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 nostal...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Emotion (Washington, D.C.) D.C.), 2023-09, Vol.23 (6), p.1791-1795
Main Authors: Abeyta, Andrew A., Juhl, Jacob
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Female
Human
Life Satisfaction
Loneliness
Male
Meaningfulness
Nostalgia
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Summary: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.
ISSN:1528-3542
1931-1516
DOI:10.1037/emo0001190