Nostalgia is an emotion which is often described as a bittersweet longing for the past, typically for a period of time accompanied by happy memories or emotions. It is often described as a sort of sad pleasure, which typically involves longing for a past memory, whether real or romanticized, that cannot be recovered. It can also refer to a type of homesickness.
The word nostalgia is a neoclassical compound derived from Greek, consisting of (nóstos), a Homeric word meaning "homecoming", and (álgos), meaning "pain"; the word was coined by a 17th-century medical student to describe the anxieties displayed by Swiss mercenaries fighting away from home. Described as a medical condition—a form of melancholy—in the early modern period, it became an important trope in Romanticism.
Nostalgia is associated with a longing for the past, its personalities, possibilities, and events, usually described as the "good old days" or the "glory days". There is a predisposition, caused by cognitive biases such as rosy retrospection, for people to view the past more positively and the future more negatively.The Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang edited by Grant Barrett, p. 90. When applied to one's beliefs about a society or institution, this is called declinism, which has been described as "a trick of the mind" and as "an emotional strategy, something comforting to snuggle up to when the present day seems intolerably bleak".
The scientific literature on nostalgia usually refers to nostalgia regarding one's personal life and has mainly studied the effects of nostalgia as induced during these studies. Emotion is a strong provoker of nostalgia due to the processing of these stimuli first passing through the amygdala, the emotional seat of the brain. These recollections of one's past are usually important events, people about whom one cares, and places where one has spent time. Cultural phenomena such as music, movies, television shows, and video games, as well as natural phenomena such as weather and environment, can also be strong triggers of nostalgia.
Functions Nostalgia's definition has changed greatly over time. Consistent with its Greek word roots meaning "homecoming" and "pain", nostalgia was for centuries considered a potentially debilitating and sometimes fatal medical condition characterized by expressing extreme homesickness. The modern view is that nostalgia is an independent, and even positive, emotion that many people experience often. Nostalgia has been found to have important psychological functions, such as to improve mood, increase social connectedness, enhance positive self-regard, and provide existential meaning. Nostalgia can lead individuals to perceive the past more favorably than the present, a phenomenon known as the "nostalgia effect," which is classified as a cognitive bias. Many nostalgic reflections serve more than one function, and overall seem to benefit those who experience them. Such benefits may lead to a chronic disposition or personality trait of "nostalgia proneness."Vanessa Köneke: More bitter than sweet – Are nostalgic people rather sad than happy after all? GRIN Verlag GmbH, München 2010, . Nostalgia has also been associated with learning and memory consolidation.
Improving mood Although nostalgia is often triggered by negative feelings, it results in increasing one's mood and heightening positive emotions, which can stem from feelings of warmth or coping resulting from nostalgic reflections. One way to improve mood is to effectively cope with problems that hinder one's happiness. Batcho (2013) found that nostalgia proneness positively related to successful methods of coping throughout all stages—planning and implementing strategies, and reframing the issue positively. These studies led to the conclusion that the coping strategies that are likely among nostalgia-prone people often lead to benefits during stressful times. Nostalgia can be connected to more focus on coping strategies and implementing them, thus increasing support in challenging times.Batcho, K. I. (2013). "Nostalgia: Retreat or support in difficult times?" The American Journal of Psychology,
Increasing social connectedness Nostalgia sometimes involves memories of people one was close to, such as family members, romantic lovers, or friends, and thus it can increase one's sense of social support and connections. Nostalgia is also triggered specifically by feelings of loneliness, but counteracts such feelings with reflections of close relationships. According to Zhou et al. (2008), lonely people often have lesser perceptions of social support. Loneliness, however, leads to nostalgia, which actually increases perceptions of social support. Thus, Zhou and colleagues (2008) concluded that nostalgia serves a restorative function for individuals regarding their social connectedness.
Preserving cultural heritage
Nostalgia serves as a motivator for the preservation of people's cultural heritage. People endeavor to conserve buildings, landscapes, and other artifacts of historical significance out of nostalgia for past times. They are often motivated by a desire to connect to their heritage from past generations. This can manifest in living history events such as historical reenactments, which bring together people with a shared nostalgia for historical periods of past times. These events' hands-on, improvisational natures often facilitate socialization.
Enhancing positive self-regard Nostalgia serves as a coping mechanism and helps people to feel better about themselves. Vess et al. (2012) found that the subjects who thought of nostalgic memories showed greater accessibility of positive characteristics than those who thought of exciting future experiences. Additionally, in a second study conducted, some participants were exposed to nostalgic engagement and reflection while the other group was not. The researchers looked again at self-attributes and found that the participants who were not exposed to nostalgic experiences reflected a pattern of selfish and self-centered attributes. Vess et al. (2012), however, found that this effect had weakened and become less powerful among the participants who engaged in nostalgic reflection.
Providing existential meaning Nostalgia helps increase one's self-esteem and meaning in life by buffering threats to well-being and also by initiating a desire to deal with problems or stress. Routledge (2011) and colleagues found that nostalgia correlates positively with one's sense of meaning in life. The second study revealed that nostalgia increases one's perceived meaning in life, which was thought to be mediated by a sense of social support or connectedness. Thirdly, the researchers found that threatened meaning can even act as a trigger for nostalgia, thus increasing one's nostalgic reflections. By triggering nostalgia, though, one's defensiveness to such threat is minimized as found in the fourth study. The final two studies found that nostalgia is able not only to create meaning, but also to buffer threats to meaning by breaking the connection between a lack of meaning and one's well-being. Follow-up studies also completed by Routledge in 2012 not only found meaning as a function of nostalgia, but also concluded that nostalgic people have greater perceived meaning, search for meaning less, and can better buffer existential threat.
Promoting psychological growth Nostalgia makes people more willing to engage in growth-oriented behaviors and encourages them to view themselves as growth-oriented people. Baldwin and Landau (2014) found that nostalgia leads people to rate themselves higher on items like "I am the kind of person who embraces unfamiliar people, events, and places." Nostalgia also increased interest in growth-related behavior such as "I would like to explore someplace that I have never been before." In the first study, these effects were statistically mediated by nostalgia-induced positive affect—the extent to which nostalgia made participants feel good. In the second study, nostalgia led to the same growth outcomes but the effects were statistically mediated by nostalgia-induced self-esteem.
As a deception One recent study critiques the idea of nostalgia, which in some forms can become a defense mechanism by which people avoid the historical facts.Hook, D.(2012) "Screened history: Nostalgia as defensive formation." Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, Vol 18(3), Aug, 2012. Special issue: Of Narratives and Nostalgia. pp. 225–239 This study looked at the different portrayals of apartheid in South Africa and argued that nostalgia appears as two ways:Boym, S. (2001). The future of nostalgia. New York, NY: Basic Books "restorative nostalgia", a wish to return to that past, and "reflective nostalgia", which is more critically aware.
As a comfort Reliving past memories may provide comfort and contribute to mental health. One notable recent medical study has looked at the physiological effects thinking about past "good" memories can have. They found that thinking about the past "fondly" actually increased perceptions of physical warmth.
As a political tool In a 2014 study conducted by Routledge, he and a team observed that the more people reported having major disruptions and uncertainties in their lives, the more they nostalgically longed for the past. Routledge suggests that by invoking the idea of an idealized past, politicians can provoke the social and cultural anxieties and uncertainties that make nostalgia especially attractive—and effective—as a tool of political persuasion.
Trigger factors Cultural Books A person can deliberately trigger feelings of nostalgia by listening to familiar music, looking at old photos, or visiting comforting environments of the past. With this knowledge widely available, many books have been published specifically to evoke the feeling of nostalgia.
Music Hearing an old song can bring back memories for a person. A song heard once at a specific moment and then not heard again until a far later date will give the listener a sense of nostalgia for the date remembered and events that occurred then. However, if it is heard throughout life, it may lose its association with any specific period or experience.
Movies Old movies can trigger nostalgia. This is particularly true for generations who grew up as children during specific film eras, such as the animation renaissance of the 1990s. Rewatching classic movies can be therapeutic in nature, healing emotional wounds using happy childhood memories.
TV shows Old television shows can trigger nostalgia. People gravitate towards shows they watched as children, as the memories from one's youth are often the most significant of their lives. This tendency is also reflected in practices such as Comfort television, where viewers return to familiar programs for emotional comfort and nostalgia.
Video games Old video games can trigger nostalgia. Retro gaming has become a recreational activity among older generations who played them as children.
Environmental Geography Specific locations can trigger nostalgia. Such places are often associated with an individual's past, reminding them of their past childhood, relationships, or achievements. They may include the homes where they grew up with their families, the schools they attended with friends, or the venues they visited for dating and marriage.
Nature Nature-based factors such as weather and temperature can trigger nostalgia. Scientific studies have shown that cold weather makes people more nostalgic, while nostalgia causes people to feel warmer. In some societies, elements of nature often trigger a nostalgia for past times when nature played a larger role in culture.