It’s Friday 9.00 AM. In about an hour, the plane will land in Frankfurt, Germany, where my friend will pick me up. A few weeks ago, he asked me to celebrate his 50th birthday with him and, of course, I agreed! I slept poorly, have a ton of work awaiting my return in London, and had to squeeze myself into a middle seat flanked by two unscrupulous arm-rest hoarding man-spreaders, but I don’t care. I’m reveling in anticipatory nostalgia with the prospect of hanging out with my friend for the weekend.
The comfort that nostalgia offered me is not unusual. Studies show that nostalgia—defined as a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past—tends to make people feel better about themselves and others. Nostalgic memories usually feature significant social events such as holidays and graduation, and so instill a sense of meaning in life, increase self-esteem, and make us feel more connected to those we care about.
For example, in a series of experiments, researchers found that people who feel momentarily lonely start retrieving nostalgic memories. Their nostalgia, in turn, helps them overcome their loneliness. In a similar vein, our research found that people who are trapped in boring and meaningless situations sometimes cope with their feelings by recalling nostalgic events, which re-establish a sense of meaning in life. Nostalgia seems to help us by reaching out for a cherished past, holding on tight to those special occasions, and transforming seemingly unconnected events into the chapters of an ongoing and meaningful life story that spans from past to present.
I’m in my friend’s car on our way to my hotel. As we drive along, we enter a picturesque little village and the set for our celebrations: fairy-tale houses, peaceful streets, and the sound of birds rather than London’s perpetual roar of traffic. This place seems stuck in time—how appropriate. But it also makes me nervous. I don’t know the area, let alone the local customs, and I haven’t used my high-school German for years. I’m completely out of my element. Within moments, the conversation with my old friend turns to the past: the occasion when we first met, and we laugh about the poor timing of our move to Ireland 10 years ago just before the economic crisis pushed the country into recession. If I survived that then I’m sure that I can manage for the weekend, if needed with sign language and playing the naïve tourist…
It may be tempting to dismiss nostalgia as a sentiment that traps people in a pleasantly rosy but ultimately disconnected past, severed from the realities of the present. Is nostalgia a one-way ticket down memory lane? Not quite. Although nostalgia certainly focuses on a glorified past, nostalgia can have surprisingly forward-looking consequences. Studies show that nostalgia inspires, that it makes people more open to new experiences and fosters optimism. We found that stories written by nostalgic people even expressed greater creativity than the stories written by control groups. Nostalgia makes people feel better about themselves and more socially connected, and from this position of security, nostalgia seems to empower people to engage constructively with both their present and future.
After a long night of celebrating with good food, good wine, and even better friends, we go for a refreshing hike in the surrounding hills. It is a crisp February morning, and soon we feel the first drops of rain. If the heavens burst open, then we will be cold and wet within moments.
Nostalgia offers people comfort in the face of psychological threats such as loneliness, lack of meaning, or boredom. It restores “psychological homeostasis,” undoing discomforts and replenishing features of psychological well-being such as self-esteem, meaning, and a sense of social connection. But what are the limits to this beneficial function of nostalgia? Does nostalgia offer comfort in the face of physical distressors such as adverse weather?
Obviously, even intense nostalgia will not quiet the storm that rages outside or heat the room to a comfy temperature, but nostalgia does help people cope with these discomforts. For example, experiments show that recalling nostalgic memories makes people feel that their surroundings are warmer. People seem eager to exploit nostalgia in pursuit of these psychological benefits: people in a dimly lit room who listened to recordings of thunder and wind spontaneously became nostalgic and felt less distressed than people who were prevented from becoming nostalgic. Nostalgia does, in fact, abate the storm, at least psychologically.
It’s the final day of my short trip to Germany, and after a weekend of seeing old friends and making new ones, I return tired but satisfied. A few days away allowed me to revisit, with others, all those pleasant moments that chart our shared history. Better yet, this trip offers memories that, one day, will supply me with a fresh source of nostalgia to help overcome whatever discomforts the future may hold.
For Further Reading:
Routledge, C., Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., & Juhl, J. (2013). Nostalgia as a resource for psychological health and well‐being. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7, 808-818.
Sedikides, C., & Wildschut, T. (2016). Past forward: Nostalgia as a motivational force. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20, 319-321.
Van Tilburg, W. A., Wildschut, T., & Sedikides, C. (2018). Nostalgia’s place among self-relevant emotions. Cognition and Emotion, 32, 742-759.
Wijnand van Tilburg is Lecturer in Psychology at King’s College London and studies emotion and decision-making in social contexts.