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.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology.
authors.forename: Erica G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Hepper
authors.affiliation: Center for Research on Self and Identity, School of Psychology, University of Southampton.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wildschut
authors.affiliation: Center for Research on Self and Identity, School of Psychology, University of Southampton.
authors.forename: Constantine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sedikides
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Limerick.
authors.forename: Timothy D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Ritchie
authors.affiliation: SAS Institute Inc.
authors.forename: Yiu-Fai
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Yung
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Groningen.
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.affiliation: Department of Preschool Education, University of Thessaly.
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Abakoumkin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Ozyegin University.
authors.forename: Gizem
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Arikan
authors.affiliation: Center for Research on Self and Identity, School of Psychology, University of Southampton.
authors.forename: Sylwia Z
authors.initials: SZ
authors.lastname: Cisek
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Yaoundé
authors.forename: Didier B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Demassosso
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
authors.forename: Jochen E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Gebauer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Macquarie University.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Gerber
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: González
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Education, Kyoto University.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kusumi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Delhi.
authors.forename: Girishwar
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Misra
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, Universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza.
authors.forename: Mihaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rusu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Limerick.
authors.forename: Oisín
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stephan
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical & Clinical Psychology, Tilburg University.
authors.forename: Ad J J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Vingerhoets
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University.
authors.forename: Xinyue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006113:United Kingdom; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult