Hi,

I found this useful.

Research shows that nostalgia is beneficial:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/09/sc...me&ref=general

Here is the Southhampton Nostalgia Scale
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/nostalgia/materials/


Mari

This is a good example of that. When we hear our old favorite songs that we listened to when we where teenagers,I have fond memories. That's nostalgia in a time capsule for me.

When my parents where alive,and they listened to their old favorite songs,their songs did not do a thing for me. They where nice songs,but there where no memories attached to them. BF

Steve,

Those songs have lots of power.

http://www.southampton.ac.uk/nostalg..._is_nostalgia/

Mari

I am bewildered by the NYT article. I was left to think the researchers speak a different version of English than any I have been exposed to. I grew up with both American and British English, which makes for a rather broad base. However since the two variants can occasionally be at odds, I looked up nostalgia in both American and British English dictionaries.

Both Merriam-Webster's (American) and the Oxford (British) definitions include "yearning" in the definition of affection. The Oxford alternatively allows for "wistful affection" - where wistful involves yearning or regret.

American English definition, per Merriam-Webster's online:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nostalgia

British/World English definition, per the Oxford Dictionaries Online:
http://oxforddictionaries.com/defini...lish/nostalgia

Basking in pleasant memories or hearing something that evokes good memories is not the same as nostalgia. Nostalgia involves a feeling of yearning (or, in British English, regret).

It is true that the good can outweigh the bad. The sense of regret or yearning may be small compared to the pleasantness of the memories. In this case, I can see that there might be psychological benefit. However, the good-bad balance is not part of the definition.

As I see it then, nostalgia is going to have a different effect on a person, depending on the degree of yearning/regret present as well as other factors, such as whether or not one is happy in the present.

Nostalgia can feel painful when the yearning component is very strong. It can even be overwhelming. In these cases, I truly fail to see how it can confer psychological benefit.

Maybe I am just not getting it.

waves

In reference to the excerpts quoted from
Certainly, I can attest to the concept that my feelings of nostalgia do provide a sense of "belongingness, affiliation, [and] sociality". It is one that I lack in the present, so perhaps clinging to the past is the only way I can get this sense.

However, I do often find that when I am sad, thinking about unreachable and happy aspects of my past does not improve my mood. To the contrary, I have to steer clear of indulging in memories at those times because I find that nostalgia will aggravate depression and even ordinary sadness. That is the part I don't follow, in terms of "psychological benefit."

I wonder if the depth of my nostalgia - even if it feels bad sometimes - might be a psychological response to the, ehh, "vicissitudes" I have encountered.

(There was no an attempt at sarcasm, lest it read that way. I am trying to wrap my brain around this. Or even my gut, since nostalgia is pretty visceral stuff.)

Waves,

I am coming back to this later. . . . on my way to bed.

I do agree that they seem to be working with a different definition of nostalgia.

Here they point out that it is usually negative and used to be considered a disorder. But then they move to show it as positive.

See the bottom of page 975 and top of page 976 of the research. They use the New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) to show nostalgia as " a sentimental longing for the past."
They mention the different understandings of nostalgia with Davis (1979) defining nostalgia as a "positively toned evocation of a lived past."
http://www.wildschut.me/Tim_Wildschu...gia%20JPSP.pdf

In this article linked to by the NYT, nostalgia is defined thus:
http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=...2012-15305-001

And people are likely to be triggered by cold:
The part about cold is interesting and makes sense to me.

M

Waves,

Often journalists get things wrong in the presentation. They are referring to studies. If the researchers themselves were talking directly to us, this might make sense.

I do agree that those of us who have encountered the "vicissitudes" the article mentions do feel more than others. . . .. more intensely . ... . and maybe we experience feelings differently as well too . . .


I did not bring this us to disturb anyone. I am sorry for doing that.

Mari