Author: Veronika Kashkan

1. Nostalgia and
Acculturation
Presented by Veronika Kashkan
Instructor: Prof. Dr. Ulrich Kuehnen

2. Content
 Immigration and acculturative stress
 Loneliness
 Nostalgia – basics
 Functions of nostalgia
 Successful integration and nostalgia
 Limitations
 Future directions
 Discussion

3. Immigration
Loneliness

4. Immigration
2005:
191 million immigrants
Reasons:
- Poverty
- Human rights violations
- Famine
- Natural disasters
- Wars
so on

5. Immigrant stressors
Immigrants as a threat
- Symbolic threat (challenges to the
collective identity of the majority)
- Material threat
(challenges to the
financial and status
well-being)

6. Immigrant stressors
 Economic problems
 Language problems
 Policies, customs and norms
 Stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination
ACCULTURATIVE STRESS

7. Acculturative stress
“an immigrant’s response to life events that are
rooted in intercultural contact”
Factors:
- Intrapersonal (motive of migration)
- Society of origin (cultural distance)
- Society of settlement ( multi- or monocultural
ideology, hierarchy of immigrants)
- Intrapersonal and social (conformity values and
need for closure)

8. Consequences of acculturative stress
 Bad mood and anxiety
 Heightened level of depression
 Loneliness

9. Loneliness
Loneliness – a psychological state characterized by a
set of discomforting emotions and cognitions
(unhappiness, pessimism, self-blame, depression).
- Is associated with perceived lack of social
support and lower and less satisfying
relationships than desired;
- Is a universal experience;
- Frequently the solicitation of social support is
impeded by individual (shyness, poor social
skills) and situational (relocation) factors.

10. Consequences of acculturative stress
 Bad mood and anxiety
 Heightened level of depression
Loneliness
Reduced perception Nostalgia
of social support (experiments – 1,2)

11. Findings about nostalgia
Nostalgia is triggered by bad mood and loneliness
(participants in a bad mood or in a “high
loneliness” reported higher levels of nostalgia)
Nostalgia can be recruited, either spontaneously or
intentionally

12. Main ideas of the section
 Immigration is a big and fast-growing problem
 Immigrants suffer from not only economic
problems and stressors connected with new
mode of life, but also from psychological
persecution by receiving society
 This cause acculturative stress and loneliness
 Loneliness cause reduced perception of social
support on the one hand, and nostalgia on the
other

13. Nostalgia

14. Nostalgia
“a sentimental longing for the past”
Nostalgia VS Homesickness
- Positive emotion - Negative emotion
- Sentimental longing - Psychological problems
- Refers to close others, - Refers only to the place
moments, places, pets.. of origin
- Occurs frequently - Short-lived

15. Nostalgia as an emotion
Self-relevant and social
The self, surrounded by others, is the main
character in the nostalgic narrative; (studies - 3)
Positive
- The simultaneous expression of happiness and
sadness is more frequent than in ordinary events
- Yet, nostalgic events featured more frequent
expressions of happiness than sadness
- Redemption – a narrative pattern that progresses
from negative to positive state.

16. Functions of nostalgia
 Elevating positive affect;
 Supporting self-regard;
 Providing a sense of meaning;
 Fostering self-continuity;
 Strengthening relational bonds and perceptions
of social support

17. Elevating positive affect
(Studies – 4)
Nostalgic participants reported more
positive affect than control participants
Nostalgia is a pathway through which
people generate positive affect

18. Supporting self-regard
Nostalgia affirms valued aspects of the self as a
friend, family of group member allows to
face threats to self-esteem with reduced
defensiveness
Nostalgic participants reported higher levels of
self-regard than control ones
Nostalgia is a mechanism through which people
attain positive self-regard

19. Providing a sense of meaning
Nostalgia facilitates coping with existential
threat by buffering the effects of morality
salience
The more nostalgic participants felt, the more
meaningful they perceived their life to be
Nostalgia enhanced perceptions of life as
meaningful and lessened existential fear

20. Fostering self-continuity
Reflection about a nostalgic event led to higher
perceptions of continuity in one’s life compared
to an ordinary or autobiographical event
The cause of a nostalgic state is negative
discontinuity (being cut off one’s past is
perceived as painful) rather than positive (.. as
pleasant) or neutral
Nostalgia fosters perceptions of self-continuity

21. Strengthening relational bonds and
perceptions of social support
(Studies – 5)
Nostalgic participants reported:
- feeling more protected and loved,
- reduced attachment anxiety and avoidance,
- being more likely to initiate interactions, self-
disclose, and provide emotional support for
others
Nostalgia strengthens perceptions of social
support

22. But if nostalgia appears as a
consequence of acculturative
stress, DOES IT HELP TO OVERCOME
IT?

23. Acculturation patterns
 Integration
 Assimilation
 Separation
 Marginalization
Factors, that determine successful integration:
- Psychological health
- Interpersonal adequacy

24. Psychological health
PH – absence of negative affectivity (bad
mood, loneliness)
Nostalgia has energizing or motivational
consequences. Is positively correlated with the
frequency and intensity of inspiration.

25. Interpersonal adequacy
Nostalgia bolsters IA indirectly:
- Positive affect builds social resources (friendship
and social support)
- Self-esteem lowers antisocial behavior and
delinquency problems
- Sense of meaning is a marker of healthy
interpersonal functioning (absence of bad habits)
- Self-continuity is negatively related to antisocial
behavior and social adjustment (group schism
and even suicide) and enable integration.

26. Interpersonal adequacy
Nostalgia bolsters IA directly:
Increases relational bonds and perception of
social support  Forbearance of aversive social
feedback, cognitive openness and exploratory
orientation  facilitate integration by formation
of new relationships with members of receiving
society
Nostalgia magnifies perceptions of social
support, thus counteracting the effect of
loneliness

27. But if nostalgia appears as a
consequence of acculturative stress,
DOES IT HELP TO OVERCOME IT?
Yes, it does by providing conditions for
successful integration

28. Main ideas of the section
 Nostalgia is a positive self-relevant and social
emotion
 Nostalgia produces positive affectivity, self-
regard, self-continuity, sense of meaning and
strengthens social bonds
 Nostalgia provides psychological health and
interpersonal adequacy
 Nostalgia contributes to successful integration

29. Researchers were interested..

30.  If there is a gender difference in nostalgia
findings..

31. NO GENDER EFFECT!!

32.  If the findings could be generalized..

33. Is it general?
The effect was found for:
- Children
- Students
- Adults

34.  Is resilience connected with nostalgia..
Resilience – the ability to recover from
shock, insult, or disturbance.

35. Influence of resilience
Both resilient and nonresilient people derive
perceived social support from nostalgia;
BUT
Highly resilient people are more likely to recruit
nostalgia when lonely, have incorporated
nostalgia in their arsenal of coping mechanisms

36. To sum up..
 Immigration is a big and fast-growing
problem
 Immigrants suffer from not only economic
problems and stressors connected with
new mode of life, but also from
psychological persecution by receiving
society
 This cause acculturative stress and
loneliness
 Loneliness cause reduced perception of
social support on the one hand, and
nostalgia on the other

37.  Nostalgia is a positive self-relevant and
social emotion
 Nostalgia produces positive affectivity,
self-regard, self-continuity, sense of
meaning and strengthens social bonds
 Nostalgia provides psychological health
and interpersonal adequacy
 Nostalgia contributes to successful
integration and helps to overcome
consequences of loneliness

38. Conclusion
Nostalgia is a psychological resource
that protects and fosters mental
health. Nostalgia strengthens social
connectedness and
belongingness, partially ameliorating
the harmful effects of loneliness

39. Problems and limitations
- Being nostalgic too frequent can be an
unhealthy response to acculturative stress and
cause separation rather than integration
- It is not clear how nostalgia will influence other
acculturation patterns
(assimilation, segregation, marginalization)
- Although gender differences were not
found, gender roles are culture-specific

40. Future directions
Socioemotional selectivity theory – older people start view
their life span as limited, shift attention from future- and
knowledge-oriented goals and emphasize the importance
of meaning and social networks in life
- Are age-related changes in motivation reflected
in the frequency and content of nostalgia?
- Does nostalgia acquire greater significance in
older age?
- At which acculturative stage is nostalgia a most
potent aid in coping with acculturative stress?

41. Discussion
1) Think about some practical implications of performed
findings;
2) Do your personal experiences coincide with findings?
3) What do you think about gender differences in
nostalgia?
4) How important is nostalgia in other life situations,
when there is no acculturative stress?
5) What are the others mechanisms that can help
someone to overcome acculturative stress? May be
from your experience.
6) How do you feel about likelihood of cultural
differences in nostalgia? May be individualistic
societies are less likely to miss other people so much?
7) How did you overcome acculturative stress yourself?
Did some factors (such as multicultural Jacobs’
community) helped you?
8) Knowing all the findings about nostalgia what would
you suggest for those, who suffer from acculturative
stress?

42. Thank you!
Congratulations with the last
presentation ;)