romantic nostalgia lect 2 Flashcards
what does evans 2022 look into to
romantic nostalgia as a source of healthy relationships
definition of nostalgia
greek: suffering caused by longing to return home
-conept existed long before the word
example of nostalgia concept existing before the word
the odyssey: memories of home sustain him throughout his journey
-nostalgia is psychological resource odysseus draws upon to give him strength and motivation in his struggle to return home
what do we know about nostalgia
-it is widely experienced: in UK adults (18-91yrs) experience it at least once a week (Sedikides 2015)
-described as an emotion but also has cog and motivational foundations e.g cog = ruminating, motivational = longing (it is a blended state like gratitude, jealousy and love)
-some view it as primarily pos/neg and some see it as a combination of both
triggers of nostalgic memories
Sedikides 2015
-internal cues: discomforting states e.g neg affect, social exclusion, loneliness, meaningless etc
-external cues: music, song lyrics, smells, tastes, objects from childhood etc
RN
romantic nostalgia
past research into RN
-romantic relationships are essential to psych wellbeing and physical health
intro
-there is a need to understand how partners promote, maintain, restore and enhance relationship functioning
-the suggestion is RN
evans definition of RN
nostalgia specifically for past experiences shared with ones current romantic partner
what do past studies identify as indicators of relationship quality
1closeness, degree partners feel bonded
2 satisfaction, level of pos emotions in relationship
3 commitment, desire to maintain relationship and work to make it last
what 2 types of love are found in past studies
compassionate: trust, respect, affection, care
passionate: deep desire to be with romantic partner
aims of study in RN
-RN will increase perception of closeness with romantic partner
-RN can elevate perceived meaningfulness and value placed on relationships
-likely that partners focusing on pos experiences tend to follow redemptive trajectory
-nostalgising about romantic relationship may increase relationship commitment
method
-pp undergrad psych students and general pop samples (american english and dutch)
-measures: self report, narratives
-design: correlational, experimental
-method:
study 1: tested whether RN associated with closeness, satisfaction, commitment and duration (correlational)
study 2: induce RN by recollection of nostalgic events and tested whether RN improves closeness, satisfaction and commitment (experimental)
study 3: manipulated nostalgia with relevant vs control song and tested RN and connectedness to partner and boost optimism about future of relationship (experimental)
study 4: after pre screening, pp did personality measures and 14 day diary to look at RN and relationship functioning in daily life (longitudinal design)
conclusions
study 1: RN pos correlated to relationship indicators
study 2+3: experimental designs, nostalgia induced by narratives and songs, found RN strengthens all relationship indicators (except commitment in study 3) + boosts romantic connectedness and optimism in passionate or compassionate love
study 4: the days pp felt more nostalgic, the stronger the connectedness and greater the optimism about future and weaker intention to terminate relationship
limitations
-studies 2+3 which induce nostalgia may determine causal effect but it may be other way round e.g relationship quality may induce RN
-future research should look at possibility of nostalgic narratives containing neg experineces
-future work should look at other relationship qualities e.g support, conflict, forgiveness and breakup rates
-major limitation is that most of pp were happy with their relationship
