Food-evoked nostalgia.

In three studies, we examined food as an elicitor of nostalgia. Study 1 participants visualised eating either a nostalgic or regularly consumed food. Study 2 participants visualised consuming 12 foods. Study 3 participants consumed 12 flavour samples. Following their food experiences, all participants responded to questions regarding the profile of food-evoked nostalgia (i.e. autobiographical relevance, arousal, familiarity, positive and negative emotions) and several psychological functions (i.e. positive affect, self-esteem, social connectedness, meaning in life). Study 2 and 3 participants also reported their state nostalgia. Results revealed that food is a powerful elicitor of nostalgia. Food-evoked nostalgia has a similar contextual profile to previously examined elicitors, but is a predominantly positive emotional experience. Food-evoked nostalgia served multiple psychological functions and predicted greater state nostalgia.

The past as a resource for the bereaved: nostalgia predicts declines in distress.

Nostalgia, a sentimental longing for one's past, can serve as a resource for individuals coping with discomforting experiences. The experience of bereavement poses psychological and physical risks. In a longitudinal study, we examined whether dispositional nostalgia predicted reductions in distress associated with the death of a loved one. Undergraduate students (N = 133) provided information regarding their loss (time elapsed since loss, expectedness) and levels of initial grief, nostalgia, and distress (hyperarousal, intrusion, avoidance) at three time points over a one-month period (Times 2 and 3 occurred one week and one month after the initial session, respectively). Individuals experiencing higher nostalgia reported a decrease in intrusive thoughts across time, whereas those experiencing lower nostalgia reported no change in intrusive thoughts across time. Hyperarousal (physical symptoms, negative feelings) decreased across time among individuals with higher initial grief who experienced greater nostalgia, but increased across time among those with higher initial grief who experienced lesser nostalgia. No changes occurred in avoidance. Nostalgia can palliate bereavement.

Anticipated nostalgia: Looking forward to looking back.

Anticipated nostalgia is a new construct that has received limited empirical attention. It concerns the anticipation of having nostalgic feelings for one's present and future experiences. In three studies, we assessed its prevalence, content, emotional profile, and implications for self-regulation and psychological functioning. Study 1 revealed that anticipated nostalgia most typically concerns interpersonal relationships, and also concerns goals, plans, current life, and culture. Further, it is affectively laden with happiness, sadness, bittersweetness, and sociality. Studies 2 and 3 assessed the implications of anticipated nostalgia for self-regulation and psychological functioning. In both studies, positive evaluation of a personal experience was linked to stronger anticipated nostalgia, and anticipated nostalgia was linked to savouring of the experience. In Study 3, anticipated nostalgia measured prior to an important life transition predicted nostalgia a few months after the transition, and post-transition nostalgia predicted heightened self-esteem, social connectedness, and meaning in life.

Scent-evoked nostalgia.

Can scents evoke nostalgia; what might be the psychological implications of such an evocation? Participants sampled 12 scents and rated the extent to which each scent was familiar, arousing and autobiographically relevant, as well as the extent to which each scent elicited nostalgia. Participants who were high (compared to low) in nostalgia proneness reported more scent-evoked nostalgia, and scents elicited greater nostalgia to the extent that they were arousing, familiar and autobiographically relevant. Scent-evoked nostalgia predicted higher levels of positive affect, self-esteem, self-continuity, optimism, social connectedness and meaning in life. In addition, scent-evoked nostalgia was characterised by more positive emotions than either non-nostalgic autobiographical memories or non-nostalgic non-autobiographical memories. Finally, scent-evoked nostalgia predicted in-the-moment feelings of personal (general or object-specific) nostalgia. The findings represent a foray into understanding the triggers and affective signature of scent-evoked nostalgia.

The power of change: interpersonal attraction as a function of attitude similarity and attitude alignment.

Does attitude alignment predict attraction? Would you like a stranger more who shifts her/his attitudes to more closely align with yours? In pairs, participants (N = 77) discussed social issues about which they disagreed and received false feedback on whether the partner engaged in attitude alignment (shifted her/his attitudes toward the participant's attitude) following discussion. Participants also received false feedback about the proportion of similarity to the partner on a set of issues (i.e., 25%, 50%, or 75%). Participants reported greater attraction to partners who engaged in attitude alignment and who were more similar. Moreover, similarity and attitude alignment interacted. Similarity predicted attraction when attitude alignment did not occur, but did not predict attraction when attitude alignment did occur. Finally, partner attitude alignment led to participant attitude alignment, and perceived reasoning ability mediated the attitude alignment-attraction relationship.

The proust effect: Scents, food, and nostalgia.

Autobiographical memories activated by the senses, particularly smell and taste, can be among the most potent and influential, an experience labelled the Proust Effect. Contemporary research has helped to explain the physiological, neurological, and psychological reasons underlying this phenomenon. Nostalgic memories triggered by taste and smell are especially self-relevant, arousing, and familiar. These memories have an even more positive emotional profile than nostalgic memories elicited by other means, with individuals reporting lower levels of negative or ambivalent emotions. Scent-evoked and food-evoked nostalgia also confer numerous psychological benefits, including enhanced self-esteem, feelings of social connectedness, and deeper meaning in life. Such memories might be harnessed in clinical or other settings.

Do Relationship- and Self-Oriented Deceptions Impact the Effect of Attitude Alignment on Attraction?

While individuals value honesty in relationships, disagreements can create discomfort and individuals tend to prefer partners who engage in attitude alignment (i.e., shift their attitude toward agreement when disagreement occurs). In order to maintain smooth interactions, partners may even deceive individuals by concealing their continued disagreement. In a 2 (Attitude Alignment Deception) x 2 (Partner Motivation) between-subjects design, we examined whether individuals would evaluate interaction partners who engaged in deceptive attitude alignment less favorably compared to interaction partners who engaged in honest attitude alignment, and we examined whether partner motivation (relationship- vs. self-oriented) impacted this effect. After a brief in-person discussion about a disagreed upon social issue, participants received written feedback, allegedly from their interaction partners, that their partners engaged in attitude alignment that was either honest (i.e., partner came to agree with the individual) or deceptive (i.e., partner pretended to reach agreement with the individual). Participants also received feedback that their partners actions were motivated by either a relationship-orientation (i.e., to be liked by the individual) or self-orientation (i.e., to be viewed as correct on the issue). Individuals evaluated (e.g., were less attracted to) partners who engaged in deceptive (vs. honest) attitude alignment less favorably, but deceptive partners were evaluated more favorably if their deception was relationship- vs. self-oriented.

Whatever it takes: Attitude alignment in close relationships following third-party rejection.

Individuals seek to affirm their belonging in many ways, but will they change even strongly held attitudes to do so? Attitude alignment is one mechanism by which individuals maintain ongoing relationships. We tested whether individuals would engage in greater attitude alignment (shifting their attitudes to match a romantic partner's attitudes) following rejection. Participants (N = 190) and their dating partners reported their attitudes about 51 social issues and received feedback that a third party (confederate) did or did not reject them. Dating partners then discussed two disagreed-upon social issues: One issue was peripheral to self and central to partner (PC) and one issue central to self and peripheral to partner (CP). Participants completed a post-discussion attitude measure. In the absence of rejection, individuals engaged in greater attitude alignment for PC than CP issues; following rejection, they engaged in similarly high levels of attitude alignment for both issue types. Rejected (vs. not rejected) individuals also engaged in greater attitude alignment for CP issues. Rejection led individuals to change centrally held attitudes typically more resistant to change, arguably to enhance their sense of belonging in a valued relationship.

Balance Theory Revisited: Relationship Issue Relevance Affects Imbalance-Induced Tension in Workplace Relationships.

The present work applies and extends balance theory by examining the role of relevance of issue to the relationship in balance theory processes within the context of workplace relationships. In Experiment 1, a sample of working adults (N = 81) reported greater job tension when self-supervisor dissimilarity involved a relationship-relevant (vs. non-relationship) ethical dilemma. In Experiment 2, a sample of working students (N = 185) who perceived greater self-supervisor dissimilarity about workplace (vs. family) ethics reported greater job tension, and in turn, less job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Perceiving dissimilarity with a work supervisor in attitudes about relationship-relevant issues may negatively affect outcomes at work. Importantly, these experiments demonstrated that not all dissimilarity is likely to yield negative outcomes; only relationship-relevant (vs. non-relevant) dissimilarity was a catalyst for imbalance-induced tension.