Odyssey's end: Lay conceptions of nostalgia reflect its original homeric meaning.

Abstract

Nostalgia fulfills pivotal functions for individuals, but lacks an empirically-derived and comprehensive definition. We examined lay conceptions of nostalgia using a prototype approach. In Study 1, participants generated open-ended features of nostalgia, which were coded into categories. In Study 2, participants rated the centrality of these categories, which were subsequently classified as central (e.g., memories, relationships, happiness) or peripheral (e.g., daydreaming, regret, loneliness). Central (compared to peripheral) features were more often recalled and falsely recognized (Study 3), were classified more quickly (Study 4), were judged to reflect more nostalgia in a vignette (Study 5), better characterized participants' own nostalgic (vs. ordinary) experiences (Study 6), and prompted higher levels of actual nostalgia and its intrapersonal benefits when used to trigger a personal memory, regardless of age (Study 7). These findings highlight that lay people view nostalgia as a selfrelevant and social blended emotional and cognitive state, featuring a mixture of happiness and loss. The findings also aid understanding of nostalgia's functions and identify new methods for future research.Keywords: nostalgia, prototype, emotions, memory, self Nostalgia 3 Nostalgia is part of the fabric of everyday life. After centuries of scientific neglect, the construct has recently been the focus of burgeoning empirical and theoretical developments. According to Boym (2001), nostalgia is experienced by almost everyone.Indeed, 79% of undergraduates report experiencing nostalgia at least once a week (Wildschut, Sedikides, Arndt, & Routledge, 2006), as do over half of adults in every five-year age cohort from age 18 to 90 (Hepper, Wildschut, Sedikides, Routledge, & Arndt, 2011). Moreover, recent research suggests that nostalgia serves vital psychological functions .Despite emerging evidence for the functional relevance of nostalgia, the mechanisms by which it operates are poorly understood. A major reason for this is that there exists no coherent definition of nostalgia; in fact, its nature has long been the subject of debate. The purpose of the present research is to resolve this debate by uncovering conclusively what "nostalgia" means to people. In particular, we propose that lay persons' views of nostalgia have a prototype structure characterized by a core set of central features. In examining this proposal, we aim to clarify what contemporary scholars have been studying and to provide new directions and methods for studying nostalgia further. Historical Conceptions of NostalgiaThe term "nostalgia" derives from the Greek words nostos, meaning return to one's native land, and algos, meaning pain or suffering: literally, suffering caused by longing to return home. However, the idea existed long before the word. In probably its first exploration in classical literature, the theme of nostalgia runs strongly through Homer's Odyssey, in which the hero Odysseus nurtures memories of Ithaca and his family throughout his lon...

Zeroing in on heroes: A prototype analysis of hero features.

“…Two independent coders sorted the original exemplars into superordinate thematic categories (hereafter referred to as 'features of heroes'). This was achieved by (a) grouping identical exemplars, (b) grouping semantically related exemplars ("courage" and "courageous"), and (c) grouping meaning-related exemplars into categories ("honest" and "truthful") in accordance with previous studies (e.g., Hepper et al, 2011 Gash and Conway (1997);active, brilliant, brainy, caring, brave, helpful, honest, strong, skilful, friendly, loyal, kind, loving, important. However, unlike children, the adults in our study rarely described heroes as beautiful, dresses well, famous, rich, warrior, gentle or funny.…”

“…In line with past research on prototypes (e.g, Hepper et al, 2011), heroes were not defined by a set of necessary or sufficient attributes. consistently supported the idea that heroes were conceptualized diversely.…”

“…It is subsequently used to guide information-processing (e.g., speed of processing, memory, interpretation; Mervis & Rosch, 1981;Rosch, 1978). Prototype methods have been used to offer insight into concepts such as love, commitment (Fehr, 1988), modesty (Gregg et al, 2008) and nostalgia (Hepper, Ritchie, Sedikides, & Wildschut, 2011). We expect that the construct of hero also has a prototypic structure and that understanding of heroes will profit as a result of revealing its prototype.…”

Organizational nostalgia lowers turnover intentions by increasing work meaning: The moderating role of burnout.

“…The items were: "I felt quite nostalgic about my work and organization," "I had nostalgic feelings about my work and organization," and "I felt nostalgic about my work and organization during the past month" (α = .98, M = 2.48, SD = 1.64). We adapted these items from established assessments of personal nostalgia (Hepper et al, 2012;Wildschut et al, 2006Wildschut et al, , 2010. We measured work meaning with the 4-item Positive (Steger et al, 2012, p. 333) and captures a sense that the work one is doing has personal significance, matters, and is meaningful.…”

“…Personal nostalgia fosters meaning by virtue of its capacity to strengthen social connectedness (Routledge et al, 2011;Routledge, Sedikides, Wildschut, & Juhl, 2013). Social relationships (friends, family, partners) along with interpersonal elements or concepts (belonging, cuddles, tender moments, warmth, love) are seen as centrally defining features of nostalgia (Hepper et al, 2012(Hepper et al, , 2014. Social connectedness, in turn, is a key source of meaning in life (Baumeister, 2005;Hicks, Schlegel, & King, 2010;Mikulincer, Florian, & Hirschberger, 2003;Williams, 2001).…”