Editing Nostalgia (section)

==Functions==
Nostalgia's definition has changed greatly over time. Consistent with its Greek word roots meaning "homecoming" and "pain", nostalgia was for centuries considered a potentially debilitating and sometimes fatal medical condition characterized by expressing extreme [[homesickness]].<ref name=NYMag20160225>{{cite magazine |last1=Dahl |first1=Melissa |title=The Little-Known Medical History of Homesickness |url=http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/02/homesickness-was-once-considered-a-medical-diagnosis.html |url-access=limited |magazine=New York |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160301021127/http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/02/homesickness-was-once-considered-a-medical-diagnosis.html |archive-date=March 1, 2016 |date=February 25, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> The modern view is that nostalgia is an independent, and even positive, emotion that many people experience often. Nostalgia has been found to have important psychological functions, such as to improve mood, increase social connectedness, enhance positive self-regard, and provide existential meaning.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Wildschut|first1=Tim|last2=Sedikides|first2=Constantine|last3=Arndt|first3=Jamie|last4=Routledge|first4=Clay|title=Nostalgia: Content, triggers, functions|journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology|date=2006|volume=91|issue=5|pages=975–993|doi=10.1037/0022-3514.91.5.975 |pmid=17059314|url=https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/40445/2/40445.pdf}}</ref> Nostalgia can lead individuals to perceive the past more favorably than the present, a phenomenon known as the 'nostalgia effect,' which is classified as a [[cognitive bias]]. <ref name=":1" /> Many nostalgic reflections serve more than one function, and overall seem to benefit those who experience them. Such benefits may lead to a chronic disposition or personality trait of "nostalgia proneness."<ref>Vanessa Köneke: ''More bitter than sweet - Are nostalgic people rather sad than happy after all?'' GRIN Verlag GmbH, München 2010, {{ISBN|978-3640942268}}.</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|title = Nostalgia for early experience as a determinant of consumer preferences|journal = Psychology and Marketing|date = 2003-04-01|issn = 1520-6793|pages = 275–302|volume = 20|issue = 4|doi = 10.1002/mar.10074|language = en|first1 = Robert M.|last1 = Schindler|first2 = Morris B.|last2 = Holbrook|citeseerx = 10.1.1.520.403}}</ref> Nostalgia has also been associated with learning and memory consolidation.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Oba K. |author2=Noriuchi M. |author3=Atomi T. |author4=Moriguchi Y. |author5=Kikuchi Y. |title=Memory and reward systems coproduce 'nostalgic' experiences in the brain |journal=Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience |date=2015-06-04 |volume=11 |issue=7 |pages=1069–1077 |doi=10.1093/scan/nsv073 |pmid=26060325 |pmc=4927028 |language=en}}</ref>

===Improving mood===
Although nostalgia is often triggered by negative feelings, it results in increasing one's mood and heightening positive emotions, which can stem from feelings of warmth or coping resulting from nostalgic reflections. One way to improve mood is to effectively cope with problems that hinder one's happiness. Batcho (2013) found that nostalgia proneness positively related to successful methods of coping throughout all stages—planning and implementing strategies, and reframing the issue positively. These studies led to the conclusion that the coping strategies that are likely among nostalgia-prone people often lead to benefits during stressful times. Nostalgia can be connected to more focus on coping strategies and implementing them, thus increasing support in challenging times.<ref>Batcho, K. I. (2013). "Nostalgia: Retreat or support in difficult times?" ''The American Journal of Psychology'',</ref>

===Increasing social connectedness===
Nostalgia sometimes involves memories of people one was close to, such as family members, romantic lovers, or friends, and thus it can increase one's sense of social support and connections. Nostalgia is also triggered specifically by feelings of loneliness, but counteracts such feelings with reflections of close relationships. According to Zhou et al. (2008), lonely people often have lesser perceptions of [[social support]]. [[Loneliness]], however, leads to nostalgia, which actually increases perceptions of social support. Thus, Zhou and colleagues (2008) concluded that nostalgia serves a restorative function for individuals regarding their social connectedness.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Zhou | first1 = X. | last2 = Sedikides | first2 = C. | last3 = Wildschut | first3 = T. | last4 = Gao | first4 = D. | year = 2008 | title = Counteracting loneliness: On the restorative function of nostalgia |url=https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/63844/1/Zhou_et_al__2008.pdf| journal = Psychological Science | volume = 19 | issue = 10| pages = 1023–1029 | doi = 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02194.x | pmid = 19000213 | s2cid = 45398320 }}</ref>[[File:Tweed run 20130413 180.jpg|thumb|[[Tweed run]], 2013]]

===Preserving cultural heritage===
{{see|Historic preservation|Cultural heritage|Historical reenactment}}

Nostalgia serves as a motivator for the [[Historic preservation|preservation]] of people's [[cultural heritage]]. People endeavor to conserve buildings, landscapes, and other artifacts of historical significance out of nostalgia for past times. They are often motivated by a desire to connect to their heritage from past generations.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Caves |first=Roger W. |date=2005 |title=Encyclopedia of the City |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xrD1iuM_2LgC |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9780415252256}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Tanselle |first=George Thomas |date=1998 |title=Literature and Artifacts |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GhjhAAAAMAAJ |publisher=Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia |isbn=9781883631062}}</ref> This can manifest in [[living history]] events such as [[historical reenactment]]s, which bring together people with a shared nostalgia for historical periods of past times. These events' hands-on, improvisational natures often facilitate socialization.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Farmer |first=James O. |date=2005 |title=Playing Rebels: Reenactment as Nostalgia and Defense of the Confederacy in the Battle of Aiken |url=https://www.southerncultures.org/article/playing-rebels-reenactment-nostalgia-defense-confederacy-battle-aiken/ |magazine=Southern Cultures |publisher=UNC Press}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web| url=http://www.eventplan.co.uk/page29.html| title=A Brief History of Re-enactment| author=Howard Giles}}</ref>[[File:Vintage BSA motorcycle.jpg|thumb|Rider in vintage clothing astride a vintage BSA motorcycle on High Street in Honiton, England in July 2023]]

===Enhancing positive self-regard===
Nostalgia serves as a coping mechanism and helps people to feel better about themselves. Vess et al. (2012) found that the subjects who thought of nostalgic memories showed greater accessibility of positive characteristics than those who thought of exciting future experiences. Additionally, in a second study conducted, some participants were exposed to nostalgic engagement and reflection while the other group was not. The researchers looked again at self-attributes and found that the participants who were not exposed to nostalgic experiences reflected a pattern of selfish and self-centered attributes. Vess et al. (2012), however, found that this effect had weakened and become less powerful among the participants who engaged in nostalgic reflection.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Vess | first1 = M. | last2 = Arndt | first2 = J. | last3 = Routledge | first3 = C. | last4 = Sedikides | first4 = C. | last5 = Wildschut | first5 = T. | year = 2012 | title = Nostalgia as a resource for the self |url=https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/341148/1/Vess_et_al.%252C_2012%252C_Self_and_Identity.eprints.doc| journal = Self and Identity | volume = 11 | issue = 3| pages = 273–284 | doi = 10.1080/15298868.2010.521452 | s2cid = 56018071 }}</ref>

===Providing existential meaning===
Nostalgia helps increase one's self-esteem and meaning in life by buffering threats to well-being and also by initiating a desire to deal with problems or stress. Routledge (2011) and colleagues found that nostalgia correlates positively with one's sense of meaning in life. The second study revealed that nostalgia increases one's perceived meaning in life, which was thought to be mediated by a sense of social support or connectedness. Thirdly, the researchers found that threatened meaning can even act as a trigger for nostalgia, thus increasing one's nostalgic reflections. By triggering nostalgia, though, one's defensiveness to such threat is minimized as found in the fourth study. The final two studies found that nostalgia is able to not only create meaning but buffer threats to meaning by breaking the connection between a lack of meaning and one's well-being. Follow-up studies also completed by Routledge in 2012 not only found meaning as a function of nostalgia, but also concluded that nostalgic people have greater perceived meaning, search for meaning less, and can better buffer existential threat.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Routledge | first1 = C. | last2 = Arndt | first2 = J. | last3 = Wildschut | first3 = T. | last4 = Sedikides | first4 = C. | last5 = Hart | first5 = C. M. | year = 2011 | title = The past makes the present meaningful: Nostalgia as an existential resource |url=https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/183875/1/Routledget_et_al._2011%25252C_JPSP%2520%25282%2529.doc| journal = Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | volume = 101 | issue = 3| pages = 638–652 | doi = 10.1037/a0024292 | pmid = 21787094 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Routledge | first1 = C. | last2 = Wildschut | first2 = T. | last3 = Sedikides | first3 = C. | last4 = Juhl | first4 = J. | last5 = Arndt | first5 = J. | year = 2012 | title = The power of the past: Nostalgia as a meaning-making resource |url=https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/341658/1/Routledge%252C_Wildschut%252C_Sedikides%252C_Juhl%252C_%2526_Arndt%252C_2012_Memory.eprints.docx| journal = Memory | volume = 20 | issue = 5| pages = 452–460 | doi = 10.1080/09658211.2012.677452 | pmid = 22639901 | s2cid = 15357239 }}</ref>

===Promoting psychological growth===
Nostalgia makes people more willing to engage in growth-oriented behaviors and encourages them to view themselves as growth-oriented people. Baldwin & Landau (2014) found that nostalgia leads people to rate themselves higher on items like "I am the kind of person who embraces unfamiliar people, events, and places." Nostalgia also increased interest in growth-related behavior such as "I would like to explore someplace that I have never been before." In the first study, these effects were [[Mediation (statistics)|statistically mediated]] by nostalgia-induced positive affect—the extent to which nostalgia made participants feel good. In the second study, nostalgia led to the same growth outcomes but the effects were statistically mediated by nostalgia-induced self-esteem.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Baldwin | first1 = M. | last2 = Landau | first2 = M.J. | year = 2014 | title = Exploring nostalgia's influence on psychological growth | journal = Self and Identity | volume = 13 | issue = 2| pages = 162–177 | doi = 10.1080/15298868.2013.772320 | s2cid = 6319780 }}</ref>

===As a deception===
One recent study critiques the idea of nostalgia, which in some forms can become a defense mechanism by which people avoid the historical facts.<ref>Hook, D.(2012) "Screened history: Nostalgia as defensive formation." ''Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology'', Vol 18(3), Aug, 2012. Special issue: ''Of Narratives and Nostalgia''. pp. 225–239</ref> This study looked at the different portrayals of [[apartheid]] in South Africa and argued that nostalgia appears as two ways,<ref name="Boym, S. 2001">Boym, S. (2001). The future of nostalgia. New York, NY: Basic Books</ref> 'restorative nostalgia' a wish to return to that past, and 'reflective nostalgia' which is more critically aware.

===As a comfort===
Reliving past memories may provide comfort and contribute to mental health.<ref name=NYT7813>{{cite news|title=What Is Nostalgia Good For? Quite a Bit, Research Shows|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/09/science/what-is-nostalgia-good-for-quite-a-bit-research-shows.html|access-date=July 9, 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 8, 2013|author=John Tierney}}</ref> One notable recent medical study has looked at the physiological effects thinking about past 'good' memories can have. They found that thinking about the past 'fondly' actually increased perceptions of physical warmth.<ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1037/a0027236 | volume=12 | title=Heartwarming memories: Nostalgia maintains physiological comfort. | journal=Emotion | pages=678–684 | last1 = Zhou | first1 = Xinyue | last2 = Wildschut | first2 = Tim | last3 = Sedikides | first3 = Constantine | last4 = Chen | first4 = Xiaoxi | last5 = Vingerhoets | first5 = Ad J. J. M.| year=2012 | issue=4 | pmid=22390713 }}</ref>

===As a political tool===
In a 2014 study conducted by Routledge, he and a team observed that the more people reported having major disruptions and uncertainties in their lives, the more they nostalgically longed for the past. Routledge suggests that by invoking the idea of an idealized past, politicians can provoke the social and cultural anxieties and uncertainties that make nostalgia especially attractive—and effective—as a tool of political persuasion.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=C. |last1=Sedikides |first2=T. |last2=Wildschut |first3=C. |last3=Routledge |first4=J. |last4=Arndt |year=2015 |title=Nostalgia counteracts self-discontinuity and restores self-continuity |journal=European Journal of Social Psychology |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=52–61 |doi=10.1002/ejsp.2073 |url=https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/375020/1/__filestore.soton.ac.uk_users_gg_mydocuments_constantine%2520publications%2520pdf%2527s_2015_Sedikides_et_al-2015-European_Journal_of_Social_Psychology.pdf }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Routledge |first=Clay |title=Approach With Caution: Nostalgia Is a Potent Political Agent |date=October 31, 2017 |newspaper=Undark Magazine |url=https://undark.org/article/nostalgia-power-politics-trump/ }}</ref>