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ABSTRACT
The present research examined how nostalgia influences temporal self-appraisals and whether those appraisals relate to current mood. Across two studies, participants recalled either an ordinary or nostalgic memory and provided appraisals of their present and past selves. Participants who recalled nostalgic memories evaluated their past selves more positively than their present selves, whereas the reverse occurred for those who recalled ordinary memories. Those who recalled a positive future event also evaluated their future selves more positively than their present selves. Nostalgia simultaneously enhanced positive mood by heightening favorable evaluations of past selves and diminished positive mood by heightening unfavorable evaluations of present selves. The current work supports a temporal-selves framework that allows for a more nuanced portrait of the nostalgic experience.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Analyses reporting statistical assumptions of all tests and with all participants included for Studies 1 and 2 can be found in supplemental files at https://osf.io/hmbwn/
2. Two memories were not coded by raters due to insufficient detail about the memory. Nevertheless, the difference between self-reported nostalgia between conditions remained significant when these cases were excluded, t(98) = −6.41, p <.001, d = −1.28, CI95% = −1.85, −.98.
3. In the original thesis on which this manuscript is based, the first author considered self-reported subjective closeness as a potential moderator of these effects. However, results were inconsistent and were problematic due to a lack of information about actual temporal distance from the memories recalled. Nevertheless, this full report is available at https://osf.io/hmbwn/