https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.570621 Nostalgia Proneness and the Collective Self [24] Georgios Abakoumkin^1 ^*, [24] Tim Wildschut^2 and -- University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom In two studies, we examined the association between nostalgia proneness (i.e., trait-level nostalgia) and importance of the collective self. In Study 1, we tested and supported the hypothesis that nostalgia proneness is positively correlated with relational collectivism, which entails an emphasis on one’s connections with close others and small social networks. In Study 2, we demonstrated that nostalgia proneness is also positively correlated with group collectivism, which emphasizes one’s membership in more abstract, larger social groups or categories, and was reflected in increased identification with a national ingroup. These findings offer insight into the nature of nostalgia proneness—a consequential and stable personality trait. Introduction Nostalgia, “a sentimental longing … for the past” (Pearsall, 1998, p. 1266), is an ambivalent, albeit predominantly positive, and social emotion (Hepper et al., 2012a; Sedikides and Wildschut, 2016; for -- brought to life and become part of one’s present (Davis, 1979; Batcho, 1998; Abeyta et al., 2015; Wildschut et al., 2018). As a result, nostalgia makes one feel loved, supported, and efficacious in social relations (Zhou et al., 2008; Wildschut et al., 2010). However, most of the research on the sociality function of nostalgia has been concerned with momentary or transient (i.e., state-level) nostalgia. In the present investigation, we focus on the role of trait-level nostalgia (i.e., nostalgia proneness; Sedikides et al., 2004; Wildschut and Sedikides, in press). The extant literature indicates that nostalgia proneness is positively related with various indices of sociality. High-nostalgia (compared to low-nostalgia) individuals value social inclusion. In an early study (Batcho, 1998), participants first completed the Nostalgia Inventory (NI; Batcho, 1995), which assesses nostalgia proneness across different aspects of everyday life. Specifically, participants rated how much they generally missed each of 20 items from when they were younger (e.g., “someone I loved,” “the way people were,” “my pets”). The average rating was used to classify participants as high nostalgia and low nostalgia by selecting the top and bottom 25% of the sample, respectively. Next, participants rated themselves on 10 aspects of personality, including the extent to which they preferred activities with people rather than alone. High-nostalgia (compared to low-nostalgia) participants reported a stronger preference to be with other people rather than alone. More recently, Juhl et al. (2020) showed the positive associations of nostalgia proneness with three core features of human sociality: empathy (Eisenberg and Strayer, 1987), attachment security (Mikulincer and Shaver, 2011), and prosocial or charitable behavior (Batson, 2011). Across five studies, nostalgia proneness was consistently associated with greater affective empathy (assessed with various measures; e.g., “Seeing people cry upsets me”; Mehrabian and Epstein, 1972), including among young children. Moreover, the link between nostalgia proneness and affective empathy held when controlling for domain-level (Big Five) personality traits and did not vary significantly as a function of age or gender. Juhl et al. further showed that high-nostalgia (compared to low-nostalgia) individuals evinced greater attachment security (assessed with the Security subscale of the Attachment Style Questionnaire; e.g., “I trust other people and I like it when other people can rely on me”; Hofstra et al., 2005). Attachment security, in turn, mediated the relation between nostalgia proneness and empathy. High-nostalgia (compared to low-nostalgia) individuals were more likely even to donate money to charity when given the opportunity to do so, and this relation was mediated serially by attachment security and affective empathy. The distinctive sociality of nostalgia proneness is brought into sharp relief when nostalgia is contrasted with two other modes of thinking about one’s past: rumination (Rusting and Nolen-Hoeksema, 1998) and counterfactual thinking (Epstude and Roese, 2008). Cheung et al. (2018) examined how nostalgia, rumination, and counterfactual thinking are similar or different in terms of their relation with seven functions of autobiographical memory (i.e., usages of memory or motives to remember; -- wronged by others), conversation (enlivening current social exchange), boredom reduction (counteracting tedium), and death preparation (coping with mortality awareness). The uniqueness of nostalgia proneness (compared to rumination and counterfactual thinking) resided in its comparatively strong positive association with intimacy maintenance and weak association with bitterness revival. Nostalgia-prone individuals, then, indicate that they use autobiographical memories to stay connected to loved ones and not to stir up bitterness toward others. In light of this cumulative evidence, we propose that nostalgia-prone individuals assign greater importance to the collective self. Whereas the individual self refers to those unique aspects of the self-concept -- small social networks. Group collectivism denotes an emphasis on one’s membership in more abstract, larger social groups or categories. In Study 1, we tested the association of nostalgia proneness with relational collectivism (and individualism). In Study 2, we extended this line of inquiry by examining the link between nostalgia proneness and group collectivism, as reflected in (national) ingroup identification. Our overarching objective was to tighten the nomological net around nostalgia proneness and thereby better understand this consequential and stable personality trait (Wildschut and Sedikides, in press). -- In Study 1, we used survey data available from the Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences (LISS) panel. Participants completed measures of nostalgia proneness, individualism, and relational collectivism. The measures of individualism and collectivism incorporated a further, cross-cutting distinction between a horizontal -- competition and status acquisition, and vertical collectivism involves subordinating and sacrificing oneself for the sake of one’s social relations. We hypothesized that nostalgia proneness would be positively related to both horizontal and vertical collectivism dimensions (but not to individualism dimensions). -- Netherlands. We assembled the dataset from three LISS studies. “Background Variables” (completed April 2011) contained demographic measures, “Nostalgia—part 1, wave 1” (completed November 2012) contained measures of nostalgia proneness, and “Self-Regulatory Orientation” (completed April 2011) contained measures of collectivism and individualism. Data for the “Background Variables” study are updated monthly, and we used the data collected in the same month as the “Self-Regulatory Orientation” study. The “Nostalgia” study assessed nostalgia proneness at six timepoints. We selected the timepoint (part 1, wave 1) that was closest to the “Self-Regulatory Orientation” study. Participants Eight hundred sixty-eight participants completed measures of nostalgia proneness, collectivism, and individualism, as well as demographic information (457 women, 411 men; M [age] = 52.13 years, SD [age] = 16.40 years, Range[age] = 16–91 years). Nostalgia Proneness Participants in the “Nostalgia—part 1, wave 1” LISS study completed the Southampton Nostalgia Scale (SNS; Barrett et al., 2010) and the NI (Batcho, 1995). For the SNS, they responded to seven items. Three of them measured the extent to which participants found nostalgia valuable, important, or significant (1 = not at all, 7 = very much), and four measured how frequently participants became nostalgic (1 = -- 20 objects (e.g., “someone I loved” and “my childhood toys”). We averaged responses to create NI scores (α = 0.93; M = 3.83, SD = 1.11). We used two measures of nostalgia proneness for the purpose of convergent validation (Campbell and Fiske, 1959; Wildschut and Sedikides, in press). -- We present zero-order correlations among study variables in Table 1. As hypothesized, both measures of nostalgia proneness (SNS and NI) were significantly and positively correlated with both (relational) collectivism dimensions (horizontal collectivism and vertical collectivism). The nostalgia proneness measures were also positively correlated with both individualism dimensions, albeit less strongly than with the collectivism dimensions. -- www.frontiersin.org Table 1. Correlations among nostalgia proneness, collectivism, individualism, and demographics in Study 1. -- individualism and vertical collectivism. This overlap between the collectivism and individualism dimensions raises a legitimate question concerning their unique relations with nostalgia proneness. To address this, we first tested the partial correlation of each nostalgia-proneness measure with each collectivism dimension, controlling for the individualism dimensions. The positive associations between nostalgia-proneness measures and collectivism dimensions remained significant, when controlling for individualism dimensions. To be precise, the SNS was significantly correlated with horizontal -- horizontal collectivism (pr = 0.21, p < 0.001) and vertical collectivism (pr = 0.24, p < 0.001). Next, we tested the partial correlation of each nostalgia-proneness measure with each individualism dimension, controlling for the collectivism dimensions. The SNS was not significantly associated with horizontal individualism (pr = 0.01, p = -- Finally, we examined correlations with demographic variables. Neither gender nor age was significantly correlated with either measure of nostalgia proneness. Women evinced significantly higher vertical collectivism scores and lower vertical individualism scores than men. Older (compared to younger) individuals scored significantly higher on vertical collectivism and horizontal individualism and lower on vertical individualism. When we controlled for age and gender (in partial-correlation analyses), the correlations of both nostalgia measures with both collectivism dimensions were practically identical. -- Study 2 In Study 2, we examined the relation between nostalgia proneness and group collectivism. We assessed group collectivism in terms of participants’ identification with their national ingroup. -- Participants responded to the materials individually, on a computer. As in Study 1, we assessed nostalgia proneness with the SNS (Barrett et al., 2010; α = 0.91, M = 5.04, SD = 1.13) and NI (Batcho, 1995; α = 0.87, M = 4.38, SD = 1.04). We assessed national identification with -- We present correlations between measured variables in Table 2. We did not include gender in the correlation matrix, because the sample included few men (n = 4). As hypothesized, both measures of nostalgia proneness were significantly and positively related to both group-level self-definition and group-level self-investment. Older participants scored lower on nostalgia (but age range was limited in this student sample). When we controlled for age (in partial correlation analyses), the correlations of SNS scores with self-definition (pr = 0.22, p = -- www.frontiersin.org Table 2. Correlations among nostalgia proneness, group-level self-definition, group-level investment, and age in Study 2. Study 1 revealed that nostalgia proneness is associated with higher relational collectivism. Study 2 conceptually replicated and extended this finding by demonstrating that nostalgia proneness is also linked with higher group collectivism, as reflected in the strength of ingroup identification. -- Summary of Findings Extant evidence has tied nostalgia proneness to a stronger preference for engaging in activities with others (Batcho, 1998), increased empathy (Cheung et al., 2017a; Juhl et al., 2020; Newman et al., 2020), and greater emphasis on intimacy maintenance versus bitterness revival (Cheung et al., 2018). The present findings tighten further this nomological net around nostalgia proneness. Our point of departure was Brewer and Chen’s (2007) influential distinction between relational and group collectivism. Whereas relational collectivism involves -- one’s membership in larger social groups or categories. In Study 1, we examined the association of nostalgia proneness with relational collectivism (and individualism). This study further included a cross-cutting distinction between horizontal (i.e., -- others) orientations (Singelis et al., 1995; Triandis and Gelfand, 1998). Zero-order and partial correlations (controlling for individualism) revealed that high-nostalgia (compared to low-nostalgia) individuals scored higher on measures of horizontal and vertical collectivism. Zero-order correlations between nostalgia proneness and the individualism measures were small and rendered non-significant when we controlled for collectivism (in partial-correlation analyses). Study 2, in turn, demonstrated a link between nostalgia proneness and group collectivism, as reflected in two aspects of (national) ingroup identification: group level self-definition (i.e., the degree to which -- self-investment (i.e., the extent to which individuals value the ingroup and their membership in it). Across both studies, independent assessments of nostalgia proneness (SNS and NI) produced convergent support for the conclusion that high-nostalgia (compared to low-nostalgia) individuals are more likely both to emphasize the importance of maintaining tightly knit networks of interpersonal relationships, including the attendant rights and responsibilities -- direction of causality. However, prior research is consistent with the possibility of a bi-directional relation between collectivism and nostalgia proneness. Collectivism entails a strong need to belong (Bond and Smith, 1996; Suh, 2007) and there is now strong evidence that experimentally induced belongingness deficits, which heighten the need to belong (Hackenbracht and Gasper, 2013), lead to increased nostalgia (Zhou et al., 2008; Wildschut et al., 2010; Seehusen et al., 2013; Abakoumkin et al., 2017). Thus, collectivism may cause nostalgic reverie. Nostalgia, in turn, serves a compensatory role, assuaging the need to belong by strengthening social connectedness (for a review, see Sedikides and Wildschut, 2019). By so doing, nostalgia can increase the importance and strength of relational and group bonds. For example, discussing a shared nostalgic (vs. ordinary) memory with a close other -- well as ingroup bias in the evaluation of domestic and foreign consumer products (Dimitriadou et al., 2019). These findings point to a causal path from nostalgia to relational and group collectivism, particularly when one’s nostalgia pertains to, or is shared within, the collective in question. Explicating the bi-directional causal paths between nostalgia and (relational as well as group) collectivism presents a fruitful direction for research. Another unresolved question is whether nostalgia proneness, through its positive association with group collectivism, is linked to increased prejudice and ethnocentrism. To understand the nuanced picture emerging from extant findings, two issues deserve careful consideration. First, it is important to distinguish between nostalgia for experiences from one’s personal past (i.e., the focus of our present studies) and nostalgia for the ostensibly glorious past of one’s group (e.g., national nostalgia). Proneness to nostalgia for one’s personal past is negatively correlated with prejudice against outgroups (Smeekes, 2015; Cheung et al., 2017a), and recalling a personally nostalgic (compared to ordinary) experience with a specific outgroup member reduces prejudice toward the entire outgroup (Turner et al., 2012, 2013, 2018). By contrast, nostalgia for the past of one’s group (e.g., “How often do you long for the good old days of the country?”) has been linked with higher prejudice, national glorification, and anger toward outgroups -- Baldwin et al., 2018). Yet, findings by Martinovic et al. (2017) raise a second issue that requires attention, pertaining to the referent of nostalgia. Their findings indicate that, under certain circumstances, nostalgia for the collective past is associated with improved outgroup attitudes. Participants from former Yugoslavia rated their nostalgia for the Yugoslavia of the past (e.g., “I get nostalgic when I think back to Yugoslavia in the past times”) and then indicated their level of contact with members from different ethnic subgroups from former Yugoslavia (Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats). Nostalgia for the superordinate group, Yugoslavia, predicted increased contact between ethnic subgroups. Furthermore, political orientation might affect the referent of nostalgia. For example, political conservatives might be more prone than political liberals to nostalgize about the “good old days of a country” and thereby identify with this country. Clarifying the precise circumstances under which nostalgia proneness, in its different guises, is either positively or negatively associated with outgroup prejudice presents a challenge for future research. -- Coda High-nostalgia (compared to low-nostalgia) individuals attach great value and significance to establishing, protecting, and enhancing close-knit interpersonal relationships, as well as to maintaining the -- source of both great happiness and intense suffering. The present findings mark a step along the path to understanding these profound and sometimes contradictory implications of nostalgia proneness and human sociality. -- Abakoumkin, G., Hepper, E. G., Wildschut, T., and Sedikides, C. (2019). From nostalgia through social connectedness to self-continuity: replication and extension. Hell. J. Psychol. 16, 127–144. -- Abakoumkin, G., Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., and Bakarou, M. (2017). Nostalgia in response to group-based exclusion: the role of attachment-related avoidance. Eur. J. Soc. Psychol. 47, 373–381. doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2235 -- CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Baldwin, M., White, M. II, and Sullivan, D. (2018). Nostalgia for America’s past can buffer collective guilt. Eur. J. Soc. Psychol. 48, 433–446. doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2348 -- Barrett, F. S., Grimm, K. J., Robins, R. W., Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., and Janata, P. (2010). Music-evoked nostalgia: affect, memory, and personality. Emotion 10, 390–403. doi: 10.1037/a0019006 PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Batcho, K. I. (1995). Nostalgia: a psychological perspective. Percept. Mot. Skills 80, 131–143. doi: 10.2466/pms.1995.80.1.131 CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Batcho, K. I. (1998). Personal nostalgia, world view, memory, and emotionality. Percept. Mot. Skills 87, 411–432. doi: 10.2466/pms.1998.87.2.411 -- PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Batcho, K. I. (2013). Nostalgia: the bittersweet history of a psychological concept. Hist. Psychol. 16, 165–176. doi: 10.1037/a0032427 -- CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Cheung, W. -Y., Sedikides, C., and Wildschut, T. (2017a). Nostalgia proneness and reduced prejudice. Personal. Individ. Differ. 109, 89–97. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2016.12.045 -- Cheung, W. -Y., Sedikides, C., Wildschut, T., Tausch, N., and Ayanian, A. H. (2017b). Collective nostalgia is associated with stronger outgroup-directed anger and participation in ingroup-favoring collective action. J. Soc. Polit. Psychol. 5, 301–319. doi: -- Cheung, W. -Y., Wildschut, T., and Sedikides, C. (2018). Autobiographical memory functions of nostalgia in comparison to rumination: similarity and uniqueness. Memory 26, 229–237. doi: 10.1080/09658211.2017.1346129 -- Google Scholar Davis, F. (1979). Yearning for yesterday: A sociology of nostalgia. New York, NY: The Free Press. Google Scholar De Diego, F. F., and Ots, C. V. (2014). Nostalgia: a conceptual history. Hist. Psychiatry 25, 404–411. doi: 10.1177/0957154X14545290 -- Dimitriadou, M., Maciejovsky, B., Wildschut, T., and Sedikides, C. (2019). Collective nostalgia and domestic country bias. J. Exp. Psychol. Appl. 25, 445–457. doi: 10.1037/xap0000209 -- Hepper, E. G., Ritchie, T. D., Sedikides, C., and Wildschut, T. (2012a). Odyssey’s end: lay conceptions of nostalgia reflect its original Homeric meaning. Emotion 12, 102–119. doi: 10.1037/a0025167 -- Google Scholar Hertz, D. G. (1990). Trauma and nostalgia: new aspects of the coping of aging holocaust survivors. Isr. J. Psychiatry Relat. Sci. 27, 189–198. -- Juhl, J., Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., Diebel, T., Cheung, W. Y., and Vingerhoets, A. J. J. M. (2020). Nostalgia proneness and empathy: generality, underlying mechanism, and implications for prosocial behavior. J. Pers. 88, 485–500. doi: 10.1111/jopy.12505 -- Martinovic, B., Jetten, J., Smeekes, A., and Verkuyten, M. (2017). Collective memory of a dissolved country: collective nostalgia and guilt assignment as predictors of interethnic relations between diaspora groups from former Yugoslavia. J. Soc. Polit. Psychol. 5, -- Newman, D. B., Sachs, M. E., Stone, A. A., and Schwarz, N. (2020). Nostalgia and well-being in daily life: an ecological validity perspective. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 118, 325–347. doi: 10.1037/pspp0000236 -- Google Scholar Sedikides, C., and Wildschut, T. (2016). “Nostalgia: a bittersweet emotion that confers psychological health benefits” in Wiley handbook of positive clinical psychology. eds. A. M. Wood and J. Johnson -- Sedikides, C., and and Wildschut, T. (2019). The sociality of personal and collective nostalgia. Eur. Rev. Soc. Psychol. 30, 123–173. doi: 10.1080/10463283.2019.1630098 CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Sedikides, C., Wildschut, T., and Baden, D. (2004). “Nostalgia: conceptual issues and existential functions” in Handbook of experimental existential psychology. eds. J. Greenberg, S. Koole, and -- Sedikides, C., Wildschut, T., Cheung, W. -Y., Routledge, C., Hepper, E. G., Arndt, J., et al. (2016). Nostalgia fosters self-continuity: uncovering the mechanism (social connectedness) and the consequence (eudaimonic well-being). Emotion 16, 524–539. doi: 10.1037/emo0000136 -- Seehusen, J., Cordaro, F., Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., Routledge, C., Blackhart, G. C., et al. (2013). Individual differences in nostalgia proneness: the integrating role of the need to belong. Personal. Individ. Differ. 55, 904–908. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2013.07.020 -- CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Smeekes, A. (2015). National nostalgia: a group-based emotion that benefits the in-group but hampers intergroup relations. Int. J. Intercult. Relat. 49, 54–67. doi: 10.1016/j.ijintrel.2015.07.001 -- Jasinskaja-Lahti, I., Ariyanto, A., et al. (2018). Regaining in-group continuity in times of anxiety about the group’s future: a study on the role of collective nostalgia across 27 countries. Soc. Psychol. 49, 311–329. doi: 10.1027/1864-9335/a000350 -- Smeekes, A., Verkuyten, M., and Martinovic, B. (2015). Longing for the country’s good old days: national nostalgia, autochthony beliefs, and opposition to Muslim expressive rights. Br. J. Soc. Psychol. 54, 561–580. doi: 10.1111/bjso.12097 -- Turner, R. N., Wildschut, T., and Sedikides, C. (2012). Dropping the weight stigma: nostalgia improves attitudes toward persons who are overweight. J. Exp. Soc. Psychol. 48, 130–137. doi: 10.1016/j.jesp.2011.09.007 -- Turner, R. N., Wildschut, T., and Sedikides, C. (2018). Fighting ageism through nostalgia. Eur. J. Soc. Psychol. 48, 196–208. doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2317 -- Turner, R. N., Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., and Gheorghiou, M. (2013). Combating the mental health stigma with nostalgia. Eur. J. Soc. Psychol. 43, 413–422. doi: 10.1002/ejsp.1952 -- Wildschut, T., Bruder, M., Robertson, S., van Tilburg, W. A. P., and Sedikides, C. (2014). Collective nostalgia: a group-level emotion that confers unique benefits on the group. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 107, 844–863. doi: 10.1037/a0037760 -- Wildschut, T., and Sedikides, C. (in press). “The measurement of nostalgia” in Handbook of positive psychology assessment. eds. W. Ruch, A. B. Bakker, L. Tay, and F. Gander (Göttingen: Hogrefe). -- Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., and Robertson, S. (2018). Sociality and intergenerational transfer of older adults’ nostalgia. Memory 26, 1030–1041. doi: 10.1080/09658211.2018.1470645 -- Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., Routledge, C., Arndt, J., and Cordaro, F. (2010). Nostalgia as a repository of social connectedness: the role of attachment-related avoidance. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 98, 573–586. doi: 10.1037/a0017597 -- Zhou, X., Sedikides, C., Wildschut, T., and Gao, D. -G. (2008). Counteracting loneliness: on the restorative function of nostalgia. Psychol. Sci. 19, 1023–1029. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02194 PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Keywords: nostalgia proneness, relational collectivism, group collectivism, ingroup identification, collective self Citation: Abakoumkin G, Wildschut T and Sedikides C (2020) Nostalgia Proneness and the Collective Self. Front. Psychol. 11:570621. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.570621 -- This article is part of the Research Topic Current Issues in Nostalgia Research View all 13 Articles