An integrated Investigation of nostalgia across three experimental studies

Abstract

I approach nostalgia, a frequently felt, social, and positive emotion, from three different perspectives, namely correlational, methodological, and temporal. In Chapter 1, I review the existing literature regarding nostalgia and its conceptual evolution over the years, the content of nostalgic reminiscences and the triggers that evoke nostalgic feelings, the psychological benefits of nostalgia, and important issues that have not yet been addressed in the current nostalgia literature. Then, I present my empirical papers, which have been compiled with the intention to contribute to the current literature in three distinct ways. In Chapter 2, I introduce my first study on the association between nostalgia, empathy, attachment, and facial emotion categorisation. In Chapter 3, I present my second empirical paper, in which I propose a novel nostalgia induction method using virtual reality and assess the efficacy of virtual environments in eliciting nostalgia experimentally. In Chapter 4, my third empirical paper, I explore the duration of both nostalgia and its psychological benefits in an experimental context. Additionally, I compare nostalgia induction methods in terms of their efficacy in prolonging nostalgia and its benefits. Finally, in Chapter 5, I discuss the key findings of my studies, implications, strengths, limitations, and directions for future research.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Irem Ozdemir: orcid.org/0000-0002-8477-0891

ORCID for Erich Graf: orcid.org/0000-0002-3162-4233

ORCID for Tim Wildschut: orcid.org/0000-0002-6499-5487

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