Whether it’s the smell from a vintage shop or the recent social media trend of sharing 2016 photos, Professor Cathy Cox from TCU’s Louise Dilworth Davis College of Science & Engineering recently spoke to TCU News about why our brains respond so strongly to nostalgia. 

What do we know about nostalgia? 
Research shows that when we activate thoughts of nostalgia, people report higher positive affect. They’re more optimistic; they report greater meaning in life. So, feeling nostalgic is just associated with a whole host of positive events. In the early 20th century, nostalgia was actually considered a bad thing, and people would be clinically diagnosed with nostalgia. It wasn’t until around the year 2000 when psychologists started researching nostalgia and finding it more positive. 

When and what do people typically feel nostalgic for? 
Some people hear songs and feel nostalgic. There’s also research showing that perfumes and seasonal smells like apple pie spice can make people nostalgic, as well as food. I’ve shared with my students that when I’m walking down the cookie aisle, there are these certain cookies from my childhood. They’re not my first choice of a treat nowadays, but I’ll always buy them because they remind me of my grandma. Research shows that when we’re bored, isolated, lonely or sad, we become more nostalgic. In 2020, for instance, during the global pandemic, you would look at Spotify, and there were a lot of classic songs that were the top hits from the 1980s and 1990s. When you looked at shows on Netflix, it was a lot of retro shows that were popular.  

Is nostalgia inherently good or bad? 
Nostalgia is considered a bittersweet emotion. For many of us, when we’re nostalgic we’re thinking about positive memories. However, research shows that people who are neurotic or anxious, when they’re thinking about the past it can actually be an adverse experience for them. There’s also research showing that people who have a hard time connecting with others don’t benefit from nostalgia as much as others do. But, in general, people can turn negative experiences into positives, which helps them improve their well-being. Even though nostalgia is a trending buzzword on social media, it’s really a pretty natural human condition.  

What does your research say about nostalgia? 
We have found that nostalgia even has physical benefits, such as pain tolerance and a healthier lifestyle. In a state of nostalgia, people report greater intentions to eat healthy and exercise more. We equipped a group with Fitbit trackers, and we found over the course of two weeks, people who were in the nostalgic condition were actually exercising more and walking more compared to people who are not in the nostalgic condition. Also, our lab was one of the first nostalgia researchers to demonstrate that you can benefit from it vicariously. Internet trends include people taking pictures of themselves in the past and updating them at the same spot in the present, and we found that people can actually experience positive nostalgia by looking at others’ images. You don’t even have to be a part of the image. You can just see someone else’s photo and feel nostalgic, leading to positive effects.  

Maybe that’s why the 2016 social media trend caught on so well.  

-McKenzie Lane