Nostalgia, an adaptive emotion? If so, can it be used in coaching?
As science has shown, memory is something in which human physiology is involved. Reminiscences easily assume the role of a narrative and explanatory mechanism that serves as a creator of self continuity (Sutin, 2005). Given these premises it comes natural to ask how nostalgia con be used to stimulate coping mechanisms during the coaching process. In coaching people, we often come across stressful moments or periods of low self esteem an bad mood. The present works wants to search the adaptive role of nostalgia, in order to promote its use in the coaching process.
It’s not about digging up the past, not about touching delicate and sometimes traumatic pieces of the past (as sometimes therapy does). It’s about stimulating, in particular moments, memories with a nostalgic connotation. But the methods of implementing the use of nostalgia in coaching goes beyond the goal of the present research paper. I want to focus on the role of nostalgia, and try to understand if this mixed emotion could be useful in our profession.
An argument that could show the positive effects nostalgia has can be shown if we think about the condition of loneliness that older people have to face as they age, some research posits that, as a social emotion, nostalgia has the potential to reduce the negative impact of social exclusion on empathy (Wildschut et al., 2010). As a matter of fact nostalgia is triggered by loneliness, a negative mood states (Wildschut et al., 2006). Whereas concrete sensory stimuli and social interactions are all related with nostalgia, negative affect is by far the most frequent cause for nostalgia that people state. When asked about what types of situations make them feel nostalgic, people frequently talk about periods of grief or solitude, explaining that nostalgia helps make them feel better (Wildschut et al., 2006).
When Davis (1979) started his research on nostalgia and brought it within a psychological framework, he hypothesized that nostalgia happens in periods of nervousness, fear, indecision, or general discontent. In this way, nostalgia is used as a protection method against negative mood states. If we stop and think, it becomes evident that the conditions just described are often typical of an old person who is slowly losing his abilities, friends, and relatives. We tend to do the same when we arrive in a new place, in a new home. Think of a new arrival in a big city that makes one remember good times with friends back home. Or a medical doctor struggling with college chemistry who bolsters his confidence with memories of high school triumph. Perhaps nostalgia can help people overcome difficulties in life, even if it is characterized by undetermined emotional valence. More significantly, it can provide you with a sense of being rooted, a sense of meaning and purpose, instead of being blown around by the whims of everyday life.
Given these premises, in this work we are trying to understand if nostalgia is an overall positive or negative emotion, and what is the linkage, if it exists at all, between nostalgia and aging. Nostalgia is often supposed to be especially frequent among older people (Davis, 1979). In addition, we know that emotions play an important role as we grow old; this could partially explain the supposed connection between aging, nostalgia and emotions (Wurm, 2011). In order to understand this link, in this study the differences between young and older adults have been investigated.