulthood

We examined the change and stability of nostalgia in emerging adulthood. We followed 327 students through their 4 university years with six assessments. Nostalgia demonstrated moderate rank stability (r = .25-.79). A Trait-State-Occasion model analysis indicated that the stable trait component, slowing-change trait component, and state component explained 37% to 43%, 10% to 27%, and 29% to 49% of variation in nostalgia on specific occasions, respectively. Longitudinal multilevel analysis revealed that the mean nostalgia level declined across university years. Greater intensity of negative life events at the start of university was associated with higher initial nostalgia and slower decline of it, while the emotion intensified when experiencing more negative life events. Nostalgia in emerging adulthood displays moderate stability, with negative life events contributing to the shape of its trajectory.

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.

Nostalgia as motivation

Nostalgia, an approach-oriented emotion, has motivational consequences. In particular, nostalgia raises optimism and inspiration, strengthens the pursuit of one's important goals, appears to encourage financial risk-taking activates the intrinsic or authentic self, and galvanizes the desire to change one's addictive behavior. Nostalgia, a past-oriented emotion, has strong implications for the future. We discuss boundaries of these effects, highlight lacunae in the literature, and point to promising research directions.

Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS), Behavioral Activation System (BAS), and grandiose facets of narcissism

The current study examines the temperamental basis of three forms of grandiose narcissism (i.e., agentic, communal, and antagonistic), employing the Behavioral Inhibition System model and three aspects of Behavioral Activation System (i.e., drive, pleasure-seeking, and sensitivity to reward). Using a self-report study conducted on a general Polish sample (N = 657), we found that all forms of narcissism were positively associated with all three aspects of BAS, while BIS was negatively associated with agentic and antagonistic forms. Communal and antagonistic narcissism did not differ in comparison of their correlations with drive and sensitivity to reward, while agentic narcissism indicated the strongest relations to temperament. A multiple regression indicated that each of the three forms of narcissism has its own specific relationship with BIS and of the aspects of BAS. We discuss our findings as useful in explaining how the three forms of narcissism are related to BIS and BAS with the distinction of the latter into its three aspects, indicating substantial differences between agentic and communal narcissism, and specificity of antagonistic narcissism.

Patterns of brain activity associated with nostalgia: a social-cognitive neuroscience perspective

Nostalgia arises from tender and yearnful reflection on meaningful life events or important persons from one's past. In the last two decades, the literature has documented a variety of ways in which nostalgia benefits psychological well-being. Only a handful of studies, however, have addressed the neural basis of the emotion. In this prospective review, we postulate a neural model of nostalgia. Self-reflection, autobiographical memory, regulatory capacity and reward are core components of the emotion. Thus, nostalgia involves brain activities implicated in self-reflection processing (medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus), autobiographical memory processing (hippocampus, medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus), emotion regulation processing (anterior cingulate cortex and medial prefrontal cortex) and reward processing (striatum, substantia nigra, ventral tegmental area and ventromedial prefrontal cortex). Nostalgia's potential to modulate activity in these core neural substrates has both theoretical and applied implications.

Nostalgia enhances detection of death threat: neural and behavioral evidence

An experiment examined the potency of nostalgia-a sentimental longing for one's past-to facilitate detection of death-related stimuli, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and behavioral techniques (i.e., judgmental accuracy, reaction times). We hypothesized and found that, at the neural level, nostalgic (relative to control) participants evinced more intense activation in right amygdala in response to death-related (vs. neutral) words. We also hypothesized and found that, at the behavioral level, nostalgic (relative to control) participants manifested greater accuracy in judging whether two death-related (vs. neutral) words belonged in the same category. Exploratory analyses indicated that nostalgic (relative to control) participants did not show faster reaction times to death-related (vs. neutral) words. In all, nostalgia appeared to aid in death threat detection. We consider implications for the relevant literatures.

On the Etiology of Self-Enhancement and Its Association With Psychological Well-Being

Self-enhancement, the motive to view oneself in positive light, and its manifestations have received wide attention in behavioral sciences. The self-enhancement manifestations vary on a continuum from a subjective level (agentic narcissism, communal narcissism, narcissistic grandiosity) through an intermediate level (better-than-average judgments) to an objective level (overclaiming one’s knowledge). Prior research has established the heritability of self-enhancement manifestations at the subjective and intermediate levels. The present twin study demonstrated that (1) the objective level of self-enhancement manifestation is also heritable; (2) a common core, which is moderately heritable, underlies the three levels of self-enhancement manifestations; (3) the relation between self-enhancement (manifested at all three levels) and psychological well-being is partly heritable; and (4) environmental influences, either shared by or unique to family members, are evident through (1), (2), and (3). The findings deepen understanding of the etiology of individual differences in self-enhancement and their links to psychological well-being.

The Beijing Twin Study (BeTwiSt): An Update

The Beijing Twin Study (BeTwiSt), which was established in 2006, is an ongoing study aiming to investigate the genetic and environmental etiology of adolescent psychopathology. Resting-state brain imaging datasets have been examined for same-sex twins, and other psychological traits and emotional and behavioral variables have been examined for all twins. Based on the registry, the main findings regarding the etiological mechanism underlying adolescent development, magnetic resonance imaging results, and genetic and environmental influences on other psychological traits have been published. This article summarizes the key findings in these three areas and discusses future plans for the BeTwiSt.

The contribution of optimism and hallucinations to grandiose delusions in individuals with schizophrenia

Grandiose delusions (GDs) are defined as false beliefs about having an inflated worth, power, or a special identity which are firmly sustained despite undeniable evidence to the contrary. Although it is the second most commonly encountered delusional beliefs, GDs have received little attention. Thus, in this study, we explored the role of future expectations and sensitivity to reward in GDs in schizophrenia (SZ) disorder. In total, 115 SZ patients completed measures of positive and negative symptoms, sensitivity to reward, depression, and a task in which individuals were asked to estimate the probability that positive, negative and neutral events will occur in the future. Correlation and Linear Regression analyses were performed in order to determine whether sensitivity to reward and future expectations are associated with GDs. Regressions showed that hallucinations and future positive expectations were significantly associated with GDs. In conclusion, the present study showed that higher optimism regarding the future might be important psychological processes associated with the maintenance of GDs in SZ patients. Moreover, it is possible that patients experiencing hallucinations may interpret this phenomenon as a kind of special ability or power, resulting in turn in GDs maintenance. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.

5-HTTLPR polymorphism is associated with nostalgia proneness: The role of neuroticism

Nostalgia, a sentimental longing for the past, is a self-relevant and social emotion. Nostalgia proneness is associated with alleviation of distress or instability (e.g., neuroticism). Although nostalgia proneness is heritable, the specific molecular contributors to this heritability are unknown. We focused on a polymorphism in the promoter of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) as a possible biological basis of nostalgia proneness, because the serotonin system has been associated with sensitivity to negative experience. Participants (N = 397 adults) who had reported levels of nostalgia proneness were genotyped. A subsample also completed a measure of neuroticism. Participants with the 5-HTTLPR short allele were higher on nostalgia proneness than those without this allele. Neuroticism mediated the relation between 5-HTTLPR and nostalgia proneness. These findings enrich our understanding of the genetic and personality underpinnings of nostalgia.