Psychology and Nostalgia: Towards a Functional Approach

Early psychological treatises equated nostalgia with homesickness. Nostalgia, distinct from homesickness, only became the subject of systematic psychological research by the turn of the 21^th century. Since then, empirical efforts have clarified its characteristics, triggers, and functions. This chapter organises the wealth of contemporary findings by proposing a regulatory or functional model, in which nostalgia serves as a homeostatic corrective (or balancing feedback mechanism) that counteracts the negative effects of psychological perturbations and adverse environmental conditions. We review evidence that discomforting, aversive states trigger nostalgia. We then show how, in turn, nostalgia boosts a number of key psychological functions. We come full circle with an overview of studies that tested the complete regulatory model and demonstrated the positive downstream consequences of adversity-induced nostalgia. After considering alternative theoretical perspectives, we conclude the chapter by surveying future challenges and opportunities, and evaluate the potential utility of our model for understanding collective nostalgia.