The past makes the present meaningful: Nostalgia as an existential resource.

TLDR

The present research tested the proposition that nostalgia serves an existential function by bolstering a sense of meaning in life. Across six studies, nostalgia consistently increased a sense of meaning in life—mediated by social connectedness—while also buffering meaning threats, reducing defensiveness, and mitigating the negative impact of meaning deficits on psychological well‑being, underscoring its role as an existential resource.

Abstract

The present research tested the proposition that nostalgia serves an existential function by bolstering a sense of meaning in life. Study 1 found that nostalgia was positively associated with a sense of meaning in life. Study 2 experimentally demonstrated that nostalgia increases a sense of meaning in life. In both studies, the link between nostalgia and increased meaning in life was mediated by feelings of social connectedness. Study 3 evidenced that threatened meaning increases nostalgia. Study 4 illustrated that nostalgia, in turn, reduces defensiveness following a meaning threat. Finally, Studies 5 and 6 showed that nostalgia disrupts the link between meaning deficits and compromised psychological well-being. Collectively, these findings indicate that the provision of existential meaning is a pivotal function of nostalgia.