- Email: [email protected]
Feelings, Fantasies, and Memories
Feelings, Fantasies, and Memories: An Examination of the Emotional Components of Nostalgia Susan L. Holak CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK–COLLEGE OF STATEN ISLAND
William J. Havlena NEW JERSEY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
The article reports the results of a study designed to examine directly the emotional components of nostalgia. Written descriptions of 164 nostalgic experiences provided by 62 individuals were judged in terms of the emotions experienced by the subjects. The resulting ratings were used to assess the emotional content of the descriptions. The ratings were standardized and analyzed using principal components analysis and multiple regression analysis to understand the emotions that differentiate levels of nostalgic intensity. The results reveal the complexity of the emotions elicited in nostalgic experience. Positive emotions such as warmth, joy, affection, and gratitude are linked with sadness and desire to produce a mixed affective response. The article ends with a discussion of implications for marketing and advertising and with suggestions for future research. J BUSN RES 1998. 42.217–226. 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.
C
onsumer research has examined the role of feelings (or affect) in consumer behavior from several different vantage points. The importance of affect in advertising has long been studied in terms of its effect on product attitudes and choice (see Batra, 1986; Edell and Burke, 1987). More recently, the role of affect and emotion in consumption has been a focus of research effort (see Holbrook, 1986). Another fruitful area for investigation has been the influence of mood on consumer behavior (see Gardner, 1985). Several researchers have studied the measurement of affect and the theoretical structure of affective constructs with regard to advertising and consumption (Allen, Machleit, and Marine, 1988; Batra and Ray, 1986). This study examines the emotional components of nostalgia, a specific affectively charged concept. Nostalgia, originally conceptualized as a ‘‘painful yearning to return home,’’ has in recent decades been viewed as a normal human reaction Address correspondence to Susan L. Holak, 1402 Watchung Avenue, Plainfield, NJ 07060-3109. Journal of Business Research 42, 217–226 (1998) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved. 655 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10010
(Davis, 1979). Consumers are encouraged by marketers to experience nostalgic feelings through the use of nostalgic themes and images in advertising, the marketing of nostalgic products, and the utilization of consumer products to capture or create nostalgia through fantasies or memories (Havlena and Holak, 1991).
Purpose of the Study In this study, we relate the nostalgic experience to more general schemes for the description and measurement of emotion. The study measures the emotional components of nostalgia, breaking down the complex affective reactions derived from nostalgic experience into more basic components of emotion. We do this by examining the emotional content of nostalgic experience using both dimensional and discrete approaches to the description of emotion. This provides researchers in this area with a deeper understanding of the unique character of nostalgia as well as its relation to similar consumer emotions. By using scales developed or used by other consumer researchers the results obtained in this study can be compared with those obtained in other contexts, allowing researchers to explore the similarities and differences between nostalgia and other affective consumer phenomena. Our goal is the identification of distinguishing characteristics of intense nostalgic experience. The results broaden our general understanding of the nature and role of affect in consumer behavior and provide insights into the specific character of nostalgia that may be applied to the analysis and development of advertising and products.
Nostalgia and Consumer Research Character of Nostalgia Researchers in a variety of fields have devoted attention to the phenomenon of nostalgia. This focus on the subject of ISSN 0148-2963/98/$19.00 PII S0148-2963(97)00119-7
218
J Busn Res 1998:42:217–226
nostalgia has not produced unanimity regarding a specific definition of the concept. Davis (1979, p. 18) discusses nostalgia rather generally as ‘‘a positively toned evocation of a lived past.’’ Belk (1990, p. 670) defines the construct as ‘‘a wistful mood that may be prompted by an object, a scene, a smell, or a strain of music.’’ Holbrook and Schindler (1992, p. 330) define nostalgia as ‘‘a preference (general liking, positive attitude, or favorable affect) toward objects (people, places, or things) that were more common (popular, fashionable, or widely circulated) when one was younger (in early adulthood, in adolescence, in childhood, or even before birth),’’ focusing specifically on preferences toward objects rather than on the memories evoked by those objects. In this study we will conceptualize nostalgia as a positively valanced complex feeling, emotion, or mood produced by reflection on things (objects, persons, experiences, ideas) associated with the past. Although nostalgia may be experienced as an intense emotion, it is also likely to take the form of a weaker mood that colors the individual’s experience (Gardner, 1985). It may involve memories of the past or fantasies about a remote time or place with which the individual has no direct experience. The memory of a lived past may not even reflect the reality of that past, but may be distorted, producing a more positive picture than reality would warrant (Davis, 1979). Although there is no need to assume that the object of nostalgia was more common in the past, the association with the past creates a network of connections to the individual that do not exist for other objects. It is these connections or associations that produce the nostalgic response. For example, one may feel nostalgic when consuming Oreo cookies because of memories of childhood, although Oreos are not any less common than they were during one’s childhood. Nostalgia itself is not a preference for these things, but rather a feeling or mood that may result in preferences for things that tend to produce nostalgic responses. A number of recent studies in the consumer research literature have focused specifically on the concept of nostalgia. Havlena and Holak (1991) examine the use of nostalgia in marketing, describing its application to advertising, product design and positioning, and the revival of products from the past. In a more recent study, Holak and Havlena (1992) examine recurring themes in nostalgic experiences related to objects, persons, and events form the past. Stern (1992) uses the methodology of literary criticism to relate nostalgia in advertising to historical romances and sentimental novels. Baker and Kennedy (1994) differentiate advertising-evoked nostalgia from simple positive affect toward an advertisement. In a series of articles, Holbrook and Schindler (1989, 1991) relate nostalgia to preferences for a range of objects, including musical recordings, fashions, and film stars. Continuing in this vein, Holbrook (1994) examines the relationship between nostalgia proneness and preferences for movies and for products in 21 categories. Other research has examined nostalgia using different mea-
S. L. Holak and W. J. Havlena
sures of individual nostalgia experience. For example, Best and Nelson (1983) used items from four national surveys: the National Senior Citizens Survey, the National Council on Aging’s ‘‘Myth and Reality of Aging’’ study, the Americans View Their Mental Health survey, and the 1980 General Social Survey. The items, dealing with whether people were as happy at the time of the survey as they were when they were younger, were used as surrogates for measures of nostalgia feelings. These measures were then examined to test Davis’s hypotheses concerning the role of discontinuity in triggering nostalgia, with mixed results.
Measurement of Emotions Affect and emotion have been the subject of intensive study by consumer researchers. One area of research has involved the measurement of emotions related to marketing activities and to consumption (Allen, Machleit, and Marine, 1988; Batra and Ray, 1986; Havlena and Holbrook, 1986). The measures used in consumer research include those developed by psychologists for the measurement of emotional reactions in a broader context as well as those developed by consumer researchers for measuring affective reactions to advertising and consumption. In general, the multi-item measures fall into one of two categories: those that measure underlying dimensions in an emotional space and those that measure intensity of discrete emotions.
Dimensional Approaches The dimensional approaches most common in consumer-oriented research derive from the semantic differential scales developed by Osgood, Suci, and Tanenbaum (1957) and from the measures developed by Mehrabian and Russell for use in environmental psychology. In particular, the original Mehrabian and Russell scales (1974) and later revisions (Mehrabian, 1980; Russell, 1980) have been applied in a number of consumer studies (Donovan and Rossiter, 1982; Havlena and Holbrook, 1986; Holbrook et al., 1984; Lutz and Kakkar, 1975). These studies have found support for a three-dimensional representation of emotion (e.g., pleasure-arousal-dominance).
Categories of Emotions An alternative approach widely used in consumer research examines the range of emotional experience in terms of a limited number of discrete emotions rather than in terms of continuous emotion dimensions. Two basic emotion categorizations developed by Izard (1977) and Plutchik (1980) have been used in consumer contexts to describe the emotional content of consumption experiences as well as reactions to marketing activities. The Plutchik typology, based on a psychoevolutionary theory of emotion, postulates eight primary emotions: acceptance, disgust, fear, anger, joy, sadness, surprise, and expectancy. Izard’s differential emotions theory
Emotional Components of Nostalgia
considers 10 basic emotions: interest, joy, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shame/shyness, and guilt—of which six are identical to emotions in Plutchik’s framework. Both approaches have been used with some degree of success by consumer researchers. The Plutchik framework has been used to examine the emotional content of consumption experiences (Havlena and Holbrook, 1986), emotional responses to advertising (Holbrook and Westwood, 1987; Zeitlin and Westwood, 1986), and the classification of emotional language (Havlena, Holbrook, and Lehmann, 1989). The Izard typology and variants of the differential emotions scale (Izard, 1977) have been used to assess the emotionality of advertising (Allen, Machleit, and Marine, 1988), to examine the relationship between emotion and behavior (Allen, Machleit, and Kleine, 1992), and to integrate the consumer research literature on emotion typologies (Batra and Ray, 1986). Consumer researchers have also developed scales designed specifically for consumer measurement. Holbrook and Batra (1987) present a standardized emotional profile containing 13 discrete emotions. The scale items were drawn from and based on the Izard and Plutchik schemes as well as consumer research on specific emotions in advertising and consumption contexts. Representative of other studies focusing on a single affective reaction, Aaker, Stayman, and Hagerty (1986) present results concerning the role of ‘‘warmth’’ as a discrete emotional response.
Comparison of Approaches Consumer research has not demonstrated a clear advantage to either the dimensional or categorical approaches to emotion measurement. Havlena and Holbrook (1986) suggest that dimensional approaches may be more suited to the analysis of consumption experiences, but Havlena, Holbrook, and Lehmann (1989) find that the Plutchik categorical typology is better suited to direct analysis of emotional language. The current study uses both dimensional and categorical methods for the measurement of nostalgia affect. Thus, it replicates the approach used by Havlena and Holbrook (1986) in their investigation of consumption experiences.
Method and Results Collection of Descriptions The basic source material for this study is a set of 164 descriptions of nostalgia experiences collected from a diverse group of students and nonstudents, ranging from individuals in their twenties to those in their seventies. They were given an openended elicitation in which they were asked to describe nostalgic experiences related to objects, persons, and events. They were urged to provide as much detail as possible with regard to the circumstances and emotions they felt during the nostalgic experience. Sixty-two respondents provided written accounts, with each describing up to three nostalgic experiences. Examples of the three categories of nostalgic experience appear in
J Busn Res 1998:42:217–226
219
the Appendix. Each respondent also completed the original form of the Holbrook Nostalgia Index (Holbrook, 1993), trait emotion measures based on the pleasure-arousal-dominance (PAD) paradigm (Mehrabian and Russell, 1974), and general classification questions. These descriptions have been used in a previous study of general themes and subjects of nostalgic experience but had not been specifically analyzed for emotional content (Holak and Havlena, 1992).
Expert Ratings of Emotions The 164 descriptions were analyzed for emotional content by two sets of judges who rated each description on a set of rating scales designed to measure the emotions experienced and reported by each author. This method has been used in previous consumer research to analyze the emotional content of experience descriptions (Havlena and Holbrook, 1986). The use of multiple judges provides consistency across the ratings of the 164 descriptions, allowing the researchers to compare affect across the experiences and increases the reliability of the ratings through the use of multiple measures. Each judge was asked to rate the experience descriptions on one of two emotion rating scales: the 18-item PAD index (Mehrabian and Russell, 1974) or a 40-item index based on the standardized emotional profile (SEP) (Holbrook and Batra, 1987). The PAD index was drawn directly from the directions provided by Mehrabian and Russell (1974). It consists of 18 semantic differential items presented in a randomized order. Half of the items were reversed to encourage the judges to consider each item independently. To create the discrete emotion measures, the SEP was supplemented with items used by Holbrook and Batra in early versions of the scale but dropped from later revisions. These items were included because the present authors felt that they might be particularly appropriate for nostalgia. This resulted in the use of 37 items designed to measure 16 discrete emotions from the SEP. In addition, three items were appended to the index to measure ‘‘warmth’’ (Aaker, Stayman, and Hagerty, 1986), an emotion not explicitly included in the SEP. These items were added because it was felt that the ‘‘bittersweet’’ and personal nature of nostalgia might produce greater feelings of ‘‘warmth’’ than might be measured in other consumer contexts. The resulting 40 items were presented to the judges in the form of 7-point rating scales ranging from ‘‘not at all’’ to ‘‘very strongly.’’ The judges also completed a four-item index measuring the intensity of nostalgia and a three-item index measuring the amount of information contained in each experience description. Although the information index is not used in this study, the nostalgia intensity index is analyzed to assess the degree of nostalgia present in the written descriptions. The four statements—‘‘the author feels a longing for the past,’’ ‘‘the author has very little desire to reexperience the past,’’ ‘‘the experience is highly nostalgic,’’ and ‘‘the experience is a very gratifying one for the author’’—were presented as 5-point Likert scales,
220
J Busn Res 1998:42:217–226
with response categories ranging from ‘‘strongly disagree’’ to ‘‘strongly agree.’’ Eight judges were used, four for each of the emotion rating indices. During a brief training session, the judges were instructed by the researchers in the use of the scales. The judges were told to analyze the descriptions for emotions as reported and experienced by the original respondents. They were cautioned not to allow their own subjective reactions to affect their ratings, but rather to judge each experience description as objectively as possible. They were asked to complete the assignment at their own pace, but to avoid long intervals between sessions to minimize inconsistency within judges. The order in which the descriptions were presented was varied across judges to reduce order and fatigue effects. The judges were paid upon completion of the task.
Statistical Analysis Preliminary analysis involved examining the mean of each scale item to assess the relative strength of the discrete emotions across the entire set of 164 experiences. Four items stood out as particularly strong—‘‘sentimental’’ (m 5 5.5), ‘‘loving’’ (m 5 5.3), ‘‘affectionate’’ (m 5 5.2), and ‘‘warm-hearted’’ (m 5 5.2). All four involve connections with people or things and the feelings of warmth or affiliation produced by them. The weakest emotion items were ‘‘suspicious’’ (m 5 1.5), ‘‘enraged’’ (m 5 1.5), ‘‘mad’’ (m 5 1.6), ‘‘angry’’ (m 5 1.6), ‘‘afraid’’ (m 5 1.6), ‘‘disgusted’’ (m 5 1.6), ‘‘fearful’’ (m 5 1.7), ‘‘annoyed’’ (m 5 1.7), and ‘‘bored’’ (m 5 1.9). These are all negative items, which seem to be lacking across the entire set of experiences. The raw ratings on each scale item were then standardized across experiences within judges by subtracting the mean and dividing by the standard deviation. This reduces systematic response biases in coding toward one position on the scales (Bass and Wilkie, 1973). The ratings of each set of four judges were then aggregated by averaging the ratings on each item across the judges. This is analogous to averaging responses in a multi-item index, increasing the reliability of the content analysis ratings and reducing the impact of random error (cf., Holbrook and Lehmann, 1980). The reliability of each index was assessed by examining coefficient alpha (Cronbach, 1951; Nunnally, 1967), calculated across the individual judges’ ratings for each experience description. The reliabilities of the nostalgia intensity and description detail scales were calculated separately for each set of four judges. The coefficient alpha values for the nostalgia intensity scale were 0.75 and 0.69; the values for the detail scale were 0.84 and 0.83. Each of the three dimensions of the PAD scale was tested individually. Separate indices were calculated for 15 of the 17 emotions in the discrete emotion scale based on the SEP; two of the emotions, guilt and innocence, were measured by single items. The results of the reliability analysis appear in Table 1. All of the alpha values are above 0.6 and most are over 0.8. The notable exception is the hypoactivity scale, which
S. L. Holak and W. J. Havlena
Table 1. Emotion Scale Reliability Analysis
PAD Scales SEP Scales
Scale
Coefficient Alpha
Number of Items
Pleasure Arousal Dominance Joy Sadness Anger Disgust Fear Affection Activation Hypoactivity Surgency Skepticism Serenity Desire Gratitude Deja Vu Warmth
0.93 0.87 0.90 0.85 0.83 0.93 0.83 0.85 0.85 0.71 20.12 0.76 0.62 0.79 0.87 0.89 0.66 0.88
6 6 6 3 2 4 2 2 2 3 2 3 2 2 3 2 2 3
consists of two items, ‘‘uninvolved’’ and ‘‘bored.’’ These two items appear to be measuring different constructs. In addition, respondents may have found it difficult to rate a negative concept such as ‘‘uninvolvement,’’ resulting in a high level of error for this item.
Factor Analysis The dimensionality of each set of emotion ratings was assessed using exploratory principal components analysis with varimax rotation. This yields information on the number of separate emotion dimensions contained in the data and provides a measure of the amount of variance explained by each dimension. The results of the principal components analysis on the aggregated Mehrabian and Russell items are presented in Table 2. To improve the clarity of the presentation, only factor loadings of at least 0.4 appear in the table. The results indicate a clear three-dimensional structure, which is to be expected given the ample prior validation of these scales. The first factor accounts for 41% of the variance, the second accounts for 27%, and the third explains 12% of the variance. Together, the three factors explain 80% of the variance in the set of eighteen items. The eigenvalues associated with the first three factors are 7.4, 4.9, and 2.1; the fourth eigenvalue is only 0.7. The six pleasure items load heavily on the first rotated factor, the arousal items load most heavily on the second factor, and the dominance items load on the third factor. These results are consistent with other published research using these scales. Mehrabian and Russell (1974) present results identifying pleasure, arousal, and dominance as the first, second, and third dimensions; the Mehrabian and Russell pattern has also been seen in previous consumer research (Donovan and Rossiter, 1982; Havlena and Holbrook, 1986).
Emotional Components of Nostalgia
J Busn Res 1998:42:217–226
Table 2. PAD Principal Components Analysis Rotated Factor Matrix Scale Item Unhappy-Happy Unsatisfied-Satisfied Despairing-Hopeful Melancholic-Contented Annoyed-Pleased Bored-Relaxed Relaxed-Stimulated Sluggish-Frenzied Sleepy-Wide Awake Calm-Excited Unaroused-Aroused Dull-Jittery Influenced-Influential Guided-Autonomous Submissive-Dominant Controlled-Controlling Cared For-In Control Awed-Important
Pleasure
Arousal
Dominance
0.95 0.95 0.92 0.90 0.87 0.78
221
ous’’—load together on the fourth factor. The association of sadness with a sense of loss is characteristic of nostalgia and may be reflected in the linking of sadness to a desire for returning to our reexperiencing a lost past.
Multiple Regression Analysis 0.88 0.85 0.84 0.84 0.83 0.80 0.89 0.86 0.83 0.81 0.77 0.73
The results of the principal components analysis on the discrete emotion data appear in Table 3. As in the previous table, only factor loadings of 0.4 or greater are reproduced. The eigenvalue structure seems to indicate that a six-dimensional representation of the data is appropriate, based on an analysis of only those factors with eigenvalues greater than one. The first six factors account for 77% of the variance, with eigenvalues of 17.1, 5.4, 2.8, 2.0, 1.8, and 1.5. These factors have been labeled tenderness, irritation, elation, loss, fear, and serenity. Items positively related to warmth, joy, gratitude, affection, and innocence load most heavily on the first factor, tenderness, with ‘‘tender,’’ ‘‘affectionate,’’ ‘‘loving,’’ and ‘‘warmhearted’’ having the highest loadings. The first factor also contains items negatively related to hypoactivity and deja vu—‘‘unimpressed,’’ ‘‘bored,’’ and ‘‘skeptical.’’ The second factor— irritation—is most closely related to anger, skepticism, and disgust, containing items such as ‘‘enraged,’’ ‘‘mad,’’ ‘‘angry,’’ ‘‘annoyed,’’ ‘‘irritated,’’ and ‘‘disgusted.’’ The third factor— elation—consists of the surgency and activation items, including ‘‘excited,’’ ‘‘active,’’ ‘‘entertained,’’ ‘‘playful,’’ and ‘‘aroused.’’ Loss, the fourth factor, is most closely associated with sadness and desire, with items such as ‘‘wishful,’’ ‘‘desirous,’’ ‘‘full of craving,’’ and ‘‘sad.’’ The items related to fear—‘‘fearful’’ and ‘‘afraid’’—load most heavily on the fifth factor, and the items positively associated with serenity and negatively associated with guilt and hypoactivity—‘‘restful,’’ ‘‘uninvolved,’’ ‘‘serene,’’ and ‘‘remorseful’’—load on the sixth factor. Factor loadings greater than 0.4 appear in Table 3. As noted, most of the positive emotions seem to load together on the first factor. The third factor, elation, is also basically positive, while also containing items similar to those comprising arousal in the Mehrabian and Russell framework. It is interesting that the items related to sadness—‘‘sad,’’ ‘‘sorrowful’’—and desire—‘‘full of craving,’’ ‘‘wishful,’’ ‘‘desir-
The index of nostalgia intensity was regressed as the dependent variable on each of the sets of principal components based on the emotion indices derived from the PAD scales and the revised SEP. This was done to assess the relative impact of the component emotions on the intensity of experience. The magnitudes of the coefficients provide one measure of the relative importance of the emotions to the strength of nostalgia and allow one to identify the emotions or dimensions that appear particularly related to nostalgia. The results of the regression of the nostalgia index on the PAD components are contained in Table 4. The three independent variables, corresponding to pleasure, arousal, and dominance, produced an R2 of 0.29. As can be seen in the table, pleasure has the greatest impact on intensity. Dominance also has a strong effect, with nostalgia intensity increasing as dominance decreases. Arousal does not appear to be significantly related to the intensity of the experience descriptions. The regression results for the principle components derived from the discrete emotion scales appear in Table 5. The multiple regression analysis produced an R2 of 0.67. Five of the six emotions—tenderness, loss, elation, irritation, and fear—are statistically significant at better than a 5 0.01. As indicated by the beta coefficients in the table, tenderness has the strongest partial relationship to nostalgia intensity, with loss and elation also related to nostalgia in a positive manner. These results underscore the complexity of nostalgic response. Irritation and fear are negatively related to nostalgia intensity. Although nostalgia may involve loss and sadness, anger does not seem to be characteristic of nostalgic experience. The association between nostalgia intensity and serenity does not reach statistical significance at even the 0.20 level. Serenity, being essentially passive, does not appear to be related to the level of nostalgia.
Discussion The results of the analyses presented here support the view of nostalgic experience as involving complex emotional responses. The PAD data and the discrete emotion data help to explain the nature of these emotional responses. Principal components analysis of the discrete emotion data indicates that the positive emotions of warmth, joy, gratitude, affection, and innocence tend to associate in nostalgic experience. As discussed in previously published work using the experiences that formed the basis for the current analysis (Holak and Havlena, 1992), many of the descriptions dealt with family,
222
J Busn Res 1998:42:217–226
S. L. Holak and W. J. Havlena
Table 3. Discrete Emotion Principal Components Analysis Rotated Factor Matrix Emotion Tender Affectionate Loving Warmhearted Sentimental Grateful Thankful Benefited Pure Unimpressed Happy Pleased Bored Lighthearted Enraged Mad Angry Annoyed Irritated Disgusted Suspicious Skeptical Excited Active Entertained Playful Aroused Unexcited Delighted Wishful Desirous Full of craving Sad Sorrowful Fearful Afraid Restful Uninvolved Serene Remorseful
Tenderness 0.88 0.86 0.85 0.82 0.77 0.76 0.71 0.69 0.68 20.54 0.50 0.50 20.49 0.42
20.44
Irritation
20.43
Elation
Loss
Fear
Serenity
20.43 0.47 0.45 20.43
0.91 0.90 0.90 0.90 0.88 0.84 0.60 0.51 0.78 0.77 0.75 0.68 0.67 20.63 0.55 0.90 0.86 0.82 0.64 0.57
20.40 0.85 0.85
0.43 0.46
0.66 0.65 0.59 20.49
Note: Only factor loadings >0.40 appear in the table.
friends, and social occasions (such as holidays and reunions). The link between warmth, joy, and affection is not surprising in this context. Similarly, the experience of nostalgia as a ‘‘bittersweet’’ emotion has been frequently noted in the literature. The pleasant memory of the past is combined with a sense of loss associated with the realization that the past cannot be recreated. The connection between sadness and desire may reflect the recognition of this fact and the feeling of sadness associated with the unattainable desire to return to some time or place in the past. The regression analysis demonstrates the complexity of emotional response in nostalgic experience. A variety of emotions seem to discriminate between highly nostalgic experiences and less intense ones. Two of the three PAD dimensions
are significantly related to the level of nostalgic intensity, with pleasure exhibiting a strong positive relationship and dominance displaying a negative association. This negative correlation between dominance and the level of nostalgia may reflect the feeling of powerlessness to recreate or return to the past that is inherent in nostalgia. The positive association of pleasure with nostalgic intensity illustrates the essentially positive nature of nostalgic experience. The underlying complexity of the emotional structure of nostalgia is clarified, however, in the regression analysis based on the discrete emotion data. Five of the six emotional factors are statistically significant predictors of the level of nostalgic experience. The expected positive emotions are present—tenderness and elation—along with the negative emotions, which are related to
Emotional Components of Nostalgia
J Busn Res 1998:42:217–226
Table 4. PAD Multiple Regression Analysis Emotion Pleasure Arousal Dominance
223
Table 5. Discrete Emotion Multiple Regression Analysis
b
Two-Tailed Significance
0.40 0.11 20.34
0.00 0.20 0.00
the feeling of loss. This combination of joy and sadness, of gratitude and desire, of warmth and surgency demonstrates the complexity of the phenomenon. It appears to be basically positive, but with significant negative components. Along with joy and gratitude, there is a feeling of desire that may stem from the sense of loss referred to earlier. The presence of a number of varied emotions in the more intense nostalgic experiences suggests that the more complex discrete emotion approach may be more useful than the three-dimensional PAD scheme in this context. Simply characterizing an experience as pleasant or unpleasant, arousing or unarousing, and dominating or dominated does not capture the richness revealed in the range of discrete emotions seen in the results here.
Use of Nostalgia in Marketing The findings suggest that nostalgia may be a difficult reaction for marketers to predict. The complex combination of positive and negative emotions means that the overall affective valence of a nostalgic episode may be unclear. Whereas the feelings of tenderness and elation may encourage positive attitudes toward a message and a product, the sense of loss may encourage unfavorable evaluations due to adverse associations and negative mood effects. These results imply that inducing nostalgia through a link with the past or with a distant situation should be coupled with minimizing or limiting the sense of loss that may accompany the feeling. One way to accomplish this may be explicitly to portray the product as a means of recapturing enough of the past to avoid an overwhelming feeling of loss. The product becomes a tool or a means for the consumer to control his or her detachment from the past and to eliminate negative feelings. This is liable to be more effective for products or messages where the sense of loss evoked by the nostalgia is not overly intense. Three scenarios are likely to create this situation. First, the consumer is more inclined to limit the sense of loss when the purchase or the consumption of the product can actually allow him or her to recapture much of the original feeling. This may be the case for some foods or entertainment products, for example. It may be argued that the consumer is not truly experiencing nostalgia if the past can be regained, but this is probably not the case. The present experience is likely to be perceived as a reflection of the past, not as a true recreation of it. Second, the sense of loss is more muted if the original
Emotion Tenderness Irritation Elation Loss Fear Serenity
b
Two-Tailed Significance
0.53 20.17 0.32 0.47 20.17 0.05
0.00 0.02 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.29
experience is remembered as moderately pleasant. Gabriel (1993, p. 132) notes that: though they may have the qualities of rarity and uniqueness, it is unlikely that acutely pleasurable experiences can easily feed nostalgia later on. If they become the object of nostalgic recollection they are likely to be heavily weighed by melancholy feeling. . . . Unless the loss has been psychologically conquered, and this requires strength, nostalgia cannot adopt it as its material. This suggests that messages focusing on pleasant, but not peak or extremely emotionally charged, memories are more likely to create a positive association. In some cases this may vary substantially across consumers and may be difficult to predict. For example, images of children in photographs are likely to evoke very different reactions from consumers depending upon their own personal histories. Third, the sense of loss is probably less acute if the original reference is less directly connected to the individual. Messages or products that evoke a more distant past or locale, such as Disney’s images of the American small town or frontier and Martha Stewart’s evocation of an idealized home life, may create a more diffused, generalized sense of loss for a way of life, without evoking specific, perhaps painful memories. Nostalgia also appears to link positive affective reactions— described in the emotion scales as joy, happiness, and pleasure—with connections to others, involving affection, warmheartedness, love and sentimentality. Thus, products and messages appealing to needs involving belongingness (Maslow, 1970) or affiliation (Schachter, 1959) may be particularly appropriate subjects for nostalgia.
Directions for Future Research The emotions evoked by nostalgic reflection include feelings similar to those evoked by ads described as ‘‘warm’’ (Aaker, Stayman, and Hagerty, 1986) and ‘‘poignant’’ (Edell and Burke, 1987). The effectiveness of nostalgia as an emotional device may be related to the impact of such ads. Other effects, such as the impact of the filtering of negative elements of memories and the influence of such filtering on evaluation and processing (Baumgartner, Sujan, and Bettman, 1992), may differentiate nostalgia from these other, non-memory-
224
J Busn Res 1998:42:217–226
based emotional reactions. Further research may help to clarify some of these issues. More research is also needed to explore the different varieties of nostalgia. Davis (1979) outlines a three-category typology of nostalgia: simple nostalgia, reflexive nostalgia, and interpreted nostalgia. Baker and Kennedy (1994) identify three types of nostalgia: real, simulated, and collective. Stern (1992) distinguishes between personal and historical nostalgia, using advertising, periodical, and direct mail texts to illustrate the argument. More recently, Havlena and Holak (1997) discuss nostalgia imagery using a four-way typology-personal, interpersonal, cultural, and virtual—based on two dimensions related to: (1) whether the nostalgia is personal or collective in nature and (2) whether it results from direct or indirect experience. Clearly, some types of nostalgia, such as ‘‘cultural nostalgia’’ (reflecting direct, collective types of experiences) or ‘‘virtual nostalgia’’ (involving indirect, collective experience), may be more prevalent or suitable in marketing applications. Although the current study did not examine this issue, the emotional profile of cultural or virtual nostalgic experience may differ from that of real nostalgia, either in the categories or consistency of emotions displayed. Real nostalgia may be both more difficult for marketers to evoke and more unpredictable. Further research into the emotional content of specific types of nostalgia may help to clarify this issue and provide more guidance to marketers designing nostalgia-based products or appeals. The study of nostalgia might also be extended to other cultures. As Holbrook (1994) notes, there may be significant cross-cultural differences in the intensity and nature of nostalgic experience. Research into the stimuli that are associated with nostalgia and cross-cultural variations in nostalgic intensity may shed light on the applicability of nostalgic advertising and products in the global marketplace. For example, Havlena and Holak (1996) present results from one study concerning the importance and varieties of rituals in Japanese nostalgic experience. Finally, more research is necessary to understand individual trait differences with regard to nostalgic experience. Holbrook (1993) presents one index developed to predict preferences for objects from the past. Havlena and Holak (1997) discuss an alternative instrument designed to identify individual differences in nostalgia proneness. More study is needed to distinguish market segments that may be better candidates for nostalgia-based products and messages.
References Aaker, David A., Stayman, Douglas M., and Hagerty, Michael: Warmth in Advertising: Measurement, Impact, and Sequence Effects. Journal of Consumer Research 12 (March 1986): 365–381. Allen, Chris T., Machleit, Karen A., and Kleine, Susan Schultze: A Comparison of Attitudes and Emotions as Predictors of Behavior at Diverse Levels of Behavioral Experience. Journal of Consumer Research 18 (December 1992): 493–504. Allen, Chris T., Machleit, Karen A., and Marine, Susan S.: On Assessing the Emotionality of Advertising via Izard’s Differential
S. L. Holak and W. J. Havlena
Emotions Scale, in Advances in Consumer Research, vol. 15, Michael J. Houston, ed., Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT. 1988, pp. 226–231. Baker, Stacy Menzel, and Kennedy, Patricia F.: Death By Nostalgia: A Diagnosis of Context-Specific Cases, in Advances in Consumer Research, vol. 21, Chris T. Allen and Deborah Roedder John, eds., Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT. 1994, pp. 169–174. Bass, Frank M., and Wilkie, William L.: A Comparative Analysis of Attitudinal Predictions of Brand Preference. Journal of Marketing Research 10 (August 1973): 262–269. Batra, Rajeev: Affective Advertising: Role, Processes, and Measurement, in The Role of Affect in Consumer Behavior, Robert A. Peterson, Wayne D. Hoyer, and William R. Wilson, eds., D. C. Heath, Lexington, MA. 1986, pp. 53–86. Batra, Rajeev, and Ray, Michael L.: Affective Responses Mediating Acceptance of Advertising. Journal of Consumer Research 13 (September 1986): 234–249. Baumgartner, Hans, Sujan, Mita, and Bettman, James R.: Autobiographical Memories, Affect, and Consumer Information Processing. Journal of Consumer Psychology 1 (1992): 53–82. Belk, Russell W.: The Role of Possessions in Constructing and Maintaining a Sense of Past, in Advances in Consumer Research, vol. 17, Marvin E. Goldberg, Gerald Gorn, and Richard W. Pollay, eds., Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT. 1990, pp. 669–676. Best, Joel, and Nelson, Edward E.: Nostalgia and Discontinuity: A Test of the Davis Hypothesis. Sociology and Social Research 69 (1983): 221–233. Cronbach, L. J.: Coefficient Alpha and the Internal Structure of Tests. Psychometrika 16 (1951): 297–334. Davis, Fred: Yearning for Yesterday: A Sociology of Nostalgia, The Free Press, New York. 1979. Donovan, Robert J., and Rossiter, John R.: Store Atmosphere: An Environmental Psychology Approach. Journal of Retailing 58 (Spring 1982): 34–57. Edell, Julie A., and Burke, Marian Chapman: The Power of Feelings in Understanding Advertising Effects. Journal of Consumer Research 14 (December 1987): 421–433. Gabriel, Yiannis: Organizational Nostalgia—Reflections on ‘‘The Golden Age,’’ in Emotion in Organizations, Stephen Fineman, ed., Sage Publications, London. 1993, pp. 118–141. Gardner, Meryl Paula: Mood States and Consumer Behavior: A Critical Review. Journal of Consumer Research 12 (December 1985): 281–300. Havlena, William J., and Holak, Susan L.: ‘‘The Good Old Days’’: Observations on Nostalgia and Its Role in Consumer Behavior, in Advances in Consumer Research, vol. 18, Rebecca H. Holman and Michael R. Solomon, eds., Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT. 1991, pp. 323–329. Havlena, William J., and Holak, Susan L.: From Festivals to Futons: Ritual Themes in Nostalgic Experiences of the Japanese, in Restructuring for Global Production, Service Needs, and Markets: Business Strategy and Policy Development for a Global Economy and Projections for the Twenty First Century, Erdener Kaynak, Dana NicoletaLascu, and Kip Becker, eds., International Management Development Association, Hummelstown, PA. 1996, pp. 486–492. Havlena, William J., and Holak, Susan L.: Nostalgia and NostalgiaProneness: Classification and Measurement. Working paper, 1997. Havlena, William J., and Holbrook, Morris B.: The Varieties of Consumption Experience: Comparing Two Typologies of Emotion in
Emotional Components of Nostalgia
Consumer Behavior. Journal of Consumer Research 13 (December 1986): 394–404.
J Busn Res 1998:42:217–226
225
Holbrook, Morris B., and Schindler, Robert M.: Some Exploratory
Findings on the Development of Musical Tastes. Journal of Consumer Research 16 (June 1989): 119–124. Holbrook, Morris B., and Schindler, Robert M.: Echoes of the Dear Departed Past: Some Work in Progress on Nostalgia, in Advances in Consumer Research, vol. 18, Rebecca H. Holman and Michael R. Solomon, eds., Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT. 1991, pp. 330–333. Holbrook, Morris B., and Westwood, Richard A.: The Role of Emotion in Advertising Revisited: Testing a Typology of Emotional Responses, in Cognitive and Affective Responses to Advertising, Pat Cafferata and Alice M. Tybout, eds., D.C. Heath, Lexington, MA. 1987. Izard, Carroll E.: Human Emotions, Plenum, New York. 1977. Lutz, Richard J., and Kakkar, Pradeep: The Psychological Situation as a Determinant of Consumer Behavior, in Advances in Consumer Research, vol. 2, Mary Jane Schlinger, ed., Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT. 1975, pp. 439–453. Maslow, Abraham H.: Motivation and Personality, 2nd ed., Harper and Row, New York. 1970. Mehrabian, Albert: Basic Dimensions of a General Psychological Theory, Oelgeschlager, Gunn, & Hain, Cambridge, MA. 1974. Nunnally, Jum C.: Psychometric Theory, McGraw-Hill, New York. 1967. Osgood, C. E., Suci, G. J., and Tanenbaum, P.: The Measurement of Meaning, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, IL. 1957. Plutchik, Robert: Emotion: A Psychoevolutionary Synthesis, Harper & Row, New York. 1980. Russell, James A.: A Circumplex Model of Affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 39 (1980): 1161–1178. Schachter, Stanley: The Psychology of Affiliation, Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA. 1959. Stern, Barbara B.: Historical and Personal Nostalgia in Advertising Text: The Fin de Sie`cle Effect. Journal of Advertising 21 (December 1992): 11–22. Zeitlin, David M., and Westwood, Richard A.: Measuring Emotional Response. Journal of Advertising Research 26 (October/November 1986): 34–44.
Appendix
Object(s)
Havlena, William J., Holbrook, Morris B., and Lehmann, Donald R.: Assessing the Validity of Emotional Topologies. Psychology and Marketing 6 (Summer 1989): 97–112. Holak, Susan L., and Havlena, William J.: Nostalgia: An Exploratory Study of Themes and Emotions in the Nostalgic Experience, in Advances in Consumer Research, vol. 19, John F. Sherry, Jr. and Brian Sternthal, eds., Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT. 1992, pp. 380–387. Holbrook, Morris B.: Emotion in the Consumption Experience: Toward a New Model of the Human Consumer, in The Role of Affect in Consumer Behavior, Robert A. Peterson, Wayne D. Hoyer, and William R. Wilson, eds., D.C. Heath, Lexington, MA. 1986, pp. 17–52. Holbrook, Morris B.: Nostalgia and Consumption Preferences: Some Emerging Patterns of Consumer Tastes. Journal of Consumer Research 20 (September 1993): 245–256. Holbrook, Morris B.: Nostalgia Proneness and Consumer Tastes, in Buyer Behavior in Marketing Strategy, 2nd ed., John A. Howard, ed., Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. 1994, pp. 348–364. Holbrook, Morris B., and Batra, Rajeev: Toward a Standardized Emotional Profile (SEP) Useful in Measuring Responses to the Nonverbal Components of Advertising, in Nonverbal Communications in Advertising, Sidney Hecker and David W. Stewart, eds., D.C. Heath, Lexington, MA. 1987. Holbrook, Morris B., Chestnut, Robert W., Oliva, Terence A., and Greenleaf, Eric A.: Play as a Consumption Experience: The Roles of Emotions, Performance, and Personality in the Enjoyment of Games. Journal of Consumer Research 11 (September 1984): 728– 739. Holbrook, Morris B., and Lehmann, Donald R.: Form Versus Content in Predicting Starch Scores. Journal of Advertising Research 20 (August 1980): 53–62.
Sample Descriptions of Nostalgic Experiences Person(s) Linda is 6 months younger than me and we’ve been friends since we were 14. We were like sisters since, at least, our early twenties. Though we have remained friends all these years it is those years in our early to mid-twenties that causes me to be nostalgic, sometimes. In given situations Linda and I could simply look at one another, each knowing, and agreeing, with what the other was thinking at that moment. We were both engaged at that time in our lives and that bond we shared, that total and complete empathy between us, was the cause of a lot of jealousy from Richard and John. Times and people change, we grow, and our lives become separate. But, sometimes, remembering those days of a friendship so complete—so devoid of any petty competition or jealousies, it’s, well, bittersweet, sometimes!
I have a cross-stitched sampler I purchased at my great-aunt and uncle’s estate sale. Whenever I see it, it reminds me of our family’s Sunday afternoon visits to their farm. As a child I remember the sampler hanging in the kitchen which had been untouched by time, a wood burning range for cooking, a roll-top desk in one corner for keeping farm records, the large table always set for six with ‘‘blue willow’’ patterned dishes turned upside down so they would stay clean until the next meal, the walls painted with a pale green enamel that had a mirror-like finish. The dining room with its thick carpet and dark furniture. The table always covered by a lace tablecloth, the candy dish on the table that only an expert could open without the lid alerting my great aunt that someone was after a chocolate nonpareil. In the living room my great aunt and uncle would be seated at opposite ends of the large room, my aunt in her rocker reading and my uncle with his cuspidor, seated on the couch making conversation. This room with its lace curtains, flowered wall paper, flowered carpet as with the rest of the house had not changed since my
226
J Busn Res 1998:42:217–226
mother’s childhood in the 1920s yet it never looked old, just right. Up until I was 16 years old that house and those people represent the perfect peace, until my uncle’s death in 1974 and aunt’s death in 1976, mortality was the furthest thing from my mind. I never realized the time that I was privileged to partake of a lifestyle from a much different time. I only wish I could spend one more Sunday afternoon, sitting in those rooms with those dear people.
Event(s) If it can be construed as qualifying, the grating of a lemon’s rind (not the lemon per se). Both my mother and my favorite aunt grated lemon in preparing lemon meringue pies, and I almost always get an instant flashback, especially of my
S. L. Holak and W. J. Havlena
aunt’s kitchen on a sunny summer Sunday morning, with she and my father talking family gossip while she made the pie. I was about 6 or 7 and visiting her like this was special, partly because she was warm and enfolding in a way my mother wasn’t (though later life taught me my aunt wasn’t with her own children), and her home—especially kitchen— was such a contrast with our own. She had an electric stove (all the rage in the late 1940s), an eat-in kitchen, with modern chrome-tube chairs and table (we had less fancy), city water (we had a well), and electric lights—including a fluorescent circle over the table (we still had kerosene while getting electricity run into the farmhouse). Grating a lemon rind to this day can be intensely evocative, putting me in a reverie with this scenario that sometimes I must summon myself out of with effort.
William J. Havlena NEW JERSEY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
The article reports the results of a study designed to examine directly the emotional components of nostalgia. Written descriptions of 164 nostalgic experiences provided by 62 individuals were judged in terms of the emotions experienced by the subjects. The resulting ratings were used to assess the emotional content of the descriptions. The ratings were standardized and analyzed using principal components analysis and multiple regression analysis to understand the emotions that differentiate levels of nostalgic intensity. The results reveal the complexity of the emotions elicited in nostalgic experience. Positive emotions such as warmth, joy, affection, and gratitude are linked with sadness and desire to produce a mixed affective response. The article ends with a discussion of implications for marketing and advertising and with suggestions for future research. J BUSN RES 1998. 42.217–226. 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.
C
onsumer research has examined the role of feelings (or affect) in consumer behavior from several different vantage points. The importance of affect in advertising has long been studied in terms of its effect on product attitudes and choice (see Batra, 1986; Edell and Burke, 1987). More recently, the role of affect and emotion in consumption has been a focus of research effort (see Holbrook, 1986). Another fruitful area for investigation has been the influence of mood on consumer behavior (see Gardner, 1985). Several researchers have studied the measurement of affect and the theoretical structure of affective constructs with regard to advertising and consumption (Allen, Machleit, and Marine, 1988; Batra and Ray, 1986). This study examines the emotional components of nostalgia, a specific affectively charged concept. Nostalgia, originally conceptualized as a ‘‘painful yearning to return home,’’ has in recent decades been viewed as a normal human reaction Address correspondence to Susan L. Holak, 1402 Watchung Avenue, Plainfield, NJ 07060-3109. Journal of Business Research 42, 217–226 (1998) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved. 655 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10010
(Davis, 1979). Consumers are encouraged by marketers to experience nostalgic feelings through the use of nostalgic themes and images in advertising, the marketing of nostalgic products, and the utilization of consumer products to capture or create nostalgia through fantasies or memories (Havlena and Holak, 1991).
Purpose of the Study In this study, we relate the nostalgic experience to more general schemes for the description and measurement of emotion. The study measures the emotional components of nostalgia, breaking down the complex affective reactions derived from nostalgic experience into more basic components of emotion. We do this by examining the emotional content of nostalgic experience using both dimensional and discrete approaches to the description of emotion. This provides researchers in this area with a deeper understanding of the unique character of nostalgia as well as its relation to similar consumer emotions. By using scales developed or used by other consumer researchers the results obtained in this study can be compared with those obtained in other contexts, allowing researchers to explore the similarities and differences between nostalgia and other affective consumer phenomena. Our goal is the identification of distinguishing characteristics of intense nostalgic experience. The results broaden our general understanding of the nature and role of affect in consumer behavior and provide insights into the specific character of nostalgia that may be applied to the analysis and development of advertising and products.
Nostalgia and Consumer Research Character of Nostalgia Researchers in a variety of fields have devoted attention to the phenomenon of nostalgia. This focus on the subject of ISSN 0148-2963/98/$19.00 PII S0148-2963(97)00119-7
218
J Busn Res 1998:42:217–226
nostalgia has not produced unanimity regarding a specific definition of the concept. Davis (1979, p. 18) discusses nostalgia rather generally as ‘‘a positively toned evocation of a lived past.’’ Belk (1990, p. 670) defines the construct as ‘‘a wistful mood that may be prompted by an object, a scene, a smell, or a strain of music.’’ Holbrook and Schindler (1992, p. 330) define nostalgia as ‘‘a preference (general liking, positive attitude, or favorable affect) toward objects (people, places, or things) that were more common (popular, fashionable, or widely circulated) when one was younger (in early adulthood, in adolescence, in childhood, or even before birth),’’ focusing specifically on preferences toward objects rather than on the memories evoked by those objects. In this study we will conceptualize nostalgia as a positively valanced complex feeling, emotion, or mood produced by reflection on things (objects, persons, experiences, ideas) associated with the past. Although nostalgia may be experienced as an intense emotion, it is also likely to take the form of a weaker mood that colors the individual’s experience (Gardner, 1985). It may involve memories of the past or fantasies about a remote time or place with which the individual has no direct experience. The memory of a lived past may not even reflect the reality of that past, but may be distorted, producing a more positive picture than reality would warrant (Davis, 1979). Although there is no need to assume that the object of nostalgia was more common in the past, the association with the past creates a network of connections to the individual that do not exist for other objects. It is these connections or associations that produce the nostalgic response. For example, one may feel nostalgic when consuming Oreo cookies because of memories of childhood, although Oreos are not any less common than they were during one’s childhood. Nostalgia itself is not a preference for these things, but rather a feeling or mood that may result in preferences for things that tend to produce nostalgic responses. A number of recent studies in the consumer research literature have focused specifically on the concept of nostalgia. Havlena and Holak (1991) examine the use of nostalgia in marketing, describing its application to advertising, product design and positioning, and the revival of products from the past. In a more recent study, Holak and Havlena (1992) examine recurring themes in nostalgic experiences related to objects, persons, and events form the past. Stern (1992) uses the methodology of literary criticism to relate nostalgia in advertising to historical romances and sentimental novels. Baker and Kennedy (1994) differentiate advertising-evoked nostalgia from simple positive affect toward an advertisement. In a series of articles, Holbrook and Schindler (1989, 1991) relate nostalgia to preferences for a range of objects, including musical recordings, fashions, and film stars. Continuing in this vein, Holbrook (1994) examines the relationship between nostalgia proneness and preferences for movies and for products in 21 categories. Other research has examined nostalgia using different mea-
S. L. Holak and W. J. Havlena
sures of individual nostalgia experience. For example, Best and Nelson (1983) used items from four national surveys: the National Senior Citizens Survey, the National Council on Aging’s ‘‘Myth and Reality of Aging’’ study, the Americans View Their Mental Health survey, and the 1980 General Social Survey. The items, dealing with whether people were as happy at the time of the survey as they were when they were younger, were used as surrogates for measures of nostalgia feelings. These measures were then examined to test Davis’s hypotheses concerning the role of discontinuity in triggering nostalgia, with mixed results.
Measurement of Emotions Affect and emotion have been the subject of intensive study by consumer researchers. One area of research has involved the measurement of emotions related to marketing activities and to consumption (Allen, Machleit, and Marine, 1988; Batra and Ray, 1986; Havlena and Holbrook, 1986). The measures used in consumer research include those developed by psychologists for the measurement of emotional reactions in a broader context as well as those developed by consumer researchers for measuring affective reactions to advertising and consumption. In general, the multi-item measures fall into one of two categories: those that measure underlying dimensions in an emotional space and those that measure intensity of discrete emotions.
Dimensional Approaches The dimensional approaches most common in consumer-oriented research derive from the semantic differential scales developed by Osgood, Suci, and Tanenbaum (1957) and from the measures developed by Mehrabian and Russell for use in environmental psychology. In particular, the original Mehrabian and Russell scales (1974) and later revisions (Mehrabian, 1980; Russell, 1980) have been applied in a number of consumer studies (Donovan and Rossiter, 1982; Havlena and Holbrook, 1986; Holbrook et al., 1984; Lutz and Kakkar, 1975). These studies have found support for a three-dimensional representation of emotion (e.g., pleasure-arousal-dominance).
Categories of Emotions An alternative approach widely used in consumer research examines the range of emotional experience in terms of a limited number of discrete emotions rather than in terms of continuous emotion dimensions. Two basic emotion categorizations developed by Izard (1977) and Plutchik (1980) have been used in consumer contexts to describe the emotional content of consumption experiences as well as reactions to marketing activities. The Plutchik typology, based on a psychoevolutionary theory of emotion, postulates eight primary emotions: acceptance, disgust, fear, anger, joy, sadness, surprise, and expectancy. Izard’s differential emotions theory
Emotional Components of Nostalgia
considers 10 basic emotions: interest, joy, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shame/shyness, and guilt—of which six are identical to emotions in Plutchik’s framework. Both approaches have been used with some degree of success by consumer researchers. The Plutchik framework has been used to examine the emotional content of consumption experiences (Havlena and Holbrook, 1986), emotional responses to advertising (Holbrook and Westwood, 1987; Zeitlin and Westwood, 1986), and the classification of emotional language (Havlena, Holbrook, and Lehmann, 1989). The Izard typology and variants of the differential emotions scale (Izard, 1977) have been used to assess the emotionality of advertising (Allen, Machleit, and Marine, 1988), to examine the relationship between emotion and behavior (Allen, Machleit, and Kleine, 1992), and to integrate the consumer research literature on emotion typologies (Batra and Ray, 1986). Consumer researchers have also developed scales designed specifically for consumer measurement. Holbrook and Batra (1987) present a standardized emotional profile containing 13 discrete emotions. The scale items were drawn from and based on the Izard and Plutchik schemes as well as consumer research on specific emotions in advertising and consumption contexts. Representative of other studies focusing on a single affective reaction, Aaker, Stayman, and Hagerty (1986) present results concerning the role of ‘‘warmth’’ as a discrete emotional response.
Comparison of Approaches Consumer research has not demonstrated a clear advantage to either the dimensional or categorical approaches to emotion measurement. Havlena and Holbrook (1986) suggest that dimensional approaches may be more suited to the analysis of consumption experiences, but Havlena, Holbrook, and Lehmann (1989) find that the Plutchik categorical typology is better suited to direct analysis of emotional language. The current study uses both dimensional and categorical methods for the measurement of nostalgia affect. Thus, it replicates the approach used by Havlena and Holbrook (1986) in their investigation of consumption experiences.
Method and Results Collection of Descriptions The basic source material for this study is a set of 164 descriptions of nostalgia experiences collected from a diverse group of students and nonstudents, ranging from individuals in their twenties to those in their seventies. They were given an openended elicitation in which they were asked to describe nostalgic experiences related to objects, persons, and events. They were urged to provide as much detail as possible with regard to the circumstances and emotions they felt during the nostalgic experience. Sixty-two respondents provided written accounts, with each describing up to three nostalgic experiences. Examples of the three categories of nostalgic experience appear in
J Busn Res 1998:42:217–226
219
the Appendix. Each respondent also completed the original form of the Holbrook Nostalgia Index (Holbrook, 1993), trait emotion measures based on the pleasure-arousal-dominance (PAD) paradigm (Mehrabian and Russell, 1974), and general classification questions. These descriptions have been used in a previous study of general themes and subjects of nostalgic experience but had not been specifically analyzed for emotional content (Holak and Havlena, 1992).
Expert Ratings of Emotions The 164 descriptions were analyzed for emotional content by two sets of judges who rated each description on a set of rating scales designed to measure the emotions experienced and reported by each author. This method has been used in previous consumer research to analyze the emotional content of experience descriptions (Havlena and Holbrook, 1986). The use of multiple judges provides consistency across the ratings of the 164 descriptions, allowing the researchers to compare affect across the experiences and increases the reliability of the ratings through the use of multiple measures. Each judge was asked to rate the experience descriptions on one of two emotion rating scales: the 18-item PAD index (Mehrabian and Russell, 1974) or a 40-item index based on the standardized emotional profile (SEP) (Holbrook and Batra, 1987). The PAD index was drawn directly from the directions provided by Mehrabian and Russell (1974). It consists of 18 semantic differential items presented in a randomized order. Half of the items were reversed to encourage the judges to consider each item independently. To create the discrete emotion measures, the SEP was supplemented with items used by Holbrook and Batra in early versions of the scale but dropped from later revisions. These items were included because the present authors felt that they might be particularly appropriate for nostalgia. This resulted in the use of 37 items designed to measure 16 discrete emotions from the SEP. In addition, three items were appended to the index to measure ‘‘warmth’’ (Aaker, Stayman, and Hagerty, 1986), an emotion not explicitly included in the SEP. These items were added because it was felt that the ‘‘bittersweet’’ and personal nature of nostalgia might produce greater feelings of ‘‘warmth’’ than might be measured in other consumer contexts. The resulting 40 items were presented to the judges in the form of 7-point rating scales ranging from ‘‘not at all’’ to ‘‘very strongly.’’ The judges also completed a four-item index measuring the intensity of nostalgia and a three-item index measuring the amount of information contained in each experience description. Although the information index is not used in this study, the nostalgia intensity index is analyzed to assess the degree of nostalgia present in the written descriptions. The four statements—‘‘the author feels a longing for the past,’’ ‘‘the author has very little desire to reexperience the past,’’ ‘‘the experience is highly nostalgic,’’ and ‘‘the experience is a very gratifying one for the author’’—were presented as 5-point Likert scales,
220
J Busn Res 1998:42:217–226
with response categories ranging from ‘‘strongly disagree’’ to ‘‘strongly agree.’’ Eight judges were used, four for each of the emotion rating indices. During a brief training session, the judges were instructed by the researchers in the use of the scales. The judges were told to analyze the descriptions for emotions as reported and experienced by the original respondents. They were cautioned not to allow their own subjective reactions to affect their ratings, but rather to judge each experience description as objectively as possible. They were asked to complete the assignment at their own pace, but to avoid long intervals between sessions to minimize inconsistency within judges. The order in which the descriptions were presented was varied across judges to reduce order and fatigue effects. The judges were paid upon completion of the task.
Statistical Analysis Preliminary analysis involved examining the mean of each scale item to assess the relative strength of the discrete emotions across the entire set of 164 experiences. Four items stood out as particularly strong—‘‘sentimental’’ (m 5 5.5), ‘‘loving’’ (m 5 5.3), ‘‘affectionate’’ (m 5 5.2), and ‘‘warm-hearted’’ (m 5 5.2). All four involve connections with people or things and the feelings of warmth or affiliation produced by them. The weakest emotion items were ‘‘suspicious’’ (m 5 1.5), ‘‘enraged’’ (m 5 1.5), ‘‘mad’’ (m 5 1.6), ‘‘angry’’ (m 5 1.6), ‘‘afraid’’ (m 5 1.6), ‘‘disgusted’’ (m 5 1.6), ‘‘fearful’’ (m 5 1.7), ‘‘annoyed’’ (m 5 1.7), and ‘‘bored’’ (m 5 1.9). These are all negative items, which seem to be lacking across the entire set of experiences. The raw ratings on each scale item were then standardized across experiences within judges by subtracting the mean and dividing by the standard deviation. This reduces systematic response biases in coding toward one position on the scales (Bass and Wilkie, 1973). The ratings of each set of four judges were then aggregated by averaging the ratings on each item across the judges. This is analogous to averaging responses in a multi-item index, increasing the reliability of the content analysis ratings and reducing the impact of random error (cf., Holbrook and Lehmann, 1980). The reliability of each index was assessed by examining coefficient alpha (Cronbach, 1951; Nunnally, 1967), calculated across the individual judges’ ratings for each experience description. The reliabilities of the nostalgia intensity and description detail scales were calculated separately for each set of four judges. The coefficient alpha values for the nostalgia intensity scale were 0.75 and 0.69; the values for the detail scale were 0.84 and 0.83. Each of the three dimensions of the PAD scale was tested individually. Separate indices were calculated for 15 of the 17 emotions in the discrete emotion scale based on the SEP; two of the emotions, guilt and innocence, were measured by single items. The results of the reliability analysis appear in Table 1. All of the alpha values are above 0.6 and most are over 0.8. The notable exception is the hypoactivity scale, which
S. L. Holak and W. J. Havlena
Table 1. Emotion Scale Reliability Analysis
PAD Scales SEP Scales
Scale
Coefficient Alpha
Number of Items
Pleasure Arousal Dominance Joy Sadness Anger Disgust Fear Affection Activation Hypoactivity Surgency Skepticism Serenity Desire Gratitude Deja Vu Warmth
0.93 0.87 0.90 0.85 0.83 0.93 0.83 0.85 0.85 0.71 20.12 0.76 0.62 0.79 0.87 0.89 0.66 0.88
6 6 6 3 2 4 2 2 2 3 2 3 2 2 3 2 2 3
consists of two items, ‘‘uninvolved’’ and ‘‘bored.’’ These two items appear to be measuring different constructs. In addition, respondents may have found it difficult to rate a negative concept such as ‘‘uninvolvement,’’ resulting in a high level of error for this item.
Factor Analysis The dimensionality of each set of emotion ratings was assessed using exploratory principal components analysis with varimax rotation. This yields information on the number of separate emotion dimensions contained in the data and provides a measure of the amount of variance explained by each dimension. The results of the principal components analysis on the aggregated Mehrabian and Russell items are presented in Table 2. To improve the clarity of the presentation, only factor loadings of at least 0.4 appear in the table. The results indicate a clear three-dimensional structure, which is to be expected given the ample prior validation of these scales. The first factor accounts for 41% of the variance, the second accounts for 27%, and the third explains 12% of the variance. Together, the three factors explain 80% of the variance in the set of eighteen items. The eigenvalues associated with the first three factors are 7.4, 4.9, and 2.1; the fourth eigenvalue is only 0.7. The six pleasure items load heavily on the first rotated factor, the arousal items load most heavily on the second factor, and the dominance items load on the third factor. These results are consistent with other published research using these scales. Mehrabian and Russell (1974) present results identifying pleasure, arousal, and dominance as the first, second, and third dimensions; the Mehrabian and Russell pattern has also been seen in previous consumer research (Donovan and Rossiter, 1982; Havlena and Holbrook, 1986).
Emotional Components of Nostalgia
J Busn Res 1998:42:217–226
Table 2. PAD Principal Components Analysis Rotated Factor Matrix Scale Item Unhappy-Happy Unsatisfied-Satisfied Despairing-Hopeful Melancholic-Contented Annoyed-Pleased Bored-Relaxed Relaxed-Stimulated Sluggish-Frenzied Sleepy-Wide Awake Calm-Excited Unaroused-Aroused Dull-Jittery Influenced-Influential Guided-Autonomous Submissive-Dominant Controlled-Controlling Cared For-In Control Awed-Important
Pleasure
Arousal
Dominance
0.95 0.95 0.92 0.90 0.87 0.78
221
ous’’—load together on the fourth factor. The association of sadness with a sense of loss is characteristic of nostalgia and may be reflected in the linking of sadness to a desire for returning to our reexperiencing a lost past.
Multiple Regression Analysis 0.88 0.85 0.84 0.84 0.83 0.80 0.89 0.86 0.83 0.81 0.77 0.73
The results of the principal components analysis on the discrete emotion data appear in Table 3. As in the previous table, only factor loadings of 0.4 or greater are reproduced. The eigenvalue structure seems to indicate that a six-dimensional representation of the data is appropriate, based on an analysis of only those factors with eigenvalues greater than one. The first six factors account for 77% of the variance, with eigenvalues of 17.1, 5.4, 2.8, 2.0, 1.8, and 1.5. These factors have been labeled tenderness, irritation, elation, loss, fear, and serenity. Items positively related to warmth, joy, gratitude, affection, and innocence load most heavily on the first factor, tenderness, with ‘‘tender,’’ ‘‘affectionate,’’ ‘‘loving,’’ and ‘‘warmhearted’’ having the highest loadings. The first factor also contains items negatively related to hypoactivity and deja vu—‘‘unimpressed,’’ ‘‘bored,’’ and ‘‘skeptical.’’ The second factor— irritation—is most closely related to anger, skepticism, and disgust, containing items such as ‘‘enraged,’’ ‘‘mad,’’ ‘‘angry,’’ ‘‘annoyed,’’ ‘‘irritated,’’ and ‘‘disgusted.’’ The third factor— elation—consists of the surgency and activation items, including ‘‘excited,’’ ‘‘active,’’ ‘‘entertained,’’ ‘‘playful,’’ and ‘‘aroused.’’ Loss, the fourth factor, is most closely associated with sadness and desire, with items such as ‘‘wishful,’’ ‘‘desirous,’’ ‘‘full of craving,’’ and ‘‘sad.’’ The items related to fear—‘‘fearful’’ and ‘‘afraid’’—load most heavily on the fifth factor, and the items positively associated with serenity and negatively associated with guilt and hypoactivity—‘‘restful,’’ ‘‘uninvolved,’’ ‘‘serene,’’ and ‘‘remorseful’’—load on the sixth factor. Factor loadings greater than 0.4 appear in Table 3. As noted, most of the positive emotions seem to load together on the first factor. The third factor, elation, is also basically positive, while also containing items similar to those comprising arousal in the Mehrabian and Russell framework. It is interesting that the items related to sadness—‘‘sad,’’ ‘‘sorrowful’’—and desire—‘‘full of craving,’’ ‘‘wishful,’’ ‘‘desir-
The index of nostalgia intensity was regressed as the dependent variable on each of the sets of principal components based on the emotion indices derived from the PAD scales and the revised SEP. This was done to assess the relative impact of the component emotions on the intensity of experience. The magnitudes of the coefficients provide one measure of the relative importance of the emotions to the strength of nostalgia and allow one to identify the emotions or dimensions that appear particularly related to nostalgia. The results of the regression of the nostalgia index on the PAD components are contained in Table 4. The three independent variables, corresponding to pleasure, arousal, and dominance, produced an R2 of 0.29. As can be seen in the table, pleasure has the greatest impact on intensity. Dominance also has a strong effect, with nostalgia intensity increasing as dominance decreases. Arousal does not appear to be significantly related to the intensity of the experience descriptions. The regression results for the principle components derived from the discrete emotion scales appear in Table 5. The multiple regression analysis produced an R2 of 0.67. Five of the six emotions—tenderness, loss, elation, irritation, and fear—are statistically significant at better than a 5 0.01. As indicated by the beta coefficients in the table, tenderness has the strongest partial relationship to nostalgia intensity, with loss and elation also related to nostalgia in a positive manner. These results underscore the complexity of nostalgic response. Irritation and fear are negatively related to nostalgia intensity. Although nostalgia may involve loss and sadness, anger does not seem to be characteristic of nostalgic experience. The association between nostalgia intensity and serenity does not reach statistical significance at even the 0.20 level. Serenity, being essentially passive, does not appear to be related to the level of nostalgia.
Discussion The results of the analyses presented here support the view of nostalgic experience as involving complex emotional responses. The PAD data and the discrete emotion data help to explain the nature of these emotional responses. Principal components analysis of the discrete emotion data indicates that the positive emotions of warmth, joy, gratitude, affection, and innocence tend to associate in nostalgic experience. As discussed in previously published work using the experiences that formed the basis for the current analysis (Holak and Havlena, 1992), many of the descriptions dealt with family,
222
J Busn Res 1998:42:217–226
S. L. Holak and W. J. Havlena
Table 3. Discrete Emotion Principal Components Analysis Rotated Factor Matrix Emotion Tender Affectionate Loving Warmhearted Sentimental Grateful Thankful Benefited Pure Unimpressed Happy Pleased Bored Lighthearted Enraged Mad Angry Annoyed Irritated Disgusted Suspicious Skeptical Excited Active Entertained Playful Aroused Unexcited Delighted Wishful Desirous Full of craving Sad Sorrowful Fearful Afraid Restful Uninvolved Serene Remorseful
Tenderness 0.88 0.86 0.85 0.82 0.77 0.76 0.71 0.69 0.68 20.54 0.50 0.50 20.49 0.42
20.44
Irritation
20.43
Elation
Loss
Fear
Serenity
20.43 0.47 0.45 20.43
0.91 0.90 0.90 0.90 0.88 0.84 0.60 0.51 0.78 0.77 0.75 0.68 0.67 20.63 0.55 0.90 0.86 0.82 0.64 0.57
20.40 0.85 0.85
0.43 0.46
0.66 0.65 0.59 20.49
Note: Only factor loadings >0.40 appear in the table.
friends, and social occasions (such as holidays and reunions). The link between warmth, joy, and affection is not surprising in this context. Similarly, the experience of nostalgia as a ‘‘bittersweet’’ emotion has been frequently noted in the literature. The pleasant memory of the past is combined with a sense of loss associated with the realization that the past cannot be recreated. The connection between sadness and desire may reflect the recognition of this fact and the feeling of sadness associated with the unattainable desire to return to some time or place in the past. The regression analysis demonstrates the complexity of emotional response in nostalgic experience. A variety of emotions seem to discriminate between highly nostalgic experiences and less intense ones. Two of the three PAD dimensions
are significantly related to the level of nostalgic intensity, with pleasure exhibiting a strong positive relationship and dominance displaying a negative association. This negative correlation between dominance and the level of nostalgia may reflect the feeling of powerlessness to recreate or return to the past that is inherent in nostalgia. The positive association of pleasure with nostalgic intensity illustrates the essentially positive nature of nostalgic experience. The underlying complexity of the emotional structure of nostalgia is clarified, however, in the regression analysis based on the discrete emotion data. Five of the six emotional factors are statistically significant predictors of the level of nostalgic experience. The expected positive emotions are present—tenderness and elation—along with the negative emotions, which are related to
Emotional Components of Nostalgia
J Busn Res 1998:42:217–226
Table 4. PAD Multiple Regression Analysis Emotion Pleasure Arousal Dominance
223
Table 5. Discrete Emotion Multiple Regression Analysis
b
Two-Tailed Significance
0.40 0.11 20.34
0.00 0.20 0.00
the feeling of loss. This combination of joy and sadness, of gratitude and desire, of warmth and surgency demonstrates the complexity of the phenomenon. It appears to be basically positive, but with significant negative components. Along with joy and gratitude, there is a feeling of desire that may stem from the sense of loss referred to earlier. The presence of a number of varied emotions in the more intense nostalgic experiences suggests that the more complex discrete emotion approach may be more useful than the three-dimensional PAD scheme in this context. Simply characterizing an experience as pleasant or unpleasant, arousing or unarousing, and dominating or dominated does not capture the richness revealed in the range of discrete emotions seen in the results here.
Use of Nostalgia in Marketing The findings suggest that nostalgia may be a difficult reaction for marketers to predict. The complex combination of positive and negative emotions means that the overall affective valence of a nostalgic episode may be unclear. Whereas the feelings of tenderness and elation may encourage positive attitudes toward a message and a product, the sense of loss may encourage unfavorable evaluations due to adverse associations and negative mood effects. These results imply that inducing nostalgia through a link with the past or with a distant situation should be coupled with minimizing or limiting the sense of loss that may accompany the feeling. One way to accomplish this may be explicitly to portray the product as a means of recapturing enough of the past to avoid an overwhelming feeling of loss. The product becomes a tool or a means for the consumer to control his or her detachment from the past and to eliminate negative feelings. This is liable to be more effective for products or messages where the sense of loss evoked by the nostalgia is not overly intense. Three scenarios are likely to create this situation. First, the consumer is more inclined to limit the sense of loss when the purchase or the consumption of the product can actually allow him or her to recapture much of the original feeling. This may be the case for some foods or entertainment products, for example. It may be argued that the consumer is not truly experiencing nostalgia if the past can be regained, but this is probably not the case. The present experience is likely to be perceived as a reflection of the past, not as a true recreation of it. Second, the sense of loss is more muted if the original
Emotion Tenderness Irritation Elation Loss Fear Serenity
b
Two-Tailed Significance
0.53 20.17 0.32 0.47 20.17 0.05
0.00 0.02 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.29
experience is remembered as moderately pleasant. Gabriel (1993, p. 132) notes that: though they may have the qualities of rarity and uniqueness, it is unlikely that acutely pleasurable experiences can easily feed nostalgia later on. If they become the object of nostalgic recollection they are likely to be heavily weighed by melancholy feeling. . . . Unless the loss has been psychologically conquered, and this requires strength, nostalgia cannot adopt it as its material. This suggests that messages focusing on pleasant, but not peak or extremely emotionally charged, memories are more likely to create a positive association. In some cases this may vary substantially across consumers and may be difficult to predict. For example, images of children in photographs are likely to evoke very different reactions from consumers depending upon their own personal histories. Third, the sense of loss is probably less acute if the original reference is less directly connected to the individual. Messages or products that evoke a more distant past or locale, such as Disney’s images of the American small town or frontier and Martha Stewart’s evocation of an idealized home life, may create a more diffused, generalized sense of loss for a way of life, without evoking specific, perhaps painful memories. Nostalgia also appears to link positive affective reactions— described in the emotion scales as joy, happiness, and pleasure—with connections to others, involving affection, warmheartedness, love and sentimentality. Thus, products and messages appealing to needs involving belongingness (Maslow, 1970) or affiliation (Schachter, 1959) may be particularly appropriate subjects for nostalgia.
Directions for Future Research The emotions evoked by nostalgic reflection include feelings similar to those evoked by ads described as ‘‘warm’’ (Aaker, Stayman, and Hagerty, 1986) and ‘‘poignant’’ (Edell and Burke, 1987). The effectiveness of nostalgia as an emotional device may be related to the impact of such ads. Other effects, such as the impact of the filtering of negative elements of memories and the influence of such filtering on evaluation and processing (Baumgartner, Sujan, and Bettman, 1992), may differentiate nostalgia from these other, non-memory-
224
J Busn Res 1998:42:217–226
based emotional reactions. Further research may help to clarify some of these issues. More research is also needed to explore the different varieties of nostalgia. Davis (1979) outlines a three-category typology of nostalgia: simple nostalgia, reflexive nostalgia, and interpreted nostalgia. Baker and Kennedy (1994) identify three types of nostalgia: real, simulated, and collective. Stern (1992) distinguishes between personal and historical nostalgia, using advertising, periodical, and direct mail texts to illustrate the argument. More recently, Havlena and Holak (1997) discuss nostalgia imagery using a four-way typology-personal, interpersonal, cultural, and virtual—based on two dimensions related to: (1) whether the nostalgia is personal or collective in nature and (2) whether it results from direct or indirect experience. Clearly, some types of nostalgia, such as ‘‘cultural nostalgia’’ (reflecting direct, collective types of experiences) or ‘‘virtual nostalgia’’ (involving indirect, collective experience), may be more prevalent or suitable in marketing applications. Although the current study did not examine this issue, the emotional profile of cultural or virtual nostalgic experience may differ from that of real nostalgia, either in the categories or consistency of emotions displayed. Real nostalgia may be both more difficult for marketers to evoke and more unpredictable. Further research into the emotional content of specific types of nostalgia may help to clarify this issue and provide more guidance to marketers designing nostalgia-based products or appeals. The study of nostalgia might also be extended to other cultures. As Holbrook (1994) notes, there may be significant cross-cultural differences in the intensity and nature of nostalgic experience. Research into the stimuli that are associated with nostalgia and cross-cultural variations in nostalgic intensity may shed light on the applicability of nostalgic advertising and products in the global marketplace. For example, Havlena and Holak (1996) present results from one study concerning the importance and varieties of rituals in Japanese nostalgic experience. Finally, more research is necessary to understand individual trait differences with regard to nostalgic experience. Holbrook (1993) presents one index developed to predict preferences for objects from the past. Havlena and Holak (1997) discuss an alternative instrument designed to identify individual differences in nostalgia proneness. More study is needed to distinguish market segments that may be better candidates for nostalgia-based products and messages.
References Aaker, David A., Stayman, Douglas M., and Hagerty, Michael: Warmth in Advertising: Measurement, Impact, and Sequence Effects. Journal of Consumer Research 12 (March 1986): 365–381. Allen, Chris T., Machleit, Karen A., and Kleine, Susan Schultze: A Comparison of Attitudes and Emotions as Predictors of Behavior at Diverse Levels of Behavioral Experience. Journal of Consumer Research 18 (December 1992): 493–504. Allen, Chris T., Machleit, Karen A., and Marine, Susan S.: On Assessing the Emotionality of Advertising via Izard’s Differential
S. L. Holak and W. J. Havlena
Emotions Scale, in Advances in Consumer Research, vol. 15, Michael J. Houston, ed., Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT. 1988, pp. 226–231. Baker, Stacy Menzel, and Kennedy, Patricia F.: Death By Nostalgia: A Diagnosis of Context-Specific Cases, in Advances in Consumer Research, vol. 21, Chris T. Allen and Deborah Roedder John, eds., Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT. 1994, pp. 169–174. Bass, Frank M., and Wilkie, William L.: A Comparative Analysis of Attitudinal Predictions of Brand Preference. Journal of Marketing Research 10 (August 1973): 262–269. Batra, Rajeev: Affective Advertising: Role, Processes, and Measurement, in The Role of Affect in Consumer Behavior, Robert A. Peterson, Wayne D. Hoyer, and William R. Wilson, eds., D. C. Heath, Lexington, MA. 1986, pp. 53–86. Batra, Rajeev, and Ray, Michael L.: Affective Responses Mediating Acceptance of Advertising. Journal of Consumer Research 13 (September 1986): 234–249. Baumgartner, Hans, Sujan, Mita, and Bettman, James R.: Autobiographical Memories, Affect, and Consumer Information Processing. Journal of Consumer Psychology 1 (1992): 53–82. Belk, Russell W.: The Role of Possessions in Constructing and Maintaining a Sense of Past, in Advances in Consumer Research, vol. 17, Marvin E. Goldberg, Gerald Gorn, and Richard W. Pollay, eds., Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT. 1990, pp. 669–676. Best, Joel, and Nelson, Edward E.: Nostalgia and Discontinuity: A Test of the Davis Hypothesis. Sociology and Social Research 69 (1983): 221–233. Cronbach, L. J.: Coefficient Alpha and the Internal Structure of Tests. Psychometrika 16 (1951): 297–334. Davis, Fred: Yearning for Yesterday: A Sociology of Nostalgia, The Free Press, New York. 1979. Donovan, Robert J., and Rossiter, John R.: Store Atmosphere: An Environmental Psychology Approach. Journal of Retailing 58 (Spring 1982): 34–57. Edell, Julie A., and Burke, Marian Chapman: The Power of Feelings in Understanding Advertising Effects. Journal of Consumer Research 14 (December 1987): 421–433. Gabriel, Yiannis: Organizational Nostalgia—Reflections on ‘‘The Golden Age,’’ in Emotion in Organizations, Stephen Fineman, ed., Sage Publications, London. 1993, pp. 118–141. Gardner, Meryl Paula: Mood States and Consumer Behavior: A Critical Review. Journal of Consumer Research 12 (December 1985): 281–300. Havlena, William J., and Holak, Susan L.: ‘‘The Good Old Days’’: Observations on Nostalgia and Its Role in Consumer Behavior, in Advances in Consumer Research, vol. 18, Rebecca H. Holman and Michael R. Solomon, eds., Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT. 1991, pp. 323–329. Havlena, William J., and Holak, Susan L.: From Festivals to Futons: Ritual Themes in Nostalgic Experiences of the Japanese, in Restructuring for Global Production, Service Needs, and Markets: Business Strategy and Policy Development for a Global Economy and Projections for the Twenty First Century, Erdener Kaynak, Dana NicoletaLascu, and Kip Becker, eds., International Management Development Association, Hummelstown, PA. 1996, pp. 486–492. Havlena, William J., and Holak, Susan L.: Nostalgia and NostalgiaProneness: Classification and Measurement. Working paper, 1997. Havlena, William J., and Holbrook, Morris B.: The Varieties of Consumption Experience: Comparing Two Typologies of Emotion in
Emotional Components of Nostalgia
Consumer Behavior. Journal of Consumer Research 13 (December 1986): 394–404.
J Busn Res 1998:42:217–226
225
Holbrook, Morris B., and Schindler, Robert M.: Some Exploratory
Findings on the Development of Musical Tastes. Journal of Consumer Research 16 (June 1989): 119–124. Holbrook, Morris B., and Schindler, Robert M.: Echoes of the Dear Departed Past: Some Work in Progress on Nostalgia, in Advances in Consumer Research, vol. 18, Rebecca H. Holman and Michael R. Solomon, eds., Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT. 1991, pp. 330–333. Holbrook, Morris B., and Westwood, Richard A.: The Role of Emotion in Advertising Revisited: Testing a Typology of Emotional Responses, in Cognitive and Affective Responses to Advertising, Pat Cafferata and Alice M. Tybout, eds., D.C. Heath, Lexington, MA. 1987. Izard, Carroll E.: Human Emotions, Plenum, New York. 1977. Lutz, Richard J., and Kakkar, Pradeep: The Psychological Situation as a Determinant of Consumer Behavior, in Advances in Consumer Research, vol. 2, Mary Jane Schlinger, ed., Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT. 1975, pp. 439–453. Maslow, Abraham H.: Motivation and Personality, 2nd ed., Harper and Row, New York. 1970. Mehrabian, Albert: Basic Dimensions of a General Psychological Theory, Oelgeschlager, Gunn, & Hain, Cambridge, MA. 1974. Nunnally, Jum C.: Psychometric Theory, McGraw-Hill, New York. 1967. Osgood, C. E., Suci, G. J., and Tanenbaum, P.: The Measurement of Meaning, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, IL. 1957. Plutchik, Robert: Emotion: A Psychoevolutionary Synthesis, Harper & Row, New York. 1980. Russell, James A.: A Circumplex Model of Affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 39 (1980): 1161–1178. Schachter, Stanley: The Psychology of Affiliation, Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA. 1959. Stern, Barbara B.: Historical and Personal Nostalgia in Advertising Text: The Fin de Sie`cle Effect. Journal of Advertising 21 (December 1992): 11–22. Zeitlin, David M., and Westwood, Richard A.: Measuring Emotional Response. Journal of Advertising Research 26 (October/November 1986): 34–44.
Appendix
Object(s)
Havlena, William J., Holbrook, Morris B., and Lehmann, Donald R.: Assessing the Validity of Emotional Topologies. Psychology and Marketing 6 (Summer 1989): 97–112. Holak, Susan L., and Havlena, William J.: Nostalgia: An Exploratory Study of Themes and Emotions in the Nostalgic Experience, in Advances in Consumer Research, vol. 19, John F. Sherry, Jr. and Brian Sternthal, eds., Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT. 1992, pp. 380–387. Holbrook, Morris B.: Emotion in the Consumption Experience: Toward a New Model of the Human Consumer, in The Role of Affect in Consumer Behavior, Robert A. Peterson, Wayne D. Hoyer, and William R. Wilson, eds., D.C. Heath, Lexington, MA. 1986, pp. 17–52. Holbrook, Morris B.: Nostalgia and Consumption Preferences: Some Emerging Patterns of Consumer Tastes. Journal of Consumer Research 20 (September 1993): 245–256. Holbrook, Morris B.: Nostalgia Proneness and Consumer Tastes, in Buyer Behavior in Marketing Strategy, 2nd ed., John A. Howard, ed., Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. 1994, pp. 348–364. Holbrook, Morris B., and Batra, Rajeev: Toward a Standardized Emotional Profile (SEP) Useful in Measuring Responses to the Nonverbal Components of Advertising, in Nonverbal Communications in Advertising, Sidney Hecker and David W. Stewart, eds., D.C. Heath, Lexington, MA. 1987. Holbrook, Morris B., Chestnut, Robert W., Oliva, Terence A., and Greenleaf, Eric A.: Play as a Consumption Experience: The Roles of Emotions, Performance, and Personality in the Enjoyment of Games. Journal of Consumer Research 11 (September 1984): 728– 739. Holbrook, Morris B., and Lehmann, Donald R.: Form Versus Content in Predicting Starch Scores. Journal of Advertising Research 20 (August 1980): 53–62.
Sample Descriptions of Nostalgic Experiences Person(s) Linda is 6 months younger than me and we’ve been friends since we were 14. We were like sisters since, at least, our early twenties. Though we have remained friends all these years it is those years in our early to mid-twenties that causes me to be nostalgic, sometimes. In given situations Linda and I could simply look at one another, each knowing, and agreeing, with what the other was thinking at that moment. We were both engaged at that time in our lives and that bond we shared, that total and complete empathy between us, was the cause of a lot of jealousy from Richard and John. Times and people change, we grow, and our lives become separate. But, sometimes, remembering those days of a friendship so complete—so devoid of any petty competition or jealousies, it’s, well, bittersweet, sometimes!
I have a cross-stitched sampler I purchased at my great-aunt and uncle’s estate sale. Whenever I see it, it reminds me of our family’s Sunday afternoon visits to their farm. As a child I remember the sampler hanging in the kitchen which had been untouched by time, a wood burning range for cooking, a roll-top desk in one corner for keeping farm records, the large table always set for six with ‘‘blue willow’’ patterned dishes turned upside down so they would stay clean until the next meal, the walls painted with a pale green enamel that had a mirror-like finish. The dining room with its thick carpet and dark furniture. The table always covered by a lace tablecloth, the candy dish on the table that only an expert could open without the lid alerting my great aunt that someone was after a chocolate nonpareil. In the living room my great aunt and uncle would be seated at opposite ends of the large room, my aunt in her rocker reading and my uncle with his cuspidor, seated on the couch making conversation. This room with its lace curtains, flowered wall paper, flowered carpet as with the rest of the house had not changed since my
226
J Busn Res 1998:42:217–226
mother’s childhood in the 1920s yet it never looked old, just right. Up until I was 16 years old that house and those people represent the perfect peace, until my uncle’s death in 1974 and aunt’s death in 1976, mortality was the furthest thing from my mind. I never realized the time that I was privileged to partake of a lifestyle from a much different time. I only wish I could spend one more Sunday afternoon, sitting in those rooms with those dear people.
Event(s) If it can be construed as qualifying, the grating of a lemon’s rind (not the lemon per se). Both my mother and my favorite aunt grated lemon in preparing lemon meringue pies, and I almost always get an instant flashback, especially of my
S. L. Holak and W. J. Havlena
aunt’s kitchen on a sunny summer Sunday morning, with she and my father talking family gossip while she made the pie. I was about 6 or 7 and visiting her like this was special, partly because she was warm and enfolding in a way my mother wasn’t (though later life taught me my aunt wasn’t with her own children), and her home—especially kitchen— was such a contrast with our own. She had an electric stove (all the rage in the late 1940s), an eat-in kitchen, with modern chrome-tube chairs and table (we had less fancy), city water (we had a well), and electric lights—including a fluorescent circle over the table (we still had kerosene while getting electricity run into the farmhouse). Grating a lemon rind to this day can be intensely evocative, putting me in a reverie with this scenario that sometimes I must summon myself out of with effort.