The inspired time traveler: examining the implications of nostalgic entertainment experiences for two-factor models of entertainment

ABSTRACT

Two studies investigated the characteristics of nostalgic entertainment experiences. A survey (Study 1) asked American undergraduates to report their cognitive and affective reactions during a recent entertainment experience that they deemed nostalgic, meaningful, or pleasurable. Results indicated that nostalgic experiences often occurred after exposure to familiar media content (e.g., beloved children’s shows). Although these experiences were affectively similar to both pleasurable entertainment experiences (in terms of enjoyment) and meaningful entertainment experiences (in terms of mixed affect), they differed in the focus of their associated cognitions (i.e., reflection on the self in the past and over time). A follow-up experiment (Study 2) demonstrated that exposure to familiar children’s shows (rather than unfamiliar children’s shows or meaningful film trailers) induced nostalgic reactions in adults ranging in age from 19 to 47. The implications of these findings for current two-factor models of entertainment are discussed.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplemental material

Supplemental data can be accessed here.

Notes

1. For consistency, participants in the meaningful and pleasurable conditions were also asked to report the characteristics of the content that made them describe it as meaningful or pleasurable (respectively), but that data is not reported here.

2. As G*Power requires a sample size that is divisible by the number of groups, we calculated this value by using N₁ = 243 and N₂ = 246 as sample sizes. The values did not differ (V₁ = .074; V₂ = .074).

3. Although reliability could be improved by dropping one item, this item was retained to remain consistent with Study 1 and with prior research that has used this scale. The statistical significance of all results is the same using the two- or three-item measure.

4. As G*Power requires a sample size that is divisible by the number of groups, we calculated this value by using N₁ = 150 and N₂ = 153 as sample sizes. The values did not differ meaningfully (V₁ = .105; V₂ = .104).