RICHMOND, Va. — A new study led by Jeffrey Green, Ph.D., a psychology professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, found that engaging in nostalgic experiences can strengthen feelings of social connection and boost gratitude.
Something as simple as listening to nostalgic music can help you feel gratitude, a news release from VCU explains.
“There was a tiny bit of research out there suggesting that nostalgia and gratitude were linked causally, but also there was some question of what’s driving it,” Green said. “And that mechanism turned out to be feelings of social connectedness.”
Green's interest in nostalgia emerged around 15 years ago, when he was inspired to join his former Ph.D. advisor in his research.
“I would frequently wax nostalgic or engage in nostalgic reverie. And then just kind of a natural outgrowth was gratitude,” said Green, who has organized high school, college and even fifth-grade reunions. “My thinking was, 'I wonder if there’s something there? Is it just me, or is that kind of an inherent feature of nostalgia?'”
Green and his co-authors conducted several studies among different populations and the findings were published recently in Personality and Individual Differences, the journal of the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences.
In two of the studies, participants answered questionnaires about nostalgia, gratitude and their levels of social connection. In another study, participants listened to a nostalgic song and rated their feelings of social connectedness and gratitude.
Researchers were able to conclude that remembering nostalgic moments causes people to consider their social ties, promoting gratitude for their lives and experience.
The VCU news release says previous research found that overall psychological well-being can be enhanced by fostering gratitude. Green suggests purposefully engaging in nostalgic triggers, like listening to music, looking at old photos or smelling wistful scents could help bolster that effect.
Green added that feelings of gratitude can be harder to come by in an era where so many people are comparing themselves to what they see on social media.
“I think if you have to boil it down to one thing – happiness, life satisfaction, meaning, all these related concepts – you usually get back to quality connections with other human beings,” he said. “Gratitude is one of these meta approaches, where it’s focusing on what you have rather than what you don’t have.”
Click here to read the full study.
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