The Rehabilitation of an Old Emotion: A New Science of Nostalgia

Scientific American ^ | July 10, 2013 | Clay Routledge

[neverdem]

A Swiss physician named Johannes Hofer coined the term nostalgia in the late 17^th century to describe what he considered to be a cerebral disease unique to Swiss mercenaries fighting wars far from home. Fast forward over three hundred years to the present day and nostalgia is everywhere. Old movie franchises are resurrected and rebooted, songs and albums that represent “the classics” for any given generation are remastered and rereleased, and old video games are given a high definition facelift and resold. Communities and civic organizations all over the nation host retro-themed recreational events (e.g., classic car shows, blast from the past dances), and many social media websites thrive, in part, because people long to return to their past by catching up with old friends.

These are just a few examples of the human love affair with days gone by. But why is the past so seductive? And how do we reconcile the historical view of nostalgia as an illness with the fact that this desire to mentally time travel to the past is so ubiquitous? Is the nostalgia disease now pervasive, causing all sorts of physical and mental health problems? Or was Hofer (and many scholars and practitioners since) wrong to conceptualize nostalgia as an illness?

For nearly the last decade my colleagues and I have been striving to answer these and other unanswered questions about nostalgia. We were specifically interested in resolving the questions of what characterizes the experience of nostalgia, what effects (positive or negative) it has on people, and what causes people to become nostalgic. We have now conducted dozens of laboratory experiments and surveys and can, with some confidence, offer a new perspective on this old emotion.

What characterizes the experience of nostalgia?

Look in the dictionary and you will find a rather general definition of nostalgia as “a sentimental longing or yearning for the past” But what does it mean to be nostalgic? My colleagues and I explored this question by asking participants to write at length about an experience of nostalgia. Trained coders then analyzed these nostalgic narratives. Results from these coded narratives indicated that nostalgic memories tend to be focused on momentous or personally meaningful life events that prominently features close others (e.g., friends, family, romantic partners). Family vacations, road trips with friends, weddings, graduations, birthday parties, and holiday gatherings with loved ones are examples of the kinds of cherished experiences that people revisit when engaging in nostalgia. In addition, when coded for emotion-related words, results indicated that positive emotion-related words were used far more frequently than negative emotion-related words. Nostalgic memories are happy memories.

What effect does nostalgia have on people?

It is hard to imagine nostalgia as a disease when considering its content. Hofer proposed that nostalgia caused symptoms such as anxiety, insomnia, irregular heartbeat, and disordered eating. And Hofer was not alone is his view that nostalgia was an ailment that led to a number of problematic symptoms. Indeed, until the later part of the 20^th century nostalgia was viewed either as a medical disease of a mental illness. However, past work on nostalgia was largely non-scientific. That is, no controlled studies were conducted to determine the effects of nostalgia. My colleagues and I thought it was time for nostalgia to be properly placed under the empirical microscope and thus began conducting laboratory experiments in which we systematically contrasted the experience of nostalgia with other modes of thought to determine its true consequences. Once we started conducting experimental studies, nostalgia started to look like an emotion redeemed.

In a nutshell, we found that nostalgia does not have any negative effects on people, but does generate a number of psychological benefits. To illustrate, here is a quick rundown of a typical nostalgia experiment. Participants arrive at the laboratory and are informed that they are going to complete a survey regarding attitudes and emotions. They then complete a number of questionnaires as part of the study. Critically, some participants are randomly assigned to the nostalgia condition and some are randomly assigned to a control condition. Those in the nostalgia condition are provided with the dictionary definition of nostalgia, asked to spend a few minutes thinking about an experience of nostalgia, and instructed to briefly write about this experience. Those in the control condition are asked to think and write about a different (non-nostalgic) experience.

The specific experience used in the control condition varies from study to study. In some studies, for example, control participants are asked to write about an ordinary experience from the last week. In addition, different studies have employed entirely different methods for inducing nostalgia. For example, in some studies, music has been used to heighten nostalgia. After the nostalgia or control condition, all participants complete a range of questionnaires to assess the effects of nostalgia. These questionnaires typically assess states related to psychological health and well-being. Here is what these studies have found.

Nostalgia, compared to control conditions, does not increase negative emotions, but it does increase positive emotions. As I mentioned before, nostalgic experiences tend to be characterized as positive and this feature of nostalgia appears to translate into actual mood. When nostalgia is induced in the lab, it puts people in a good mood. In other words, thinking about cherished experiences from the past makes people feel good in the present.

Nostalgia, compared to control conditions, increases self-esteem as well as perceptions of meaning in life. By allowing people to revisit cherished life experiences, nostalgia boosts positive self-regard and promotes the feeling that life is full of meaning and purpose.

Nostalgia, compared to control conditions, increases perceptions of social connectedness. Again, as previously mentioned, nostalgic experiences tend to be highly social in nature. The consequence of this is that nostalgia makes people feel closer to others. Nostalgia reminds people that they are loved and valued by close others.

These are just a few examples of the psychological benefits of nostalgia that have been unearthed in recent studies. Other recent studies further indicate that nostalgia reduces stress and makes people feel energized, inspired, and optimistic about the future. The punch line of all this work is that nostalgia is good for people. Contrary to past assertions, nostalgia does not harm people; it benefits psychological health and well-being.

So what causes people to become nostalgic?

Hofer thought that nostalgia was caused by continuous vibrations of animal spirits through fibers in the middle brain. Others proposed that nostalgia resulted from damage to the eardrum and brain caused by the nonstop clanging of cowbells in the Alps. Though we found these explanations rather imaginative, not surprisingly, my colleagues and I thought a fresh look at the causes of nostalgia was in order.

As a starting point, we asked participants to indicate what situations or experiences tend to make them feel nostalgic. Social interactions (e.g., getting together with an old friend), sensory imputs (e.g., smells, music), and tangible objects (e.g., old photographs) commonly inspire nostalgic feelings. However, negative mood was the most commonly reported cause of nostalgia and, within this general category, loneliness was the most frequently listed discrete negative emotion. These findings suggest that nostalgia is triggered by feelings that could be described as psychological threat. But further work was needed.

My colleagues and I again turned to experimental methods to further examine the causes of nostalgia. In particular, we believed that negative mood, loneliness, and feelings of meaningless would be potent triggers of nostalgia. We reasoned this because of the psychological functions that nostalgia serves. That is, as previously discussed, nostalgia increases positive mood, perceptions of meaning, and a sense of connectedness to others. Thus, people may naturally turn to nostalgia if positive mood is threatened, a sense of meaning in life is undermined, or feelings of social connectedness are compromised.

Experiments we conducted supported these proposals. In one study, participants were randomly assigned to read one of three news articles that were chosen to induce positive mood, negative mood, or no emotion. All participants then completed a questionnaire that assessed how nostalgic they felt at that moment. Participants who read the negative mood inducing article reported feeling more nostalgic than participants who read either the positive or neutral mood inducing articles.

In another study, some participants were assigned to a condition that made them feel lonely. Specifically, they completed a personality questionnaire and were then provided with false feedback suggesting that they were high on a validated measure of loneliness. Participants in the control condition were given feedback suggesting they were not high on loneliness. Again, all participants then completed a measure of nostalgia. Participants in the loneliness condition reported being significantly more nostalgic than participants in the control condition.

In yet another study, some participants read a philosophical essay regarding the cosmic insignificance of human life (a threat to perceived meaning) while other participants read a philosophical essay that had no direct connection to perceptions of meaning. Again, nostalgia was then measured. Participants in the meaning threat condition reported feeling significantly more nostalgic than participants in the control condition. In short, situations that trigger negative emotions, feelings of loneliness, and perceptions of meaninglessness cause people to become nostalgic.

The Past has a Bright Future

Above, I described just a few examples of the many studies recently conducted in the field of social psychology on the content, function, and triggers of nostalgia. Though it has taken a few hundred years, thanks to a revived interest in this old emotion and a more scientific approach to studying it, nostalgia is getting a conceptual makeover. Nostalgia is not a disease or mental illness. Instead, it is a psychological resource that people employ to counter negative emotions and feelings of vulnerability. Nostalgia allows people to use experiences from the past to help cope with challenges in the present. And current research is further probing the many ways that nostalgia promotes psychological health. It appears that nostalgia has a bright future.

Image: photo of the author looking at the historic Fargo Theater by Jenny Routledge

About the Author: Dr. Clay Routledge is a social psychologist and associate professor of Psychology at North Dakota State University. His research focuses on how the need to perceive life as meaningful impacts mental and physical health, close relationships, and intergroup relations. Dr. Routledge is a leading expert on the psychology of nostalgia. He regularly publishes his work in the top psychology journals, recently co-edited a book on the scientific study of meaning in life, and is currently writing a book on the psychology of nostalgia.

[yarddog]

I am watching an old episode of “Lost In Space” right now. Next up is “Star Trek”.

[ClearCase_guy]

I think about all that we have lost. We were once a country with shared values, a proud history, and a strong economy. I don’t live in the country my parents lived in. My country is a dim place, a shadow of what it once was. I guess I’m nostalgic.

[TomServo]

I was just remembering the good ‘ol days...when Clinton was in the White House.

[clearcarbon]

It comes as no surprise for all who have found themselves trapped in an obamanation to become nostalgic for America, formerly known as the land of the free and the home of the brave.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Agreed. I am nostalgic for the past for the same types of reasons. While some aspects of life today, such as advances in medicine, have made life better, I think there are many other aspects of life which have made society worse.

For example, we have institutionalized the baby mama culture, and single motherhood. This has created huge social and financial costs to society. I am nostalgic for a time in which biological parents were married to each other, and raising their own children as the social norm. While there has always been a bad element in the ghetto, in recent years we have seen drive by shootings become the norm there among the criminal element. I am nostalgic for a time when such shootings were rare. I am nostalgic for a time in which the national debt was under control. I know we've had deficit spending for generations, but, now we are past the point of no retun for ever getting a handle on that. I am nostalgic for a time in which public schools actually taught actual history and imparted values, rather than educating about condoms and other politically correct things. I'm nostalgic for the past in many areas, because so many things have changed for the worse, and far fewer aspects of life have changed for the better.

[Excellence]

Now I can see old places by satellite. They put a major throughfare through my old neighborhood.

[mountn man]

Some of the most popular tv series' in reruns are

Andy Griffith
The Waltons
Little House On The Prairie
Gun Smoke

People looking back to a better time in America

[Fiji Hill]

I wish I were living in 1929—before political correctness, parking meters, AIDS, the Nanny State, the Kennedys, CAFE, Governor Moonbeam, abortion on demand, “Gay Pride” parades, speed bumps, Obamacare, John McCain, “praise” music, the EPA and Coach Lane Kiffin.

[knarf]

I haven't read the article (yet), But I LOVE heaping portions of nostalgia.

Nostalgia is warm and friendly .. very satisfying .. and addictive.

[knarf]

The Rifleman is my all time favorite.

[yarddog]

Star Trek is now on. They have beamed down to Cestus 3 and it has been destroyed. It is one of the better episodes if I remember right.

Guess what? A guy in a red shirt has already been killed.

[Chode]

i'm have nostalgia for the America i grew up in...

[Stepan12]

In 1963 (in Massachusetts, no less), they still had the Pledge of Allegiance. People sung "America the Beautiful," and our patriotic teacher recited the "Declaration of Independence" to us (I was little and could not read very well).

It certainly was a better time as problematic as it was.

[Stepan12]

The James Bond movies starred Sean Connery then. No one could equal him except perhaps George Lazenby and he foolishly turned down more Bond films.

[Mears]

I’m 80 years old and taught school in Boston in the mid fifties.

I read the 23rd psalm to the class every morning——we all did.

.

[1010RD]

We still prayed in Chicago Public (government) Schools.

[1010RD]

Bingo. Godlessness leads in one direction.

See my comment here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3042596/posts?page=17#17

[Silentgypsy]

When we were both working, my husband and I collected series of, old TV series (Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, Hitchcock, The Avengers). We had cancelled satellite TV over a year ago. My husband stated that they produced much better TV shows in the early days of TV.

[a fool in paradise]

Old movie franchises are resurrected and rebooted

Reboots aren't about "nostalgia". They are about plundering the past and establishing a new future (and new copyright). Heard last night that the Spider-Man franchise may make Mary Jane (Peter Parker's love interest) a man. Y'know, to make it contemporary.

All of the great sports stadiums of the past have been torn asunder by dictate of the leagues.

The sooner the suits can make you break with the past, the sooner they can get you to accept the new future they are trying to sell you.

Once upon a time, America's culture of rock and roll, cars, hamburgers, and blue jeans was dream for those living in the Soviet bloc and elsewhere. Such contraband was banned.

Now our cars are greenie weenie mobiles. Roadtrips and drive-ins are frowned upon. Hamburgers are "bad for you" (by dictate of the Queen). Rock and roll in the media no longer exists (replaced by nudisco, rap, and twee sensitive males with keyboard synths). Hollywood has sold out America (movies like Captain America are called The First Avenger in foreign territories, Superman no longer stands up for The American Way, etc.).

That longing for the past, called "nostalgia" sometimes manifests from a longing for the way things were. Not because everything was better then, but because what replaced it is worse in many ways.

But those who dig into past relics aren't "nostalgic" for experiences they never had. Sometimes listening to old music is just that. Seeking out something other than the suits are pushing today.

Is it nostalgia to listen to "classical" music? Bebop jazz?

Then why is it considered nostalgic to listen to twist records?