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

Boredom and its psychological consequences : a meaning-regulation approach.

This thesis by publication documents the results of a three year PhD research project investigating boredom. Even though boredom is a common experience that has been suggested to hold major implications for life and society, surprisingly little research has been conducted on its experiential character and its consequences. The research presented in the current thesis sought to fill this void. Following the observation that boredom involves a lack of perceived meaning in one’s activities or circumstances, it was hypothesized that boredom triggers selfregulation attempts aimed at re-establishing a sense of meaningfulness. Five articles are included that detail the results of a systematic study of boredom and the effects of this ‘meaning-regulation’ process on a variety of important factors. After introducing the broader theoretical framework in Chapter 1, the four studies of Chapter 2 confirmed that bored people experience a lack of perceived meaningfulness and are motivated to engage in meaningful courses of action. Chapter 3 includes five studies that help define meaningful behavior from an expectancy-value perspective. Consistent with the notion that social identification contributes to a sense of meaningfulness, the five studies reported in Chapter 4 indicate that boredom leads to polarization of in- and outgroup attitudes. The seven studies included in Chapter 5 reveal that boredom can counter-intuitively make people act more prosocially, if this behavior presents an opportunity to act meaningful. The ten studies of Chapter 6 indicate that boredom increases feelings of nostalgia, and nostalgia subsequently contributes to bored people’s meaning in life. The overall findings, their implications, their limitations, and future research directions are discussed in Chapter 7. Overall, the research presented in the current thesis indicates that boredom increases social identification, prosocial behavior, and nostalgia, and these consequences of boredom can be explained according to a meaning-regulation approach

Nostalgia’s place among self-relevant emotions

How is nostalgia positioned among self-relevant emotions? We tested, in six studies, which self-relevant emotions are perceived as most similar versus least similar to nostalgia, and what underlies these similarities/differences. We used multidimensional scaling to chart the perceived similarities/differences among self-relevant emotions, resulting in two-dimensional models. The results were revealing. Nostalgia is positioned among self-relevant emotions characterised by positive valence, an approach orientation, and low arousal. Nostalgia most resembles pride and self-compassion, and least resembles embarrassment and shame. Our research pioneered the integration of nostalgia among self-relevant emotions

Hungering for the past: Nostalgic food labels increase purchase intentions and actual consumption

We proposed that nostalgic labels strengthen the appeal of food items when the items are intrinsically nostalgic (e.g., related to one's childhood). Nostalgic labels do so by fostering a sense of food comfort (i.e., safety and security) among potential consumers. Experiment 1, testing a Chinese sample, confirmed that nostalgic (vs. descriptive) labels strengthen purchase intentions of food items when such items are intrinsically nostalgic. Experiment 2 showed that nostalgic (vs. descriptive) food labels strengthen purchase intentions of intrinsically nostalgic items, and do so by virtue of their capacity to elevate food comfort. This experiment tested a U.S. sample, thus broadening the cross-cultural generalizability of the findings. Experiment 3, testing a Chinese sample, replicated the Experiment 2 findings using nostalgic versus descriptive labels of a food item, and ruled out the influence of an alternative mediator, perceived food healthiness. Finally, Experiment 4, testing also a Chinese sample, revealed that restaurant dishes are more likely to be consumed when advertised with a nostalgic (than descriptive) label. The current work makes theoretical contributions to literature on food consumption and emotions, and has practical implications for harnessing nostalgia for dietary purposes.</p

The impact of middle names: middle initials enhance perceived intellectual performance.

Middle name initials often appear in formal contexts, especially when people refer to intellectual achievements. On the basis of this common link, the display of middle initials increases positive evaluations of people's intellectual capacities and achievements. We document this effect in seven studies: Middle initials in authors' names increased the evaluation of their writing performance (Study 1), and middle initials increased perceptions of status (Studies 2 and 4). Moreover, the middle initials effect was specific to intellectual performance (Studies 3 and 6), and it was mediated by perceived status (Studies 5 7). Besides supporting our hypotheses, the results of these studies yield important implication for everyday life

In search for meaningfulness: nostalgia as an antidote to boredom.

We formulated, tested and supported, in six studies, a theoretical model according to which individuals use nostalgia as a way to re-inject meaningfulness in their lives when they experience boredom. Studies 1-3 established that induced boredom causes increases in nostalgia, when participants have the opportunity to revert to their past. Studies 4-5 examined search for meaning as a mediator of the effect of boredom on nostalgia. Specifically, Study 4 showed that search for meaning mediates the effect of state boredom on nostalgic memory content, whereas Study 5 demonstrated that search for meaning mediates the effect of dispositional boredom on dispositional nostalgia. Finally, Study 6 examined the meaning re-establishment potential of nostalgia during boredom: nostalgia mediates the effect of boredom on sense of meaningfulness and presence of meaning in one s life. Nostalgia counteracts the meaninglessness that individuals experience when they are bored

On boredom and social identity: a pragmatic meaning-regulation approach.

People who feel bored experience that their current situation is meaningless and are motivated to reestablish a sense of meaningfulness. Building on the literature that conceptualizes social identification as source of meaningfulness, the authors tested the hypothesis that boredom increases the valuation of ingroups and devaluation of outgroups. Indeed, state boredom increased the liking of an ingroup name (Study 1), it increased hypothetical jail sentences given to an outgroup offender (Study 2 and Study 3), especially in comparison to an ingroup offender (Study 3), it increased positive evaluations of participants' ingroups, especially when ingroups were not the most favored ones to begin with (Study 4), and it increased the appreciation of an ingroup symbol, mediated by people's need to engage in meaningful behavior (Study 5). Several measures ruled out that these results could be explained by other affective states. These novel findings are discussed with respect to boredom, social identity, and existential psychology research

Ahead of others in the authorship order: names with middle initials appear earlier in author lists of academic articles in psychology

no abstract availabl

Dreaming of a brighter future: anticipating happiness instills meaning in life

We theorized and tested that people’s predictions of their future as brighter than the present fulfill an important purpose: they give a sense of meaning to life. We systematically tested this existentialist hypothesis by adopting a self-regulatory approach. Study 1 indicates that envisioning a happier future helps people to find meaning in everyday life behaviors, provided that these are perceived to be instrumental for the pursuit of happiness. Consistently, Study 2 shows that envisioning such increases in future happiness is particularly employed by those who are prone to seek meaning in life. Finally, Study 3 reveals that after people envision a brighter future their perceived meaning in life increases, and it does so especially for those prone to search for meaning in life. Together, these studies suggest that imagining future happiness in part serves the function of perceiving life as meaningful. This research is novel, and builds on and contributes to the literature on meaning making, happiness, well-being, and affective forecasting

Moving onwards: an action continuation strategy in finding the way

In four studies, we examined people's strategies when deciding between multiple routes of equivalent length in way-finding tasks. The results reveal the important role of continuing behavior when faced with a choice from multiple viable routes. After affirming the existence of asymmetric preferences for alternatives (Studies 1 and 2), we observed that variations of simple known-environment mazes supported action continuation as prevailing process over alternative strategies such as preference for long initial path segments, paths with a least deviating angle, and a modified hill climbing strategy (Study 3). Moreover, asymmetric preferences disappeared with the absence of initial behavior to inform subsequent decision making (Study 4). Results are discussed within the context of decision making, navigation strategies, and everyday life path finding