Emotion © 2018 American Psychological Association 2019, Vol. 19, No. 1, 21–36 1528-3542/19/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/emo0000417 An Appraisal Profile of Nostalgia Wijnand A. P. van Tilburg Martin Bruder King’s College London University of Konstanz and German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval), Bonn, Germany Tim Wildschut and Constantine Sedikides Anja S. Göritz University of Southampton University of Freiburg The authors aimed to (a) identify the cognitive appraisals underlying nostalgia and (b) compare nostalgia with other emotions in terms of its appraisal profile. In Study 1, participants (N ϭ 1,125) generated narratives. Next, they reported the level of nostalgia and 31 other emotions that these narratives elicited. Subsequently, participants evaluated the narrative events on several cognitive appraisals. Events that elicited nostalgia were pleasant, involved an irretrievable loss, felt psychologically distant, and were unique—an appraisal profile that differed from all other emotions. In Study 2 (N ϭ 1,261), the authors experimentally varied these appraisals in a vignette paradigm and measured anticipated nostalgia and 10 other emotions. Participants anticipated most nostalgia when events were pleasant, involved irretrievable loss, were distant, and were unique—a profile shared only with longing. In Study 3 (N ϭ 994), the authors used a guided autobiographical recall procedure in which they manipulated appraisals and measured the resultant emotions. Corroborating Studies 1–2, nostalgia was most intense for events that were pleasant, irretrievably lost, temporally distant, and unique. This appraisal profile was not shared by other emotions. The findings delineate the distinguishing cognitive appraisal profile of nostalgia. Nostalgia occupies a special place in the pantheon of emotions. Supplemental materials: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/emo0000417.supp The last decade has witnessed a rise in psychological research Nostalgia on nostalgia (“a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the Whereas nostalgia has historically been denounced as a demonic past;” The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Pearsall, 1998,p. possession or cast as a psychiatric disorder (Batcho, 2013; 1266). Nostalgia exerts a considerable influence on psychological Sedikides, Wildschut, & Baden, 2004), recent empirical findings functioning (Sedikides, Wildschut, Routledge, Arndt, et al., 2015). rehabilitated its image by clarifying what nostalgia is and what it Prior research, however, has typically isolated nostalgia to scruti- does. The emotion is typically triggered by discomforting states nize its psychological signature. Our aim is to complement this (e.g., loneliness, boredom, discontinuity between one’s past and literature by (a) identifying cognitive appraisals underlying nos- one’s present; Sedikides et al., 2015; van Tilburg, Igou, & talgia and (b) comparing/contrasting nostalgia with other emotions Sedikides, 2013; Zhou, Sedikides, Wildschut, & Gao, 2008), in terms of its cognitive appraisal profile. scents (Reid, Green, Wildschut, & Sedikides, 2015), and music or song lyrics (Cheung et al., 2013; Routledge et al., 2011; Stephan et al., 2015). Both content analyses of nostalgic narratives (Abeyta, Routledge, Roylance, Wildschut, & Sedikides, 2015; Holak & This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article was published Online First March 5, 2018. Havlena, 1998; Wildschut, Sedikides, Arndt, & Routledge, 2006) This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual userWijnand and is not to be disseminated broadly. A. P. van Tilburg, Department of Psychology, Institute of and analyses of laypersons’ prototypic conceptions of nostalgia Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King’s College London; Mar- (Hepper, Ritchie, Sedikides, & Wildschut, 2012) indicate that the tin Bruder, Zukunftskolleg and Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, and German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval), emotion involves fond, self-relevant, and social recollections that Bonn, Germany; Tim Wildschut and Constantine Sedikides, Centre for are predominantly characterized by positive features (e.g., happy, Research on Self and Identity, Psychology Department, University of warm) and to a lesser extent by negative ones (e.g., yearnful, sad). Southampton; Anja S. Göritz, Department of Psychology, University of In addition, nostalgic narratives depict momentous events from Freiburg. one’s life—events that follow a redemptive trajectory (i.e., the We thank Paula Kuhlen for her contribution to Study 1 of this article. narrator eventually overcomes challenge; Wildschut et al., 2006). The content of this article is unrelated to evaluation activities at the Finally, nostalgia is experienced cross-culturally (i.e., in 18 cul- German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval). Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Wijnand tures; Hepper et al., 2014) and across the life span (Hepper, A. P. van Tilburg, Department of Psychology, King’s College London, Wildschut, Sedikides, Robertson, & Routledge, 2017). Guy’s Campus, Room 2.12, Addison House, London SE1 1UL, United Nostalgia affects how individuals regulate their current and Kingdom. E-mail: [email protected] future selves. For example, nostalgia increases empathy (Zhou, 21 22 VAN TILBURG ET AL. Wildschut, Sedikides, Shi, & Feng, 2012), strengthens social con- 2008) and admiration (Van de Ven, Zeelenberg, & Pieters, 2011). nectedness (Wildschut et al., 2006), promotes attachment security Nostalgia increases empathy (Zhou, Wildschut, Sedikides, Chen, (Wildschut, Sedikides, Routledge, Arndt, & Cordaro, 2010), and & Vingerhoets, 2012), but so do guilt (Leith & Baumeister, 1998) mobilizes relationship goals (e.g., intentions to bond with friends and gratitude (Bartlett & DeSteno, 2006). Furthermore, people and efficacy of doing so; Abeyta, Routledge, & Juhl, 2015). perceive similarities between nostalgia and other positive self- Furthermore, nostalgia bolsters self-esteem (Wildschut et al., relevant emotions, such as pride (van Tilburg et al., 2017). Nos- 2006), augments the accessibility of the intrinsic (but not mun- talgia, then, shares some psychological features with other emo- dane) self-concept (Baldwin, Biernat, & Landau, 2015), raises tions. But what are its unique features? authenticity (Baldwin & Landau, 2014; Stephan, Sedikides, & An obvious strategy to identify if, and to what extent, nostalgia Wildschut, 2012), instills perceptions of youthfulness (Abeyta & can be differentiated from other emotions is to compare directly Routledge, 2016), bestows meaning in life (Routledge et al., 2011; nostalgia to said emotions—for example, in terms of known char- Sedikides & Wildschut, 2017), and buffers existential threats (Juhl, acteristics of nostalgia. Such direct comparisons between nostalgia Routledge, Arndt, Sedikides, & Wildschut, 2010; Routledge, and other emotions, however, have rarely been made. Research Arndt, Sedikides, & Wildschut, 2008). Moreover, nostalgia is that experimentally manipulated nostalgia—using autobiographi- future-oriented (Sedikides & Wildschut, 2016a) in the sense that it cal recall (Routledge et al., 2011), music (Barrett et al., 2010), or fosters approach motivation (Stephan et al., 2014), optimism scents (Reid et al., 2015)—has contrasted induced nostalgia (Cheung et al., 2013), inspiration (Stephan, Sedikides, Wildschut, against a non-nostalgic control (e.g., ordinary autobiographical Cheung, Routledge, & Arndt, 2015), goal pursuit (Sedikides et al., event; Cheung et al., 2013) or generic positive affect control (e.g., 2017), and creativity (van Tilburg, Sedikides, & Wildschut, 2015). positive autobiographical event; van Tilburg et al., 2015). Al- though this research demonstrated that nostalgia differs—in Profiling Nostalgia causes, content, and consequences (Sedikides, Wildschut, Rout- ledge, Arndt, et al., 2015)—from these controls, it remains to be The empirical study of nostalgia has occurred in relative isola- seen whether nostalgia can be differentiated from other discrete tion, a practice that limits understanding of how nostalgia is emotions. We sought to redress this imbalance by investigating if, different from or similar to other emotions. Some theorists have and to what degree, hallmarks of nostalgia compare to other equated nostalgia with unpleasantness. For example, Rosen (1975, emotions. We reasoned that, if nostalgia is rather indistinct from p. 340) suggested that nostalgia is “a psychopathological condition other emotions, then we should observe that hallmarks of nostalgia affecting individuals who are uprooted, whose social contacts are be shared with other emotions. Conversely, if nostalgia differs fragmented, who are isolated and who feel totally frustrated and considerably from these other emotions, then we should observe alienated,” perhaps confusing nostalgia with melancholy. Also, few shared characteristics. when Frost (1938, p. 801) labeled nostalgia as “immigrant psy- chosis” and Cox (1988) linked apparent symptoms of nostalgia Appraisals of Emotions (e.g., sadness, grief, loss of appetite) to immigrants, soldiers, seamen, or first-year boarding/university students, they were prob- A promising way to identify differences and similarities in the ably referring to homesickness. Although research has by now psychological profile of nostalgia and other emotions is to study established that emotions such as melancholy