Populist movements typically endorse a pessimistic view that blames the "elites" for societal problems. Why is this populist worldview so appealing to many citizens? We propose that populism is associated with nostalgia: A bittersweet feeling defined as a sentimental longing for a better past. We tested this idea in three preregistered studies. Study 1 revealed that both personal and collective nostalgia (i.e., referring to either personal memories or a shared national history) were associated with populist attitudes. Moreover, the nostalgia measures mediated a link between collective angst and populist attitudes. Studies 2 and 3, then, were experiments designed to investigate the causal order between nostalgia and populist attitudes. In Study 2, a manipulation of nostalgia could not establish a causal effect on populist attitudes; however, a measure of nostalgia was again correlated to populist attitudes. In Study 3, we tested the reverse causal order by exposing participants to either a populist or pluralist speech. Results revealed that exposure to the populist speech increased both personal and collective nostalgia. In all studies, these effects emerged independent of political orientation. Apparently, feelings of nostalgia are closely associated with populist attitudes and may help explain why citizens find a populist worldview appealing.

Clinicians report reluctance to deliver opioid-tapering advice to patients with chronic pain, in part due to concerns that patients will be angry and dissatisfied. An experiment was conducted to examine chronic pain patients' emotional and attitudinal responses to simulated opioid-tapering advice. Patients scheduled for an initial assessment at a tertiary pain clinic and currently taking opioid medications for pain (N = 196) were randomly assigned to view video footage of a standardized patient receiving 1 of 3 forms of treatment advice: (1) stay on current medication (2) change to a different pain medication, or (3) taper off pain medications and participate in a CBT-based pain self-management program. Participants reported how positive/enthusiastic, anxious/worried, and angry/irritable they felt in response to the simulated treatment advice, and how satisfied with and willing they would be to accept and follow the advice. Participants expressed more positive emotional and attitudinal responses to simulated opioid-tapering advice than to simulated opioid-maintenance advice. Furthermore, participants' responses to simulated opioid-tapering and opioid-change advice were not significantly different, suggesting that participants responded positively to the prospect of change in treatment strategy. Additional analyses revealed that participants with a longer history of chronic pain and opioid use responded less positively to simulated opioid-tapering advice. The results of this study contribute to our understanding of factors that may shape chronic pain patients' responses to opioid-tapering advice and suggest that patients may respond more positively to opioid-tapering advice if it is presented together with an alternative treatment approach.

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In addition to improved oral health and function, many people are motivated to undergo orthognathic surgery to improve their facial aesthetics and overall psychological well‐being (daily affect and satisfaction with life). This article explains the phenomenon of hedonic adaptation, which challenges the notion that patients treated with orthognathic surgery can expect to experience improvements in psychological well‐being following surgery. We review evidence for hedonic adaptation across a variety of life circumstances and explain the psychological processes which account for the relative stability of people's well‐being over their life course despite significant positive (and negative) changes in their circumstances. We examine the conditions that assist and inhibit hedonic adaptation to positive life events, and argue that if patients are made aware of these processes, they are more likely to achieve sustained improvements in psychological well‐being following orthognathic surgery. Based on our narrative review of evidence for hedonic adaptation, we conclude that orthognathic surgery should not be expected to improve patients’ psychological well‐being in the long term and suggest that patients be advised to take intentional steps to preserve any improvements in their day‐to‐day affect and satisfaction with life that arise as a result of their surgery.