Published May 23, 2025 | Version 1.0
Journal article Open

Mourning for Lost Futures: The Invalidated Hope Theory of Nostalgia

Creators

Description

This paper proposes a novel theory of nostalgia as the mournful memory of a now invalidated hope. While existing research acknowledges nostalgia's bittersweet nature, current theoretical frameworks fail to adequately explain why nostalgia consistently produces this mixed emotional response. The present theory defines nostalgia as the mourning of a lost hope, the memory of which is triggered by exposure to stimuli that remind one of hopes once held but now known to be unrealizable or invalidated. This Invalidated Hope Theory provides a unifying explanation for nostalgia's temporal complexity, its universal bittersweet character, and its distinction from related emotional phenomena such as simple remembrance, disappointment, or grief.

Files

Mourning for Lost Futures: The Invalidated Hope Theory of Nostalgia.pdf

Files (134.0 kB)

Additional details

References

  • Archer, J. (1999). The Nature of Grief: The Evolution and Psychology of Reactions to Loss. Routledge. Batcho, K. I. (2013). Nostalgia: The bittersweet history of a psychological concept. History of Psychology, 16(3), 165–176. Boym, S. (2013). The Future of Nostalgia. Basic Books. Cheung, W. Y., et al. (2013). Back to the future: Nostalgia increases optimism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39(11), 1484–1496. Gaesser, B., & Fowler, Z. (2022). How nostalgia shapes well-being: A social-cognitive account. Current Opinion in Psychology, 46, 101334. Gilovich, T., & Medvec, V. H. (1995). The experience of regret: What, when, and why. Psychological Review, 102(2), 379–395. Havlena, W. J., & Holak, S. L. (1991). "The good old days": Observations on nostalgia and its role in consumer behavior. Advances in Consumer Research, 18, 323–329. Hepper, E. G., et al. (2012). Odyssey's end: Lay conceptions of nostalgia reflect its original Homeric meaning. Emotion, 12(1), 102–111. Juhl, J., et al. (2010). Fighting the future with the past: Nostalgia buffers existential threat. Journal of Research in Personality, 44(3), 309–314. Newman, D. B., Sachs, M. E., & Stone, A. A. (2020). Nostalgia and well-being in daily life: An ecological validity perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 118(2), 325–347. Reid, C. A., et al. (2015). Scent-evoked nostalgia. Memory, 23(2), 157–166. Sedikides, C., & Wildschut, T. (2016). Past forward: Nostalgia as a motivational force. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20(4), 319–321. Sedikides, C., et al. (2015). Nostalgia counteracts self-discontinuity and restores self-continuity. European Journal of Social Psychology, 45(1), 52–61. Stephan, E., et al. (2014). The mnemonic mover: Nostalgia regulates avoidance and approach motivation. Emotion, 14(3), 545–561. Wildschut, T., et al. (2006). Nostalgia: Content, triggers, functions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(5), 975–993. Wong, P. T., & Watt, L. M. (1991). What types of reminiscence are associated with successful aging? Psychology and Aging, 6(2), 272–279. Zeelenberg, M., et al. (2000). On bad decisions and disconfirmed expectancies: The psychology of regret and disappointment. Cognition & Emotion, 14(4), 521–541.