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Blissed by the Past: Media-Induced Nostalgia as Audience Response Factor for Subjective and Psychological Well-Being

Mon, May 29, 9:30 to 10:45, Hilton San Diego Bayfront, Floor: 2, Indigo 204A

Abstract

Previous research found media to contribute to human well-being via hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment experiences. However, preceding exposure to media and its content which may contribute to these entertainment experiences have seldom been taken into consideration. We propose that nostalgia—defined as bittersweet and fundamentally social emotion (Sedikides et al., 2015) elicited by biographical closeness to media content—influences entertainment experiences and, thus, human well-being in several ways. Past research found nostalgia to serve a self-oriented, an existential and a social function. In this paper, we argue that by serving these functions, nostalgia contributes to both, hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment experiences and thereby influences psychological and subjective well-being. We acknowledge existing interdisciplinary literature and form directions for future research on media-induced nostalgia.

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