Rosy retrospection is a proposed psychological phenomenon of recalling the past more positively than it was actually experienced. The highly unreliable nature of human memory is well documented and accepted amongst psychologists. Some research suggests a 'blue retrospective' which also exaggerates negative emotions, creating a bipolar distortion of affective memory that depends on personality, time, and developmental stage.Lay, Jennifer (November 2016). "Neuroticism and Extraversion Magnify Discrepancies Between Retrospective and Concurrent Affect Reports". Journal of Personality. 85 (6).Zurbriggen, Carmen (2021). "Rosy or Blue? Change in Recall Bias of Students' Affective Experiences During Early Adolescence". Emotion. 21 (8): 1637–1649. doi:10.1037/emo0001031. PMID 34928636.
Though it is a cognitive bias which distorts one's view of reality, it is suggested that rosy retrospection serves a useful purpose in increasing self-esteem and sense of well-being. Simplifications and exaggerations of memories that occur in rosy retrospection may make it easier for the brain to store long-term memories, as removing details may reduce the burden of those memories by requiring the generation and maintenance of fewer neural connections. In evolutionary terms, such bias may have persisted because it encourages repeated engagement in adaptive behaviors, such as social bonding, exploration, and caregiving, even when those experiences were mixed or mildly unpleasant at the time.Prebble, Sarah C.; Addis, Donna Rose (2022). "Neural correlates of positive memory distortion: A systematic review". Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. 136: 104678. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104678. PMID 35568211. This cognitive efficiency allows the brain to preserve core meaningful experiences without being overwhelmed by trivial or distressing details.Parkinson, Brian (1995). Time Frames for Mood: Relations between Momentary and Generalized Ratings of Affect. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 21(3): 331–339.
Rosy retrospection is closely related to nostalgia, but differs in that it specifically involves perceiving the past as better than the present. Declinism, the predisposition to view the past more favourably and the future more negatively, may be related to cognitive biases like rosy retrospection. Nostalgia is usually a sentimental longing for personal or cultural pasts; rosy retrospection functions as a more general evaluative distortion that can apply to mundane daily events as well as significant life experiences.Sedikides, Constantine; Wildschut, Tim (2018). "Nostalgia versus rosy retrospection: Distinct positive memory biases". Self and Identity. 17 (3): 303–323. doi:10.1080/15298868.2017.1421247. Together, these biases can shape collective cultural narratives, leading societies to idealize historical eras as “golden ages” despite evidence of hardship and inequality.Psychology Today. (2014). The Meaning of Nostalgia.
The English idiom "rose-colored glasses" or "rose-tinted glasses" refers to perceiving something more positively than it is in reality, with similar turns of phrase in other languages. The Romans occasionally referred to this phenomenon as , which translates into English roughly as "memory of good past", or more idiomatically as "good old days". Cross-cultural studies indicate that this cognitive tendency exists worldwide, though the specific events and time periods targeted by rosy retrospection vary based on cultural values, historical events, and social norms.Prebble, S. C., & Addis, D. R. (2022). Neural correlates of positive memory distortion: A systematic review. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 136, 104678.
Research In one group of experiments, three groups going on different vacations were interviewed before, during, and after their vacations. Most followed the pattern of initially positive anticipation, followed by mild disappointment thereafter. Generally, most subjects reviewed the events more favorably some time after the events had occurred than they did while experiencing them. Even for vacations with record of hardship – flight delays, inclement weather or an inadequate quality of accommodations – this pattern persisted, suggesting negatively related peripheral details tend to fade more rapidly than positively associated core experiences.Wirtz, Derrick (2003). What to Do on Spring Break? The Role of Predicted, Online, and Remembered Experience in Future Choice. Psychological Science. 14(5): 520–524.
A 2003 pair of studies tracked 68 and 117 undergraduates, suggesting rosy retrospection is caused by high self-esteem. Participants journaled the day's events and associated emotions each night for seven nights. They later recalled their emotions when asked about said events. Those with higher self-esteem recalled their positive emotions being stronger than they journaled. They did not also recall their negative emotions more strongly. However, this result varied in its strength and did not occur consistently. It is proposed that this bias is more acute in others with (often-secure) attachment styles whose past social encounters are more positive.Sedikides, C., & Wildschut, T. (2018). Nostalgia versus rosy retrospection: Distinct positive memory biases. Self and Identity, 17(3), 303–323.
A 1995 study tracked 30 employed adults over 2 working weeks, having them report their mood every 2 hours during their waking day, as well as end-of-day and end-of-week reflection. It suggests a rosy bias which grows with time. For positive emotions, it found that end-of-day reflections were stronger than an average of the 2-hourly ratings of that day; likewise end-of-week reflections were stronger than an average of the end-of-days. But for negative emotions, there was no such significant difference neither between the averaged hourly and daily ratings nor the averaged daily and weekly ratings. This temporal gradient implies that positive affective memories are selectively reinforced during the consolidation of memory over days and weeks.Shohamy, D., & Daw, N. D. (2021). Memory consolidation and the distortion of emotional experience. Annual Review of Psychology, 72, 165–191.
Exaggeration of both negative and positive emotions Some studies have found evidence of a bias to exaggerating negative emotions - a.k.a. a 'blue' retrospective - as well as positive ones. These results run counter to the assumption that memory distortion is universally positive and suggest that it is flexible and that memory distortion is a response to individual differences and circumstances.Lay, Jennifer (2016). Neuroticism and Extraversion Magnify Discrepancies Between Retrospective and Concurrent Affect Reports. Journal of Personality. 85(6).
A 2016 study of 179 adults tracked their emotional state at regular intervals over 10 days, upon reflection after one day, and again after 1-2 months. It found that for both positive and negative emotions, stronger peak emotions (the strongest rating of the day) were more likely to result in exaggerated recollections upon reflection. Unlike the study above, it did not find that this effect increased with time. It also found a negative correlation with the average rating and the exaggerated recollections; suggesting those who consistently experienced stronger emotion recall more accurately. Additionally, it found extraverted personalities were more likely to have ‘rosy’ positive bias whereas neurotic personalities were more likely to have negative 'blue' bias on recall. This coincides with wider personality studies suggesting that extraversion facilitates positive emotional processing, and neuroticism increases sensitivity towards negative stimuli.Lucas, R. E., & Fujita, F. (2020). Personality traits and affective memory biases. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 29(2), 123–129.
A 2021 work studied a group of 120 Swiss children aged about 12, later repeating the study on the same group aged about 15. For a week, the children filled in short emotional questionnaires at random points during their school day. Afterwards, they were asked to recall their week’s emotions in retrospect. Note they were asked only about the preceding week: the 15-year-olds were not asked to recall their emotions at age 12. It found evidence of a ‘rosy’ positive bias for the 12-year-olds. But this was the opposite for the 15-year-olds, who showed a 'blue' negative bias instead. This developmental transition is also consistent with changes in emotion regulation, social comparison, and self-identity formation that go hand in hand with puberty.Steinberg, L. (2022). Adolescent brain development and emotional memory bias. Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, 4, 297–320.
A 2003 study surveyed 41 participants around the time of their vacations. Subjects predicted their emotions before vacating, reported their emotions during (in-situ), and recalled their emotions after. It indeed found a rosy effect as subjects recalled (and predicted) their positive emotions being stronger than they actually were. But it also found recollections of negative emotions were recalled and predicted more intensely than was reported at the time (as an aside, the only significant predictor of a desire to repeat a holiday was the recalled emotions, but not the predicted nor in-situ reports). This suggests that both rosy and blue retrospection are essential in informing future behavioral choices and decisions.Karney, B. R., & Bradbury, T. N. (2023). Rosy retrospection in romantic relationships. Journal of Marriage and Family, 85(2), 567–583.
Neural and cognitive mechanisms Recent neuroscientific research is starting to uncover brain systems contributing to the rosy retrospection. The hippocampus — which is vital to producing memories — partners with the amygdala, which handles emotional salience, to give primacy to positive memories in consolidation.Shohamy, D., & Daw, N. D. (2021). Memory consolidation and the distortion of emotional experience. Annual Review of Psychology, 72, 165–191. The medial prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for self-referential thinking, further amplifies this awareness, integrating positive memories with existing thoughts in the present self. Brain imaging fMRI studies reveal the areas related to critical analysis are downactive and reward-related areas upactive during rosy retrospection.Prebble, S. C., & Addis, D. R. (2022). Neural correlates of positive memory distortion: A systematic review. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 136, 104678.
Cognitively, rosy retrospection depends on two central processes, selective encoding and selective reconstruction. If nothing else, people are good at encoding experiences. At retrieval they replace missing or misleading information in the past with positive assumptions.Sedikides, C., & Wildschut, T. (2018). Nostalgia versus rosy retrospection: Distinct positive memory biases. Self and Identity, 17(3), 303–323. Schema theory supports this process, as existing positive self-schemas mediate memory retrieval processes to maintain coherence with the self-image.Conner, Tamlin (2003). Remembering Everyday Experience Through the Prism of Self-Esteem. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 29(1): 51–62. Slowly, these reconstructed memories become part of the life narrative and shape identity and expectations about the future.McAdams, D. P. (2019). The psychological self as narrative: A proposed integration of research and theory. Psychological Bulletin, 145(12), 1096–1123.
Real-world applications