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- Herausgeber: GRIN Verlag
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011
Diploma Thesis from the year 2010 in the subject Psychology - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,0, LMU Munich (Institut für Wirtschafts- und Sozialpsychologie), language: English, abstract: One of the essences of human being is that we are aware of ourselves in time. We do not only look ahead either with fear or pleasant anticipation, but also like to talk about the “good old days”. Nostalgia - which can be regarded as a sentimental longing for the past – has especially recently become an ubiquitous topic in society and media (see TV-Shows like „Die 80er Show“ and „Happy Days“). However it is unclear whether nostalgia is finally rather adaptive or maladaptive. Since its first scientific mentioning in the 17th century nostalgia has been regarded to be a burden or even a clinical disease as it might make people ruminate about better times forlorn or get lost in the past without being able to deal with the present anymore. However recently some psychologists have started suggesting that nostalgia might rather give joy to life. Yet the issue whether nostalgia is rather a problem or a pleasure has rarely been studied empirically so far. Therefore this book tries to shed some more light on the issue by reporting the results of an empirical study with a representative sample consisting of 160 German citizens. In line with the historical negative conception of nostalgia and in contrast to its current positive connotation the data show that nostalgia is negatively correlated with life satisfaction. Theoretical implications for possible mediators between nostalgia and life satisfaction are drawn. Furthermore character-traits of highly nostalgic people are observed.
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INTRODUCTION
“Nostalgia can be a real inspirational stimulant, and also one of the deadliest
It is almost half a century ago that the American psychiatrists Elihu Howland made this statement about nostalgia. However not much has changed. The phenomenon of nostalgia is still a puzzling one (Boym, 2001; Wilson, 2005). 350 years after the term nostalgia was used for the first time we still do not know whether it is a “stimulant” or a “poison”. While in the beginning nostalgia was classified as a disease it has recently become associated with a more positive connotation of pleasure and is regarded to be a coping mechanism (e.g. Zhou et al, 2008; Hertz, 1990). But an overall picture integrating all potential positive and negative aspects of nostalgia is still lacking (Wilson, 2005). And there are yet a great many more of ambiguous and disputed aspects: First, while some authors argue nostalgia can only be felt for things personally experienced (Davis, 1979), others hold that somebody can also long for a time before he or she was born (e.g. Stern, 1992a, Peters, 1985; Havlena & Holak, 1996; Baker & Kennedy, 1994). Second, when referring the term nostalgia to people’s own life it is not yet clear whether it is childhood (Kleiner, 1970; Dickinson & Erben, 2004; McGriff, 1997) or rather late adolescence and early adulthood (Davis, 1979; Holbrook & Schindler, 1989; Schuman & Scott, 1989) people are nostalgic for. Third, there is some disagreement on the question whether nostalgia is rather caused by an admiration of the past or by dissatisfaction with the present or by a fear about the future (cf. Batcho, 1998). Fourth, it is not yet clear whether nostalgia varies with age, gender or education, and finally it is rather unclear which personality dimensions are associated with high or low degrees of nostalgia.
So what is nostalgia in the end about? Which feelings and thoughts are conjoined with it? What are its causes and consequences? How do nostalgic people perceive their life? Do
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they suffer from their nostalgic feelings or do they rejoice them? And how does „the typical“ nostalgic person look like?
Although not all questions can ultimately be answered here, this thesis will shed some more light on the phenomenon of nostalgia. The results of an correlational study will show some evidence which contradicts the present appreciation of nostalgia as being an asset and redirects it to the roots of nostalgia as an indicator for sadness and depression: nostalgia seems to be a double-edged sword, which might rather hurt than heal. The theoretical part of this paper is structured as followed. First, history and meaning of the term nostalgia are outlined briefly. Then different theories and empirical studies concerning the question whether nostalgia is rather correlated with negative or with positive features like high or low life satisfaction are reviewed (this will be done in detail). Simultaneously it will be looked at the question whether nostalgia is rather a yearning for the past, an escape from the present or a fear of the future. Then, instruments to measure nostalgia as a personality trait or as a stable attitude will be discussed. This will be followed by a discussion of so far identified correlations of nostalgia with age, gender and education, respectively. Finally, so far assumed personality characteristics of high nostalgic people will be reviewed, whereby one focus will be set on the issue whether nostalgia is accompanied by pessimism and a perception of a steady decline in terms of “Things were better then than now”.
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THEORETICALANDEMPIRICAL BACKGROUND
From homesickness to „The 80s show“ - The history of nostalgia
Today nostalgia seems to be ubiquitous: various tv-shows invite to a time travel (e.g. in Germany „Die Ostalgie-Show“ and „Die 80er Show“). Musicals reanimate the music of the 1950s, 60s, 70s or 1980s (e.g. „Mamma Mia“ and „Hairspray“; c.f. Rugg, 2002). People surge to the cinema for movies playing in the past like „Titanic“ or „Good bye, Lenin“ (c.f. Cook, 2005; Dika, 2003; Higson, 1996; Radstone, 2010a; Rosenthal, 1981; Wollen, 1991). And marketing and advertisement experts use nostalgia to sell their goods (Fowler, 1992; Havlena, & Holak, 1991; Holbrook & Schindler, 1991; Stern, 1992; Muehling & Sprott, 2004; Unger et al., 1991).
However what we think when hearing the term nostalgia differs substantially from its initial meaning. The term nostalgia stems from the words „nostos“ meaning to return, and „algos“ meaning pain. Thus, nostalgia has primarily been an expression for the pain somebody feels when he or she is away from home and cannot return, a feeling we call „homesickness“ today.
The term nostalgia was first used in 1688 by the Swiss physician Johannes Hofer. Among its symptoms Hofer listed sadness, anxiety, anorexia, insomnia, palpation of the heart, weakness and diminished senses. He regarded nostalgia to be a physical disease due to dysfunctions of the brain. Others shortly after him attributed nostalgia to physical processes, as well, but the supposed causes changed with the spirit of time. In the 18thcentury nostalgia was traced back to environmental conditions like high air pressure (Scheuchzer, 1705,1731). From the end of the 18thto the end of the 19thcentury nostalgia was thought of to be rather a psychosomatically disease caused by inner conflicts (Blumenbach, 1783). During the beginning and middle of the 20th century psychoanalytic explanations prevailed associating
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nostalgia with a trauma in childhood and the wish to return to the mother’s womb (Fodor, 1950; Sterba, 1940; Neuman, 1949/1971; Kleiner, 1970, Kaplan, 1987; Kulish, 1989; Jackson, 1986; Peters, 1985, c.f. Daniels, 1985).
However, in contrary to controversies on the causes of nostalgia there was firm agreement from the first mention of nostalgia until the middle of the 20th century to classify nostalgia as a disease. Since the time that psychological rather than physical explanations became more common nostalgia was especially associated with depression (Rosen, 1975; McCann, 1941; Castelnuovo-Tedesco, 1980; Frost, 1938; Jackson, 1987). But in the 1970s the picture of nostalgia totally changed. In fact it did in several ways. It was then that nostalgia turned from a yearning for a place to a yearning for a time, namely for the past. Thus, nostalgia began to be distinguished from homesickness (Davis, 1979; Kleiner, 1979; Werman, 1977; c.f. van Tilburg et al., 1996). Second, while nostalgia was formerly looked at from the perspective of the individual person in the 1970s nostalgia became as well a sociological phenomenon. Sociologists connected nostalgia with a perception of decline in mankind - especially a decline in solidarity and morality (Steiner, 2004; Turner; 1987; Shaw & Chase, 1989; c.f. Putnam, 2000; Lane, 2000) - and with a yearning for nature, authenticity and harmony (Peters, 1985, Davies, 2010; Fujiwaka, 1989; Kleiner, 1970; Newton, 2006; c.f. Abramson & Inglehart, 1995). This new social perspective led furthermore to a new perspective on nostalgia: a collective nostalgia (Baker & Kennedy, 1994; Davis, 1979; cf. Halbwachs, 1992), whereby a group of people is nostalgic for the same things.
While nostalgia in its equation with homesickness had formerly been somewhat restricted to soldiers, first-year students, navy men and immigrants, now the meaning of nostalgia changed to be a feeling every person can experience. And by doing so - and this is probably the most interesting change - nostalgia was not longer regarded to be a disease.
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Instead of causing sadness nostalgia was now considered to cause pleasure and a warm feeling (Davis, 1979). It was even considered to be a mechanism to cope with difficulties in life - especially with transition between life stages or roles (Davis, 1979, see below). To sum up: From being pathological nostalgia became normal (Austin, 2007; Nikelly, 2004) (For a more detailed overview over nostalgias history see e.g. Starobisnki, 1985; Martin, 1954)
Bitter or sweet? Proposed negative and positive correlates of nostalgia
Nostalgia consists of an interplay of both, affective and cognitive elements (Mills & Coleman, 1994; Werman, 1977; Baumgartner, 1992; Cavanaugh 1989), but is mainly considered to be an emotion (Batcho, 1998; Frijda, 1986; Johnson-Laird & Oatley, 1989; Kemper, 1987; Ortony, Clore, & Collins., 1988; Sedikides, Wildschut & Baden,et al., 2004). It is also its strong emotional tone, which distinguishes nostalgia from reminiscence, recollection and remembrance (Davis, 1977; Wildschut et al, 2006; Sedikides et al, 2004). However, in contrast to for example grief, hunger or fear nostalgia is broadly considered to be a secondary or complex emotion, which requires a pre-set of previously acquired cultural norms (Johnson-Laird & Oalty, 1989; Kemper, 1987; Dickinson & Erben, 2006) to interpret the tone of the feeling.
Interpreting nostalgia’s tone has in fact never been simple. Although nostalgia was first considered to be a saddening disease while it is now rather considered to give pleasure, almost all professionals who have been dealing with nostalgia have acknowledged that nostalgia contains simultaneously negative and positive emotions. Indeed nostalgia is mostly referred to as a bittersweet emotion (Barrett et al, 2010; Cavanaugh, 1989; Fujiwaka, 1989; Kleiner, 1970; Holak & Havlena, 1992, Johnson-Laird & Oatly, 1989; Ross, 1991; Werman, 1977; c.f. Larsen et al., 2001), a bipolar emotion which combines joy with sadness (Werman, 1977), pain with sweetness (Howland, 1962) and pleasure with regret (Dickinson & Erben,
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2006). The bittersweet nature of nostalgia is mostly either attributed to experiencing simultaneously current regret and remembered pleasure (Kleiner, 1970; Dickinson & Erben, 2006; Harper, 1996) or to the dilemma of simultaneously wanting to escape into the past and the necessity to accept the present (Hertz, 1990; Dickinson & Erben, 2006; Radstone, 2010b; Sohn, 1983).
Although there is overwhelming consensus that nostalgia is a bittersweet feeling there is some discussion, whether the sad or rather the joyful parts prevail. While some authorsespecially the psychoanalytic ones - have inferred from case stories that the core of nostalgia is sadness, distress and disappointment (Fodor, 1950; Best & Nelson, 1985; Peters, 1985; Ortony, Clore & Collins, 1988) others emphasize nostalgia’s positive emotional aspects (Kaplan, 1987; Batcho, 1995).
Studies analysing the content of nostalgic memories point rather to the latter view. For example Holak and Havlena (1998) asked their participants to write down nostalgic episodes and concluded from these anecdotes that although nostalgia comprises some significant negative components as desire and sadness, it basically consists of positive emotions such as warmth, joy, affection and gratitude (for similar results see Wildschut et al, 2006). Furthermore administering the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson, Wiese, Vaidya, & Tellegen, 1988) in the study of Wildschut et al. (2006) showed that after having written about a nostalgic event participants reported more positive than negative affect. And finally a study of emotions concerning music (Barrett et al, 2010) revealed that the ratio of positive to negative emotions during nostalgic experiences while listening to music is four to one. This was a much more positive ratio as compared with non-nostalgic experiences. However, in this study not only positive emotions increased, but also negative emotions, which points to a general high emotional-loading of nostalgic experiences.
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Furthermore, positive emotions in general might even be evoked when the nostalgically remembered event is rather a negative one as negative events may also contain a positive side. As an example, one might experience a difficult situation, but then is helped by a good friend (Sedikides et al., 2006; Dickinson & Erben, 2006; Davis, 1979). As mentioned above nostalgia is an interplay of emotion and cognition. Its experience can affect the whole person: physical sensations, mood, emotions, thoughts and memories (Peters, 1985). Therefore, the question arises whether nostalgia with all its components is generally rather an asset or a curse.
In the childhood of nostalgia’s scientific history this question seemed to be an easy one as nostalgia was clearly regarded to be a disease. Especially psychoanalysts like Fodor (1950) mostly placed nostalgia in a bad light - and they continued to do so, when the meaning of nostalgia changed from a spatial to a temporal concept (e.g. Kleiner, 1970; Kulish, 1989). From a psychoanalytic point of view nostalgia is dysfunctional and not wanted by the people suffering from it (Kleiner, 1970). Nostalgia is thought to be an excessive emotional fixation on the past (McCann 1941), a tendency to regress and a yearning for one’s mother’s breast (Sterba, 1940; Fodor, 1950) and therefore an impediment for personal growth (Shabad, 1989; cf. Batcho et al., 2008).
