The sociality of personal and collective nostalgia
Abstract
Nostalgia, a sentimental longing for the past, is an ambivalent – albeit more positive than negative – emotion. Nostalgia is infused with sociality, as it refers to important figures from one’s past or to momentous life events that include those figures. Dispositional nostalgia is related to prejudice reduction via increases in a form of sociality, empathy. Experimentally induced nostalgia fosters sociality, operationalised as social connectedness (sense of acceptance). Social connectedness, in turn, has downstream consequences for (1) inspiration and goal-pursuit, (2) self-continuity and wellbeing, as well as (3) inclusion of an outgroup member in the self or outgroup trust and intergroup contact intentions. At the collective level, nostalgia confers sociality benefits to the ingroup (favourable attitudes, support, loyalty, collective action, barrier to collective guilt), but is also associated with negative sides of sociality such as outgroup rejection and exclusion. Collective nostalgia’s sociality is amenable to exploitation and can have controversial ramifications.
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Extensive evidence indicates that nostalgia begets sociality.
“Extensive evidence indicates that nostalgia begets sociality21–23.”
From Nostalgia increases punitiveness by intensifying moral concern (2024) · cites this paper as [22]
Nostalgia is a self-referential and social emotion that entails reminders of others.
“Nostalgia is a self-referential and social emotion that entails reminders of others.”
From Nostalgia increases punitiveness by intensifying moral concern (2024) · cites this paper as [22]
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- Authors
- Sedikides, C., & Wildschut, T.
- Affiliations
- University of Southampton (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Sedikides, Constantine
- Venue
- European Review of Social Psychology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2019-01-01
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 123-173
- ISSN
- 1046-3283 (ISSN-L)
- 1479-277X
- OpenAlex
- W2949387752
- Cited by
- 208
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 30 · 2025: 48 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 34 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 22.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- European Review of Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) (acceptedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Nostalgia and Consumer Behavior
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Memory, History, Trauma, Identity
- Keywords
- nostalgia, sociality, social connectedness, empathy, prejudice reduction, self-continuity, well-being, intergroup trust, collective nostalgia, ingroup loyalty, collective action, collective guilt, exclusion
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