magazine issue 8 2014 / Issue 22

Revisiting the past can make the present a better place: The psychological and social benefits of nostalgia

• written by Clay Routledge
• edited by Dylan Selterman

The Redemption of Nostalgia

The research previously described is just a sample of recent studies on the psychology of nostalgia. In all, experimental research paints a clear picture. Nostalgia is not the cause of mental agony. It is a solution to it. When people face life experiences that make the feel sad, alone, and without purpose, they can revisit personally treasured experiences from their past to reassure themselves that things are ok. Take, for instance, a recent series of studies by Zhou and colleagues (2008) exploring the relationship between loneliness, nostalgia, and perceptions of social support. These researchers observed, not surprisingly, that when people feel lonely they also feel like they have little support from others. Loneliness makes you feel like no one cares about or values you. However, these researchers also observed that loneliness led to nostalgia and that nostalgia in turn increased perceptions of social support. In other words, nostalgia helped counter the negative effects of loneliness. When people feel lonely they can reflect nostalgically on the past to remind themselves that there are people who care about and value them. And engaging in this exercise restores those perceptions of social support that are compromised by loneliness. People recruit nostalgia to cope with threatening feelings and experiences.

So there is good reason that nostalgia is so prevalent in our society. In fact, studies suggest that nostalgia is very common across diverse cultures (e.g., Routledge et a., 2011; Zhou et al., 2008). Nostalgia is not a mental weakness or distraction that keeps people from living healthy lives in the present. It is a resource that promotes psychological health. Nostalgia gives people the inner strength and positive outlook needed to move forward in life and take on new challenges.

In addition, emerging research is exposing the many ways that nostalgia leads to positive outcomes well beyond the mental health of the nostalgic person. For example, recent studies observed that when people feel nostalgic, they are more likely to offer help to someone in need (Stephan et al., in press) and donate to charity (Zhou et al., 2012). Nostalgia also appears to increase positive attitudes towards stigmatized groups such as people who are overweight (Turner, Wildschut, & Sedikides, 2012) or who suffer from mental illness (Turner, Wildschut, Sedikides, & Gheorghiu, 2013). In all, nostalgia does not just make individuals feel good about their own lives. It also inclines them to empathize with and help others. Nostalgia benefits society. So keep doing nostalgia. It is good for you and those around you.

References

Abeyta, A., Routledge, C., Roylance, C., Wildschut, T., & Sedikides, C. (in press). Attachment-related avoidance and the social and agentic content of nostalgic memories. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

Batcho, K. I. (1995). Nostalgia: A psychological perspective. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 80, 131-143.

Cheung, W., Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., Hepper,E.., Arndt, J., & Vingerhoets, A. J. (2013) Back to the future: Nostalgia increases optimism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39, 1484-1496.

Davis, F. (1979). Yearning for yesterday: A sociology of nostalgia. New York: Free Press.