Pancultural nostalgia: Prototypical conceptions across cultures

Erica G. Hepper; Tim Wildschut; Constantine Sedikides; Timothy D. Ritchie; Yiu Fai Yung; Nina Hansen; Georgios Abakoumkin; Gizem Arikan; Sylwia Z. Cisek; Didier B. Demassosso; Jochen E. Gebauer; J. P. Gerber; Roberto González; Takashi Kusumi; Girishwar Misra; Mihaela Rusu; Oisín Ryan; Elena Stephan; Ad J. Ad; Xinyue Zhou

doi:10.1037/a0036790

Pancultural nostalgia: Prototypical conceptions across cultures

Erica G. Hepper^*, Tim Wildschut, Constantine Sedikides, Timothy D. Ritchie, Yiu Fai Yung, Nina Hansen, Georgios Abakoumkin, Gizem Arikan, Sylwia Z. Cisek, Didier B. Demassosso, Jochen E. Gebauer, J. P. Gerber, Roberto González, Takashi Kusumi, Girishwar Misra, Mihaela Rusu, Oisín Ryan, Elena Stephan, Ad J. Ad, Xinyue Zhou

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Nostalgia is a frequently experienced complex emotion, understood by laypersons in the United Kingdom and United States of America to (a) refer prototypically to fond, self-relevant, social memories and (b) be more pleasant (e.g., happy, warm) than unpleasant (e.g., sad, regretful). This research examined whether people across cultures conceive of nostalgia in the same way. Students in 18 countries across 5 continents (N = 1,704) rated the prototypicality of 35 features of nostalgia. The samples showed high levels of agreement on the rank-order of features. In all countries, participants rated previously identified central (vs. peripheral) features as more prototypical of nostalgia, and showed greater interindividual agreement regarding central (vs. peripheral) features. Cluster analyses revealed subtle variation among groups of countries with respect to the strength of these pancultural patterns. All except African countries manifested the same factor structure of nostalgia features. Additional exemplars generated by participants in an open-ended format did not entail elaboration of the existing set of 35 features. Findings identified key points of cross-cultural agreement regarding conceptions of nostalgia, supporting the notion that nostalgia is a pancultural emotion.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	733-747
Number of pages	15
Journal	Emotion
Volume	14
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036790
Publication status	Published - 1 Jan 2014

Keywords

Culture
Emotion
Nostalgia
Prototype

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Hepper, E. G., Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., Ritchie, T. D., Yung, Y. F., Hansen, N., Abakoumkin, G., Arikan, G., Cisek, S. Z., Demassosso, D. B., Gebauer, J. E., Gerber, J. P., González, R., Kusumi, T., Misra, G., Rusu, M., Ryan, O., Stephan, E., Ad, A. J., & Zhou, X. (2014). Pancultural nostalgia: Prototypical conceptions across cultures. Emotion, 14(4), 733-747. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036790

@article{71d0f02907684ac8bdc87c59f4568721,

title = "Pancultural nostalgia: Prototypical conceptions across cultures",

abstract = "Nostalgia is a frequently experienced complex emotion, understood by laypersons in the United Kingdom and United States of America to (a) refer prototypically to fond, self-relevant, social memories and (b) be more pleasant (e.g., happy, warm) than unpleasant (e.g., sad, regretful). This research examined whether people across cultures conceive of nostalgia in the same way. Students in 18 countries across 5 continents (N = 1,704) rated the prototypicality of 35 features of nostalgia. The samples showed high levels of agreement on the rank-order of features. In all countries, participants rated previously identified central (vs. peripheral) features as more prototypical of nostalgia, and showed greater interindividual agreement regarding central (vs. peripheral) features. Cluster analyses revealed subtle variation among groups of countries with respect to the strength of these pancultural patterns. All except African countries manifested the same factor structure of nostalgia features. Additional exemplars generated by participants in an open-ended format did not entail elaboration of the existing set of 35 features. Findings identified key points of cross-cultural agreement regarding conceptions of nostalgia, supporting the notion that nostalgia is a pancultural emotion.",

keywords = "Culture, Emotion, Nostalgia, Prototype",

author = "Hepper, {Erica G.} and Tim Wildschut and Constantine Sedikides and Ritchie, {Timothy D.} and Yung, {Yiu Fai} and Nina Hansen and Georgios Abakoumkin and Gizem Arikan and Cisek, {Sylwia Z.} and Demassosso, {Didier B.} and Gebauer, {Jochen E.} and Gerber, {J. P.} and Roberto Gonz{\'a}lez and Takashi Kusumi and Girishwar Misra and Mihaela Rusu and Ois{\'i}n Ryan and Elena Stephan and Ad, {Ad J.} and Xinyue Zhou",

year = "2014",

month = jan,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1037/a0036790",

language = "English",

volume = "14",

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Hepper, EG, Wildschut, T, Sedikides, C, Ritchie, TD, Yung, YF, Hansen, N, Abakoumkin, G, Arikan, G, Cisek, SZ, Demassosso, DB, Gebauer, JE, Gerber, JP, González, R, Kusumi, T, Misra, G, Rusu, M, Ryan, O, Stephan, E, Ad, AJ & Zhou, X 2014, 'Pancultural nostalgia: Prototypical conceptions across cultures', Emotion, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 733-747. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036790

TY - JOUR

T1 - Pancultural nostalgia

T2 - Prototypical conceptions across cultures

AU - Hepper, Erica G.

AU - Wildschut, Tim

AU - Sedikides, Constantine

AU - Ritchie, Timothy D.

AU - Yung, Yiu Fai

AU - Hansen, Nina

AU - Abakoumkin, Georgios

AU - Arikan, Gizem

AU - Cisek, Sylwia Z.

AU - Demassosso, Didier B.

AU - Gebauer, Jochen E.

AU - Gerber, J. P.

AU - González, Roberto

AU - Kusumi, Takashi

AU - Misra, Girishwar

AU - Rusu, Mihaela

AU - Ryan, Oisín

AU - Stephan, Elena

AU - Ad, Ad J.

AU - Zhou, Xinyue

PY - 2014/1/1

Y1 - 2014/1/1

N2 - Nostalgia is a frequently experienced complex emotion, understood by laypersons in the United Kingdom and United States of America to (a) refer prototypically to fond, self-relevant, social memories and (b) be more pleasant (e.g., happy, warm) than unpleasant (e.g., sad, regretful). This research examined whether people across cultures conceive of nostalgia in the same way. Students in 18 countries across 5 continents (N = 1,704) rated the prototypicality of 35 features of nostalgia. The samples showed high levels of agreement on the rank-order of features. In all countries, participants rated previously identified central (vs. peripheral) features as more prototypical of nostalgia, and showed greater interindividual agreement regarding central (vs. peripheral) features. Cluster analyses revealed subtle variation among groups of countries with respect to the strength of these pancultural patterns. All except African countries manifested the same factor structure of nostalgia features. Additional exemplars generated by participants in an open-ended format did not entail elaboration of the existing set of 35 features. Findings identified key points of cross-cultural agreement regarding conceptions of nostalgia, supporting the notion that nostalgia is a pancultural emotion.

AB - Nostalgia is a frequently experienced complex emotion, understood by laypersons in the United Kingdom and United States of America to (a) refer prototypically to fond, self-relevant, social memories and (b) be more pleasant (e.g., happy, warm) than unpleasant (e.g., sad, regretful). This research examined whether people across cultures conceive of nostalgia in the same way. Students in 18 countries across 5 continents (N = 1,704) rated the prototypicality of 35 features of nostalgia. The samples showed high levels of agreement on the rank-order of features. In all countries, participants rated previously identified central (vs. peripheral) features as more prototypical of nostalgia, and showed greater interindividual agreement regarding central (vs. peripheral) features. Cluster analyses revealed subtle variation among groups of countries with respect to the strength of these pancultural patterns. All except African countries manifested the same factor structure of nostalgia features. Additional exemplars generated by participants in an open-ended format did not entail elaboration of the existing set of 35 features. Findings identified key points of cross-cultural agreement regarding conceptions of nostalgia, supporting the notion that nostalgia is a pancultural emotion.

KW - Culture

KW - Emotion

KW - Nostalgia

KW - Prototype

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U2 - 10.1037/a0036790

DO - 10.1037/a0036790

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C2 - 24866530

AN - SCOPUS:84905111948

SN - 1528-3542

VL - 14

SP - 733

EP - 747

JO - Emotion

JF - Emotion

IS - 4

ER -

Pancultural nostalgia: Prototypical conceptions across cultures

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Keywords

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