Food nostalgia and food comfort: the role of social connectedness
Food nostalgia and food comfort: the role of social connectedness
We were concerned with the link between nostalgia and comfort in food experiences. In Studies 1 and 2, participants visualized 12 foods (Study 1) or consumed 12 flavor samples (Study 2). Following each respective food experience, they rated each food’s capacity to evoke nostalgia and comfort. In preregistered Studies 3 and 4, participants first visualized and wrote about eating either a personally nostalgic food or a regularly consumed food, and then indicated the extent to which the food experience increased nostalgia, social connectedness, and comfort. In cross-sectional Studies 1 and 2, nostalgia associated with food experiences was linked to more comfort, but this relation exhibited greater complexity in experimental Studies 3 and 4. In the latter two studies, nostalgia for food experiences elevated comfort by strengthening social connectedness.
Reid, Chelsea A.
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Green, Jeffrey D.
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Wildschut, Tim
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Sedikides, Constantine
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McSween, Devin K.
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Buchmaier, Sophie
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Reid, Chelsea A.
ee592175-4c83-425e-a787-11f94c5e1b51
Green, Jeffrey D.
241d169f-39df-4246-b28e-b1b52b4824bb
Wildschut, Tim
4452a61d-1649-4c4a-bb1d-154ec446ff81
Sedikides, Constantine
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McSween, Devin K.
af22ef0c-cefd-4349-a53c-5d903083e242
Buchmaier, Sophie
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Reid, Chelsea A., Green, Jeffrey D., Wildschut, Tim, Sedikides, Constantine, McSween, Devin K. and Buchmaier, Sophie
(2025)
Food nostalgia and food comfort: the role of social connectedness.
Cognition and Emotion.
(doi:10.1080/02699931.2025.2479170).
Abstract
We were concerned with the link between nostalgia and comfort in food experiences. In Studies 1 and 2, participants visualized 12 foods (Study 1) or consumed 12 flavor samples (Study 2). Following each respective food experience, they rated each food’s capacity to evoke nostalgia and comfort. In preregistered Studies 3 and 4, participants first visualized and wrote about eating either a personally nostalgic food or a regularly consumed food, and then indicated the extent to which the food experience increased nostalgia, social connectedness, and comfort. In cross-sectional Studies 1 and 2, nostalgia associated with food experiences was linked to more comfort, but this relation exhibited greater complexity in experimental Studies 3 and 4. In the latter two studies, nostalgia for food experiences elevated comfort by strengthening social connectedness.
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Food Nostalgia and Comfort_manuscript_2025-02-02
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Accepted/In Press date: 9 March 2025
e-pub ahead of print date: 15 March 2025
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 499849
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/499849
ISSN: 0269-9931
PURE UUID: d67c3138-be87-4f54-af56-0be79c9b02f0
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Date deposited: 07 Apr 2025 16:45
Last modified: 08 Apr 2025 01:37
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Contributors
Author:
Chelsea A. Reid
Author:
Jeffrey D. Green
Author:
Devin K. McSween
Author:
Sophie Buchmaier
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