We Enjoy Being Reminded of the Things We Love to Remember
Have you ever found yourself in your hometown after many years away, and decided to drive by your favorite childhood park, fast-food restaurant, school — or somewhere else that you remembered fondly?
Most of us can relate to the experience of wistful thinking about places we used to go.
Entire websites are dedicated to restaurants, amusement parks, and other establishments that are no longer there, where visitors post and share pleasant memories and photos of times past.
Why do we do this?
And can thinking about the past actually make us feel better in the present? Research has some interesting insights.
Those Were The Days
Some people remember their younger years as the best days of their lives. Others feel that life just keeps getting better. But both groups tend to reminisce about times past.
Researchers have examined under what circumstances remembering the "good times" can make us feel better.
Kristin Layous et al. (2021) investigated the impact of what they termed a "nostalgia intervention" on well-being.
Defining nostalgia as a "sentimental longing for one’s past," they examined the impact of a six-week, weekly nostalgia intervention on participant well-being, defined as life satisfaction, positive and negative affect, subjective vitality, and eudaimonic well-being.
After three weeks of the intervention, they found that participants who had engaged in nostalgic reflection reported a higher degree of well-being than participants who engaged in ordinary reflection.
After six weeks as well as a month follow-up, they found the positive effect of nostalgic reflection was limited to people with a high score on dispositional nostalgia, which meant they were well-suited to the intervention.
Measured at the same time points, however, they found nostalgic reflection linked with lower well-being among people who scored low on dispositional nostalgia.
Layous et al. (ibid.) explain that apparently, nostalgic reflection was helpful to the extent that it cultivated social connectedness, self-continuity, and meaning in life, which determine nostalgia’s positive impact on well-being.
Overall, they note that weekly nostalgic reflection can prompt temporary well-being benefits for most people up to three weeks, beyond which appears to be a matter of personal preference, depending on whether someone is high or low on dispositional nostalgia.
Good Times Past or Better Days Ahead?
David Benjamin Newman (2022) found that the way in which nostalgia impacts well-being is related to current life circumstances.
Focusing specifically on income level, he found that nostalgia elicited in negative situations could be particularly harmful to a person’s well-being, as opposed to nostalgia elicited in a positive contexts.
Studying Americans within different income brackets, he found that negative relationships between nostalgia and well-being were more significant for people in low rather than high income households.
He found nostalgia proneness to have a particularly detrimental impact on well-being within circumstances that were less desirable.
Apparently, he concludes, consistent with other research, that his findings support the conclusion that the impact of nostalgia on well-being depends on the context in which it is elicited.
So when you are tempted to Google the soda fountain you remember in your hometown when you were a kid to see if it is still there, consider that the extent to which you will enjoy relishing memories of times past may depend on your circumstances in the present.
Best case scenario, we remember good times in the past, and appreciate good times now.
This article was originally published in Psychology Today.
Wendy L. Patrick, JD, MDiv, Ph.D., is an award-winning career trial attorney and media commentator. She is host of "Live with Dr. Wendy" on KCBQ, and a daily guest on other media outlets, delivering a lively mix of flash, substance, and style. Read Dr. Wendy L. Patrick's Reports — More Here.
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