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Nostalgia
This entry provides a historical overview of conceptualizations of nostalgia. It contrasts past
treatises, which viewed nostalgia as a neurological disease and a psychiatric disorder, with a
contemporary approach, which views nostalgia as predominantly positive, self-relevant, and
social emotion. The entry reviews empirical evidence indicating that nostalgia is integral to
interpersonal relationships. This evidence shows that nostalgic memories frequently feature the
self in a social context; that nostalgia is triggered by loneliness; and that nostalgia increases
secure attachment, interpersonal competence, and perceived social support.
Historical Sketch
The word nostalgia was coined in the 17th century by the Swiss physician Johannes
Hofer, but references to its meaning can be traced back as far as Homer’s Odyssey. It is a
compound of the Greek words nostos (return) and algos (pain). The literal meaning of nostalgia
is the suffering caused by a desire to return to one’s place of origin. In the 17th and 18th century,
as well as most of the 19th century, nostalgia was thought to be a neurological disease with such
varied symptoms as persistent thinking of home, despondency, bouts of weeping, irregular
heartbeat, and smothering sensations.
By the end of the 19th century, nostalgia came to be regarded as a psychiatric or
psychosomatic disorder. Symptoms included anxiety, sadness, loss of appetite, insomnia, and
fever. As the psychodynamic perspective gained strength in the mid-20th century, nostalgia came
to be viewed as a regressive disorder reflecting the subconscious desire to return to an early stage
of life. Under this influence, nostalgia was downgraded to a variant of depression rooted in
incomplete mourning and an inability to cope with the challenges of adulthood, including grief
and loss. In this light, it is perhaps not surprising that nostalgia was often equated with
homesickness.
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It was not until the latter part of the 20th century that nostalgia acquired a unique
conceptual status. The groundwork for this new look on nostalgia was laid by sociologist Fred
Davis. He showed, for instance, that participants associated words like warm, old times,
childhood, and yearning more frequently with nostalgia than with homesickness, suggesting that
participants could discriminate between these two concepts. Recently, nostalgia has become the
topic of social-psychological inquiry focusing on three issues: the content of nostalgic
experiences, the triggers of nostalgia, and the psychological functions of nostalgia. Preliminary
answers to these questions highlight the link between nostalgia and interpersonal relationships.
Interpersonal Relationships and the Content of Nostalgia
Studies on the content of nostalgia have analyzed autobiographical narratives of nostalgic
experiences. In one study, researchers retrieved and content-analyzed narratives published in the
periodical Nostalgia. Another study followed a vivid-recall protocol in which undergraduate
students wrote a detailed narrative account about a nostalgic experience, which was contentanalyzed. In both studies, the narratives revealed that individuals most frequently felt nostalgic
about close others (family members, old friends). Further highlighting the social aspect of
nostalgia was the finding that nostalgic narratives almost exclusively featured the self in
interpersonal context. Although many narratives contained descriptions of disappointments and
losses (separation, death of loved ones), positive and negative aspects were often juxtaposed so
as to create a redemption sequence—a narrative pattern that progresses from a negative to a
positive life scene.
Interpersonal Relationships and Triggers of Nostalgia
Research on the triggers of nostalgia has been guided by the idea that nostalgia often
occurs in response to negative psychological states, and may help the individual to restore
psychological equanimity. Most empirical attention has been focused on the discrete negative
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affective state of loneliness. In experimental research, loneliness was manipulated by giving
British (in one study) and Chinese (in another study) undergraduates false feedback regarding
their score on a test that ostensibly assessed loneliness. For some participants, the feedback
indicated that they were high in loneliness, for others that they were low in loneliness.
Participants then completed a measure of nostalgia, rating the extent to which they missed
various aspects of their past (e.g., “someone I loved,” “feelings I had”). British and Chinese
participants in the high-loneliness were more nostalgic than those in the low-loneliness
condition. Two correlational studies with Chinese participants further showed that loneliness was
positively correlated with feelings of nostalgia and that this loneliness-nostalgia association was
stronger among high- than among low-resilience individuals. These findings raise the interesting
possibility that individuals, particularly those high in resilience, recruit nostalgia to counteract
the adverse effects of loneliness.
Interpersonal Relationships and the Psychological Significance of Nostalgia
How might nostalgia help individuals cope with negative subjective states such as
loneliness? Research on the psychological functions of nostalgia has identified several pathways.
In a typical experiment, some participants are instructed to write about a nostalgic experience
and other participants are instructed to write about an ordinary experience from their past.
Participants who write about a nostalgic experience (compared to an ordinary experience) show
significant increases in positive affect and in positive self-esteem. Furthermore, these
experiments provide evidence that nostalgia increases social connectedness. Nostalgic
participants scored higher than control participants on state measures of secure attachment,
perceived social support, and interpersonal competence. Nostalgia, then, can make individuals
feel loved and capable of loving others.
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- Tim Wildschut (School of Psychology, University of Southampton, UK) and Constantine
Sedikides (School of Psychology, University of Southampton, UK)
Cross-references: Affiliation; Loneliness; Memories and relationships; Resilience; Social
support, Nature of
Further Readings
Davis, F. (1979). Yearning for yesterday: A sociology of nostalgia. New York: Free Press.
Routledge, C., Arndt, J., Sedikides, C., & Wildschut, T. (2008). A blast from the past: The terror
management function of nostalgia. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 132140.
Sedikides, C., Wildschut, T., & Baden, D. (2004). Nostalgia: Conceptual issues and existential
functions. In J. Greenberg, S. Koole, & T. Pyszczynski (Eds.), Handbook of experimental
existential psychology (pp. 200-214). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., Arndt, J., & Routledge, C. D. (2006). Nostalgia: Content, triggers,
functions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 975-993.