We examined, in five studies, the relation between nostalgia and financial risk taking. We hypothesized that nostalgia increases risk taking by fostering perceptions of social support. In Study 1, we established the basic effect of nostalgia and increased risk taking. In Study 2, we used a measurement-of-mediation approach to specify the underlying mechanism. Perceived support from family members, rather than from significant others or friends, mediated the relation between nostalgia and risk taking. In Studies 3 to 4, we further specified the mediating mechanism (i.e., family social support) and established direction of causality by using an experimental-causal-chain approach. Finally, in Study 5, we provided direct experimental evidence of the full mediation model. Taken together, nostalgia galvanizes perceived family support, which propels individuals toward financial risk.
Abbott-ChapmanJ.DenholmC.WyldC. (2008). Social support as a factor inhibiting teenage risk-taking: Views of students, parents and professionals. Journal of Youth Studies, 11, 611-627. doi:10.1080/13676260802191938
2.
AbeytaA. A.RoutledgeC.JuhlJ. (2015). Looking back to move forward: Nostalgia as a psychological resource for promoting relationship aspirations and overcoming relationship challenges. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 109, 1029-1044. doi:10.1037/pspi0000036
3.
AbeytaA. A.RoutledgeC.RoylanceC.WildschutR. T.SedikidesC. (2015). Attachment-related avoidance and the social and agentic content of nostalgic memories. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 32, 406-413. doi:10.1177/0265407514533770
4.
ArrowK. J. (1971). The theory of risk aversion. In ArrowK. (Ed.), Essays in the theory of risk bearing (pp. 121-133). Chicago, IL: Markham.
5.
BarberisN.HuangM.SantosT. (2001). Prospect theory and asset prices. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 116, 1-53. doi:10.1162/003355301556310
6.
BaronR. M.KennyD. A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173-1182. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.51.6.1173
7.
BatchoK. I. (1995). Nostalgia: A psychological perspective. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 80, 131-143. doi:10.2466/pms.1995.80.1.131
8.
BatchoK. I. (2007). Nostalgia and the emotional tone and content of song lyrics. The American Journal of Psychology, 120, 361-381.
9.
BernoulliD. (1739/1954). Exposition of a new theory on the measurement of risk. Econometrica, 22, 23-36. doi:10.2307/1909829
10.
BerntsenD.RubinD. C. (2004). Cultural life scripts structure recall from autobiographical memory. Memory and Cognition, 32, 427-442. doi:10.3758.BF03195836
11.
BlaisA.-R.WeberE. U. (2006). A domain-specific risk-taking (DOSPERT) scale for adult populations. Judgment and Decision Making, 1, 33-47.
12.
BohnsV. K.FlynnF. J. (2010). “Why didn’t you just ask?” Underestimating the discomfort of help-seeking. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 402-409. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2009.12.015
13.
BowlbyJ. (1988). A secure base: Parent-child attachment and healthy human development. New York, NY: Basic Books.
14.
BullockJ. G.GreenD. P.HaS. E. (2010). Yes, but what’s the mechanism? (don’t expect an easy answer). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 550-558. doi:10.1037/a0018933
15.
CacioppoJ. T.CacioppoS. (2014). Social relationships and health: The toxic effects of perceived social isolation. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 8, 58-72. doi:10.1111/spc3.12087
16.
CaiH.SedikidesC.JiangL. (2013). Familial self as a potent source of affirmation: Evidence from China. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4, 529-537. doi:10.1177/1948550612469039
17.
CheungW. Y.WildschutT.SedikidesC.HepperE. G.ArndtJ.VingerhoetsA. J. J. M. (2013). Back to the future: Nostalgia increases optimism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39, 1484-1496. doi:10.1177/0146167213499187
18.
ChouK. L.LeeT. M. C.HoA. H. Y. (2007). Does mood state change risk taking tendency in older adults?Psychology and Aging, 22, 310-318. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.22.2.310
19.
CovinJ. G.SlevinD. P. (1989). Strategic management of small firms in hostile and benign environments. Strategic Management Journal, 10, 75-87. doi:10.1002/smj.4250100107
20.
DaiL.MaksimovV.GilbertB. A.FernhaberS. A. (2014). Entrepreneurial orientation and international scope: The differential roles of innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking. Scholarship and Professional Work - Business, 266.
21.
DavisF. (1977). Nostalgia, identity and the current nostalgia wave. The Journal of Popular Culture, 11, 414-424. doi:10.1111/j.0022-3840.1977.00414.x
22.
DowneyG.FeldmanS. I. (1996). Implications of rejection sensitivity for intimate relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 1327-1343. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.70.6.1327
23.
EidelmanS.CrandallC. S.PattershallJ. (2009). The existence bias. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 765-775. doi:10.1037/a0017058
24.
FesslerD. M.PillsworthE. G.FlamsonT. J. (2004). Angry men and disgusted women: An evolutionary approach to the influence of emotions on risk taking. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 95, 107-123. doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2004.06.006
25.
FiedlerK.SchottM.MeiserT. (2011). What mediation analysis can (not) do. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 1231-1236. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2011.05.007
26.
FignerB.WeberE. U. (2011). Who takes risks when and why? Determinants of risk taking. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20, 211-216. doi:10.1177/0963721411415790
27.
ForgasJ. P. (1995). Mood and judgment: The affect infusion model (AIM). Psychological Bulletin, 117, 39-66. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.117.1.39
28.
GabrielY. (1993). Organizational nostalgia: Reflections on “The Golden Age.” In FinemanS. (Ed.), Emotion in organizations (pp. 118-141). London, England: SAGE.
29.
GardnerW. L.PickettC. L.KnowlesM. L. (2005). Social snacking and shielding: Using social symbols, selves, and surrogates in the service of belongingness needs. In WilliamsK. D.ForgasJ. P.von HippelW. (Eds.), The social outcast: Ostracism, social exclusion, rejection, and bullying (pp. 227-241). New York, NY: Psychology Press.
30.
GreenJ. D.CampbellW. K. (2000). Attachment and exploration in adults: Chronic and contextual accessibility. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 452-461. doi:10.1177/0146167200266004
31.
GuayW. (1999). The sensitivity of CEO wealth to equity risk: An analysis of the magnitude and determinants. Journal of Financial Economics, 53, 43-71. doi:10.1016/S0304-405X(99)00016-1
32.
HanochY.JohnsonJ. G.WilkeA. (2006). Domain specificity in experimental measures and participant recruitment an application to risk-taking behavior. Psychological Science, 17, 300-304. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01702.x
33.
HayesA. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
34.
HepperE. G.RitchieT. D.SedikidesC.WildschutT. (2012). Odyssey’s end: Lay conceptions of nostalgia reflect its original Homeric meaning. Emotion, 12, 102-119. doi:10.1037/a0025167
HertzD. G. (1990). Trauma and nostalgia: New aspects of the coping of aging holocaust survivors. Israeli Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences, 27, 189-198.
37.
HockeyG. R. J.MauleA. J.CloughP. J.BdzolaL. (2000). Effect of negative mood states on risk in everyday decision making. Cognition and Emotion, 14, 823-855. doi:10.1080/02699930050156654
38.
HolakS. L.HavlenaW. J. (1992). Nostalgia: An exploratory study of themes and emotions in the nostalgic experience. Advances in Consumer Research, 19, 380-386.
39.
Holt-LunstadJ.SmithT. B.LaytonJ. B. (2010). Social relationships and mortality risk: A meta-analytic review. PLoS MED, 7, e1000316. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000316
HouseJ. S.LandisK. R.UmbersonD. (1988). Social relationships and health. Science, 241, 540-545. doi:10.1126/science.3399889
42.
HseeC. K.WeberE. U. (1999). Cross-national differences in risk preference and lay predictions. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 12, 165-179. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-0771(199906)12:2
43.
IsenA. M.PatrickR. (1983). The effect of positive feelings on risk taking: When the chips are down. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 31, 194-202. doi:10.1016/0030-5073(83)9012
44.
JosefA. K.RichterD.Samanez-LarkinG. R.WagnerG. G.HertwigR.MataR. (2016). Stability and change in risk-taking propensity across the adult life span. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 111, 430-450. doi:10.1037/pspp0000090
45.
KacelnikA.BatesonM. (1997). Risk-sensitivity: Crossroads for theories of decision-making. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 1, 304-309. doi:10.1016/S1364-6613(97)01093-0
46.
KouchakiM.OveisC.GinoF. (2014). Guilt enhances the sense of control and drives risky judgments. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143, 2103-2110. doi:10.1037/a0037932
47.
LachowiczM. J.PreacherK. J.KelleyK. (2018). A novel measure of effect size for mediation analysis. Psychological Methods, 23, 244-261. doi:10.1037/met0000165
48.
LambertN. M.StillmanT. F.BaumeisterR. F.FinchamF. D.HicksJ. A.GrahamS. M. (2010). Family as a salient source of meaning in young adulthood. Journal of Positive Psychology, 5, 367-376. doi:10.1080/17439760.2010.516616
49.
LauriolaM.PannoA.LevinI. P.LejuezC. W. (2014). Individual differences in risky decision making: A meta-analysis of sensation seeking and impulsivity with the Balloon Analogue Risk Task. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 27, 20-36. doi:10.1002/bdm.1784
50.
LeithK. P.BaumeisterR. F. (1996). Why do bad moods increase self-defeating behavior? Emotion, risk tasking, and self-regulation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 1250-1267. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.71.6.1250
51.
LernerJ. S.KeltnerD. (2001). Fear, anger, and risk. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 146-159. doi:10.1037//O022-3514.81.1.146
52.
LernerJ. S.LiY.ValdesoloP.KassamK. S. (2015). Emotion and decision making. Annual Review of Psychology, 66, 799-823. doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115043
53.
LeunissenJ.SedikidesC.WildschutT.CohenT. R. (2018). Organizational nostalgia increases work meaning: The moderating role of burnout. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 23, 44-57. 10.1037/ocp0000059
54.
LopesL. L. (1987). Between hope and fear: The psychology of risk. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 20, 255-295. doi:10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60416-5
55.
MageauG. A.VallerandR. J.RousseauF. L.RatelleC. F.ProvencherP. J. (2005). Passion and gambling: Investigating the divergent affective and cognitive consequences of gambling. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 35, 100-118. doi:10.2307/3156831
56.
MandelN. (2003). Shifting selves and decision making: The effects of self-construal priming on consumer risk-taking. Journal of Consumer Research, 30, 30-40. doi:10.1086/374700
57.
ManoH. (1992). Judgments under distress: Assessing the role of unpleasantness and arousal in judgment formation. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 52, 215-245. doi:10.1016/0749-5978(92)90036-7
58.
MarkowitzH. M. (1952). Portfolio selection. Journal of Finance, 7, 77-91.
59.
MartinL. L.AbendT.SedikidesC.GreenJ. D. (1997). How would I feel if…? Mood as input to a role fulfilment evaluation process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 242-253. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.73.2.242
60.
MikulincerM.ShaverP. R. (2003). The attachment behavioral system in adulthood: Activation, psychodynamics, and interpersonal processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 35, 53-152. doi:10.1016/S0065-2601(03)01002-5
61.
PearsallJ.HanksP. (Eds.) (1998). The New Oxford Dictionary of English. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
62.
PleskacT. J.WallstenT. S.WangP.LejuezC. W. (2008). Development of an automatic response mode to improve the clinical utility of sequential risk-taking tasks. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 16, 555-564. doi:10.1037/a0014245
63.
PrattJ. W. (1964). Risk aversion in the small and in the large. Econometrica: Journal of the Econometric Society, 32, 122-136.
64.
RajgopalS.ShevlinT. (2002). Empirical evidence on the relation between stock option compensation and risk taking. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 33, 145-171. doi:10.1016/S0165-4101(02)00042-3
65.
RegaliaC.ManziC.ScabiniE. (2013). Individuation and differentiation in families across cultures. In FineM. A.FinchamF. D. (Eds.), Handbook of family theories: A content-based approach (pp. 437-455). New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.
66.
RoutledgeC.WildschutT.SedikidesC.JuhlJ.ArndtJ. (2012). The power of the past: Nostalgia as a meaning-making resource. Memory, 20, 452-460. doi:10.1080/09658211.2012.677452
67.
RuckerD. D.PreacherK. J.TormalaZ. L.PettyR. E. (2011). Mediation analysis in social psychology: Current practices and new recommendations. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 5, 359-371. doi:10.1111/j.1751-9004.2011.00355.x
68.
SabatelliR. M.Bartle-HaringsS. (2003). Family of origin experiences and patterns of adjustment within couples. Journal of Marriage and Family, 65, 159-169. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2003
69.
SamuelsonW.ZeckhauserR. (1988). Status quo bias in decision making. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 1, 7-59. doi:10.1007/bf00055564
70.
ScabiniE.ManziC. (2011). Family processes and identity. In SchwartzS. J.LuyckxK.VignolesV. L. (Eds.), Handbook of identity theory and research (pp. 565-584). New York, NY: Springer Science + Business Media.
71.
SchoemannA. M.BoultonA. J.ShortS. D. (2017). Determining power and sample size for simple and complex mediation models. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 8, 379-386. doi:10.1177/1948550617715068
72.
SedikidesC.CheungW. Y.WildschutT.HepperE. G.BaldurssonE.PedersenB. (2018). Nostalgia motivates pursuit of important goals by increasing meaning in life. European Journal of Social Psychology, 48, 209-216. doi:10.1002/ejsp.2318
73.
SedikidesC.HartC. M.De CremerD. (2008). The self in procedural fairness. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2, 2107-2124. doi:10.1111/j.1751-9004.2008.00156.x
74.
SedikidesC.WildschutT. (2016a). Nostalgia: A bittersweet emotion that confers psychological health benefits. In WoodA. M.JohnsonJ. (Eds.), Wiley handbook of positive clinical psychology (pp. 25-136). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
75.
SedikidesC.WildschutT. (2016b). Past forward: Nostalgia as a motivational force. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20, 319-321. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2016.01.008
76.
SedikidesC.WildschutT.ArndtJ.RoutledgeC. (2008). Nostalgia: Past, present, and future. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 304-307. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2008.00595.x
77.
SedikidesC.WildschutT.RoutledgeC.ArndtJ.HepperE. G.ZhouX. (2015). To nostalgize: Mixing memory with affect and desire. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 51, 189-273. doi:10.1016/bs.aesp.2014.10.001
78.
ShapiroG. E. (1983). Embarrassment and help seeking. In De-PauloB. M.NadlerA.FisherJ. D. (Eds.), New directions in helping (Vol. 2): Help seeking (pp. 143-165). New York, NY: Academic Press.
79.
SinghJ. V. (1986). Performance, slack, and risk-taking in organizational decision making. Academy of Management Journal, 29, 562-585. doi:10.2307/256224
80.
SitkinS. B.PabloA. L. (1992). Reconceptualizing the determinants of risk behavior. Academy of Management Review, 17, 9-38. doi:10.2307/258646
81.
SmithC. A.EllsworthP. C. (1985). Patterns of cognitive appraisal in emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 813-838. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.48.4.813
82.
SpencerS. J.ZannaM. P.FongG. T. (2005). Establishing a causal chain: Why experiments are often more effective than mediational analyses in examining psychological processes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 845-851. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.89.6.845
83.
StephanE.SedikidesC.WildschutT. (2012). Mental travel into the past: Differentiating recollections of nostalgic, ordinary, and positive events. European Journal of Social Psychology, 42, 290-298. doi:10.1002/ejsp.1865
84.
StephanE.SedikidesC.WildschutT.CheungW. Y.RoutledgeC.ArndtJ. (2015). Nostalgia-evoked inspiration: Mediating mechanisms and motivational implications. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41, 1395-1410. doi:10.1177/0146167215596985
85.
StephanE.WildschutT.SedikidesC.ZhouX.HeW.RoutledgeC.. . . VingerhoetsJ. M. (2014). The mnemonic mover: Nostalgia regulates avoidance and approach motivation. Emotion, 14, 545-561. doi:10.1037/a0035673
86.
ThalerR. H.JohnsonE. J. (1990). Gambling with the house money and trying to break even: The effects of prior outcomes on risky choice. Management Science, 36, 643-660. doi:10.1287/mnsc.36.6.643
87.
TurnerR. N.WildschutT.SedikidesC. (2012). Dropping the weight stigma: Nostalgia improves attitudes toward persons who are overweight. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 130-137. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2011.09.007
88.
TurnerR. N.WildschutT.SedikidesC.GheorghiuM. (2013). Combating the mental health stigma with nostalgia. European Journal of Social Psychology, 43, 413-422. doi:10.1002/ejsp.1952
89.
Van DijkeM.WildschutT.LeunissenJ. M.SedikidesC. (2015). Nostalgia buffers the negative impact of low procedural justice on cooperation. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 127, 15-29. doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2014.11.005
90.
Van TilburgW. A. P.IgouE. R.SedikidesC. (2013). In search of meaningfulness: Nostalgia as an antidote to boredom. Emotion, 13, 450-461. doi:10.1037/a0030442
91.
Van TilburgW. A. P.SedikidesC.WildschutT. (2015). The mnemonic muse: Nostalgia fosters creativity through openness to experience. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 59, 1-7. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2015.02.002
92.
Van TilburgW. A. P.WildschutT.SedikidesC. (2018). Nostalgia’s place among self-conscious emotions. Cognition and Emotion, 32, 742-759. doi:10.1080/02699931.2017.1351331
93.
VessM.ArndtJ.RoutledgeC.SedikidesC.WildschutT. (2012). Nostalgia as a resource for the self. Self and Identity, 3, 273-284. doi:10.1080/15298868.2010.521452
94.
VohsK. D.MeadN. L.GoodeM. R. (2006). The psychological consequences of money. Current Direction in Psychological Science, 314, 208-212. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2008.00576.x
95.
WatsonD.ClarkL. A.TellegenA. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS Scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063-1107. doi:1.1037//0022-3514.54.6.1063
96.
WeberE. U.BlaisA.-R.BetzN. (2002). A domain-specific risk-attitude scale: Measuring risk perceptions and risk behaviors, 15, 263-290. doi:10.1002/bdm.414
97.
WeberE. U.HseeC. (1998). Cross-cultural differences in risk perception, but cross-cultural similarities in attitudes towards perceived risk. Management Science, 44, 1205-1217. doi:10.1287/mnsc.44.9.1205
98.
WeberE. U.HseeC. K. (1999). Models and mosaics: Investigating cross-cultural differences in risk perception and risk preference. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 6, 611-617. doi:10.3758/BF03212969
99.
WeberE. U.HseeC. K.SokolowskaJ. (1998). What folklore tells us about risk and risk taking: Cross-cultural comparisons of American, German, and Chinese proverbs. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 75, 170-186. doi:10.1006/obhd.1998.2788
100.
WildschutT.BruderM.RobertsonS.Van TilburgA. P. W.SedikidesC. (2014). Collective nostalgia: A group-level emotion that confers unique benefits on the group. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 107, 844-863. doi:10.1037/a0037760
101.
WildschutT.SedikidesC.ArndtJ.RoutledgeC. (2006). Nostalgia: Content, triggers, functions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 975-993. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.91.5.975
102.
WildschutT.SedikidesC.RoutledgeC.ArndtJ.CordaroF. (2010). Nostalgia as a repository of social connectedness: The role of attachment-related avoidance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 573-586. doi:10.1037/a0017597
103.
YuenK. S. L.LeeT. M. C. (2003). Could mood state affect risk-taking decisions?Journal of Affective Disorders, 75, 11-18. doi:10.1016/S0165-0327(02)00022-8
104.
ZhouX.SedikidesC.WildschutT.GaoD.-G. (2008). Counteracting loneliness: On the restorative function of nostalgia. Psychological Science, 19, 1023-1029. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02194.x
105.
ZhouX.VohsK. D.BaumeisterR. F. (2009). The symbolic power of money: Reminders of money alter social distress and physical pain. Psychological Science, 20, 700-706. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02353.x
106.
ZhouX.WildschutT.SedikidesC.ShiK.FengC. (2012). Nostalgia: The gift that keeps on giving. Journal of Consumer Research, 39, 39-50. doi:10.1086/662199
107.
ZhuR.DholakiaU. M.ChenX.AlgesheimerR. (2012). Does online community participation foster risky financial behavior?Journal of Marketing Research, 49, 394-407. doi:10.1509/jmr.08.0499
108.
ZimetG. D.DahlemN. W.ZimetS. G.FarleyG. K. (1988). The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Journal of Personality Assessment, 52, 30-41. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa5201_2
109.
ZouX.ScholerA. A.HigginsE. T. (2014). In pursuit of progress: Promotion motivation and risk preference in the domain of gains. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106, 183-201. doi:10.1037/a0035391
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
