Collective nostalgia and domestic country bias.

Three experiments tested and supported the hypothesis that collective nostalgia-nostalgia that is experienced when one thinks of oneself in terms of a particular social identity or as a member of a particular group and that concerns events or objects related to this group-increases individuals' ethnocentric preference for ingroup (compared to outgroup) products. Greek participants who recalled collective nostalgic experiences shared with other Greeks (compared to controls) evinced a highly robust preference for Greek (compared to foreign) consumer products. This preference is referred to as domestic country bias. Following a systematic replicate-and-extend strategy, we demonstrated that both idiographic and nomothetic inductions of collective nostalgia increased domestic country bias (Experiment 1), that collective nostalgia increased domestic country bias across different product categories (Experiment 2), and that collective self-esteem mediated the effect of collective nostalgia on domestic country bias and did so independently of positive affect (Experiment 3). We discuss theoretical and practical implications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)

Collective nostalgia: a group-level emotion that confers unique benefits on the group

This research established collective nostalgia as a group-level emotion and ascertained the benefits it confers on the group. In Study 1, participants who reflected on a nostalgic event they had experienced together with ingroup members (collective nostalgia) evaluated the ingroup more positively and reported stronger intentions to approach (and not avoid) ingroup members than those who recalled a nostalgic event they had experienced individually (personal nostalgia), those who reflected on a lucky event they had experienced together with ingroup members (collective positive), and those who did not recall an event (no recall). In Study 2, collective (vs. personal) nostalgia strengthened behavioral intentions to support the ingroup more so than did recalling an ordinary collective (vs. personal) event. Increased collective self-esteem mediated this effect. In Study 3, collective nostalgia (compared with recall of an ordinary collective event) led participants to sacrifice money in order to punish a transgression perpetrated against an ingroup member. This effect of collective nostalgia was more pronounced when social identification was high (compared with low). Finally, in Study 4, collective nostalgia converged toward the group average (i.e., was socially shared) when participants thought of themselves in terms of their group membership. The findings underscore the viability of studying nostalgia at multiple levels of analysis and highlight the significance of collective nostalgia for understanding group-level attitudes, global action tendencies, specific behavioral intentions, and behavior

The Hedonic Character of Nostalgia: An Integrative Data Analysis

We conducted an integrative data analysis to examine the hedonic character of nostalgia. We combined positive and negative affect measures from 41 experiments manipulating nostalgia (N = 4,659). Overall, nostalgia inductions increased positive and ambivalent affect, but did not significantly alter negative affect. The magnitude of nostalgia’s effects varied markedly across different experimental inductions of the emotion. The hedonic character of nostalgia, then, depends on how the emotion is elicited and the benchmark (i.e., control condition) to which it is compared. We discuss implications for theory and research on nostalgia and emotions in general

Understanding walking and cycling:summary of key findings and recommendations

It is widely recognized that there is a need to increase levels of active and sustainable travel in British urban areas. The Understanding Walking and Cycling (UWAC) project, funded by the EPSRC, has examined the factors influencing everyday travel decisions and proposes a series of policy measures to increase levels of walking and cycling for short trips in urban areas. A wide range of both quantitative and qualitative data were collected in four English towns (Lancaster, Leeds, Leicester and Worcester), including a questionnaire survey, spatial analysis of the built environment, interviews (static and whilst mobile) and detailed ethnographies. Key findings of the research are that whilst attitudes to walking and cycling are mostly positive or neutral, many people who would like to engage in more active travel fail to do so due to a combination of factors. These can be summarised as: Concerns about the physical environment, especially with regard to safety when walking or cycling; The difficulty of fitting walking and cycling into complex household routines (especially with young children); The perception that walking and cycling are in some ways abnormal things to do. It is suggested that policies to increase levels of walking and cycling should focus not only on improving infrastructure (for instance through fully segregated cycle routes along main roads and restriction on vehicle speeds), but also must tackle broader social, economic, cultural and legal factors that currently inhibit walking and cycling. Together, such changes can create an environment in which driving for short trips in urban areas is seen as abnormal and walking or cycling seem the obvious choices. A joint project by by Lancaster University, Oxford Brookes University and the University of Leeds

Collective nostalgia: Triggers and consequences for collective action intentions

Global trends surveys suggest that collective nostalgia for one's country is widespread. Moreover, research indicates that collective nostalgia is used by populist radical-right parties to mobilize their voters against immigration. We focused on antecedents of collective nostalgia and its consequences for collective action in the context of national identity. In particular, we hypothesized that collective nostalgia for the country's past is triggered by a sense of collective discontinuity and subsequently engenders collective action intentions to protect the national ingroup and limit the presence of immigrant outgroups. We tested this hypothesis in a three-wave longitudinal cross-lagged panel study (N = 1489) among native Dutch majority members. The results were consistent with the hypothesis. The findings highlight the relevance of collective nostalgia as an emotional response to collective discontinuity that drives collective action intentions aimed at protecting ingroup continuity. We discuss implications of the findings for the literature on collective nostalgia and group dynamics as well as the broader literature on collective action and provide directions for future research

Autobiographical Memory Functions of Nostalgia in Comparison to Rumination and Counterfactual Thinking: Similarity and Uniqueness

We compared and contrasted nostalgia with rumination and counterfactual thinking in terms of their autobiographical memory functions. Specifically, we assessed individual differences in nostalgia, rumination, and counterfactual thinking, which we then linked to self-reported functions or uses of autobiographical memory (Self-Regard, Boredom Reduction, Death Preparation, Intimacy Maintenance, Conversation, Teach/Inform, and Bitterness Revival). We tested which memory functions are shared and which are uniquely linked to nostalgia. The commonality among nostalgia, rumination, and counterfactual thinking resides in their shared positive associations with all memory functions: individuals who evinced a stronger propensity towards past-oriented thought (as manifested in nostalgia, rumination, and counterfactual thinking) reported greater overall recruitment of memories in the service of present functioning. The uniqueness of nostalgia resides in its comparatively strong positive associations with Intimacy Maintenance, Teach/Inform, and Self-Regard and weak association with Bitterness Revival. In all, nostalgia possesses a more positive functional signature than do rumination and counterfactual thinking.</p

Nostalgia Proneness and Reduced Prejudice.

We examined the association between nostalgia proneness and prejudice. In four correlational studies, we assessed nostalgia proneness, empathy, motivation to control prejudiced reactions, and blatant as well as subtle prejudice expression. The more prone to nostalgia participants were, the more likely they were to be motivated to control prejudice against an outgroup (African-Americans; Studies 1–4). Further, motivation to control prejudice mediated the relation between nostalgia proneness and reduced blatant/subtle prejudice expression (Studies 2–4). Finally, the stronger motivation to control prejudice and subsequent prejudice expression reduction was mediated by empathy that accompanied higher levels of nostalgia proneness (Studies 3–4). Nostalgia has implications for intergroup perception, and specifically prejudicial attitudes

Coronary Smooth Muscle Cell Calcium Dynamics: Effects of Bifurcation Angle on Atheroprone Conditions

This work investigates the effect of arterial bifurcation angulation on atherosclerosis development through in-silico simulations of coupled cell dynamics. The computational model presented here combines cellular pathways, fluid dynamics, and physiologically-realistic vessel geometries as observed in the human vasculature. The coupled cells model includes endothelial cells (ECs) and smooth muscle cells (SMCs) with ion dynamics, hetero and homotypic coupling, as well as electro-diffusive coupling. Three arterial bifurcation surface models were used in the coupled cells simulations. All three simulations showed propagating waves of Ca2+ in both the SMC and EC layers, following the introduction of a luminal agonist, in this case ATP. Immediately following the introduction of ATP concentration Ca2+ waves propagate from the area of high ATP toward the areas of low ATP concentration, forming complex patterns where waves interact with eachother, collide and fade. These dynamic phenomena are repeated with a series of waves of slower velocity. The underlying motivation of this research was to examine the macro-scale phenomena, given that the characteristic length scales of atherosclerotic plaques are much larger than a single cell. The micro-scale dynamics were modeled on macro-scale arterial bifurcation surfaces containing over one million cells. The results of the simulations presented here suggest that susceptibility to atherosclerosis development depends on the bifurcation angulation. In conjunction with findings reported in the literature, the simulation results demonstrate that arterial bifurcations containing wider angles have a more prominent influence on the coupled cells pathways associated with the development of atherosclerosis, by means of disturbed flow and lower SMC Ca2+ concentrations. The discussion of the results considers the findings of this research within the context of the potential link between information transport through frequency encoding of Ca2+ wave dynamics and development of atheroprone conditions