Nostalgia as motivation

Constantine Sedikides; Tim Wildschut

doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101537

Nostalgia as motivation

Curr Opin Psychol. 2023 Feb:49:101537. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101537. Epub 2022 Dec 2.

Authors

Constantine Sedikides¹, Tim Wildschut²

Affiliations

¹ Center for Research on Self and Identity, School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom. Electronic address: cs2@soton.ac.uk.
² Center for Research on Self and Identity, School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom.

PMID: 36577228
DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101537

Abstract

Nostalgia, an approach-oriented emotion, has motivational consequences. In particular, nostalgia raises optimism and inspiration, strengthens the pursuit of one's important goals, appears to encourage financial risk-taking activates the intrinsic or authentic self, and galvanizes the desire to change one's addictive behavior. Nostalgia, a past-oriented emotion, has strong implications for the future. We discuss boundaries of these effects, highlight lacunae in the literature, and point to promising research directions.

Keywords: Approach motivation; Goal-pursuit; Inspiration; Nostalgia; Optimism.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Behavior, Addictive*
Emotions / physiology
Forecasting
Humans
Motivation*