Nostalgia restores meaning in life for lonely people
Nostalgia restores meaning in life for lonely people
Lonely individuals lack meaning in life. We hypothesized that nostalgia, a bittersweet emotion that entails reflecting sentimentally on the past, helps restore meaning for lonely people. In two studies, we measured trait loneliness, measured state nostalgia (Study 1) or experimentally induced nostalgia (Study 2), and assessed meaning. Results supported the hypothesis: The relation between loneliness and meaning deficits was reduced among nostalgic individuals and this was driven by the fact that nostalgia (whether measured or experimentally induced) was linked with greater meaning for highly lonely individuals.
nostalgia, meaning in life, loneliness
Juhl, Jacob
1c3b38b1-ba9e-4f3c-8520-ebca3b712fa2
Juhl, Jacob
1c3b38b1-ba9e-4f3c-8520-ebca3b712fa2
Juhl, Jacob
,
Andrew A. Abeyta
(2022)
Nostalgia restores meaning in life for lonely people.
Emotion.
(doi:10.1037/emo0001190).
Abstract
Lonely individuals lack meaning in life. We hypothesized that nostalgia, a bittersweet emotion that entails reflecting sentimentally on the past, helps restore meaning for lonely people. In two studies, we measured trait loneliness, measured state nostalgia (Study 1) or experimentally induced nostalgia (Study 2), and assessed meaning. Results supported the hypothesis: The relation between loneliness and meaning deficits was reduced among nostalgic individuals and this was driven by the fact that nostalgia (whether measured or experimentally induced) was linked with greater meaning for highly lonely individuals.
Text
Loneliness X Nostalgia on Meaning final accepted
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 28 September 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 17 November 2022
Keywords:
nostalgia, meaning in life, loneliness
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 471194
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/471194
ISSN: 1528-3542
PURE UUID: 8816dbff-5bad-45cc-a723-b13a2647e3f4
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Date deposited: 31 Oct 2022 17:43
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 22:32
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Corporate Author: Andrew A. Abeyta
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