Nostalgia (The Phenomena)

You know that feeling you get when you see Secondary school kids in their blazers or the tingling sensation you get when you open that pack of Maryland cookies...(Maybe that's just me)...that "Ahhhhhhhhhhhh" feeling that reminds you of the "Good Old Days", its down to a thing scientists call Nostalgia.


The textbook (Consumer Behaviour) defines Nostalgia as "a bittersweet emotion where we view the past with both sadness and longing" (That don't sound like fun) and dictionary.com defines Nostalgia as "a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time: a nostalgia for his college days."


Nostalgia is a phenomenon that doesn't just affect the old-folk, it affects everyone.
Lets take me as an example...Personally if I could rewind time I'd go back to when I was 15 (ahhhhh! Those were the days!) Young, Carefree and a lot less busy... The year was 2006, Nobody knew what a recession was and Italy had cheated their way into victory at the World Cup, Justin Timberlake released his 2nd album entitled "Future Sex / Love Sounds and music made a lot more sense (Check out all the UK number 1 tracks for the year: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_in_British_music_charts). Believe it or not I was a budding actor back in those days (HAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA)..... BUT WAIT! Wasn't this only 4 Years ago?!?! Well... That's the effect Nostalgia has on its victim.... It accentuates everything and adds a glossy coat to make it feel really blissful. I'm sure that when I was 15 I didn't enjoy life as much as I'm making it seem... but that's what NOSTALGIA does to a human.


What triggers Nostalgia?
According to Wildschut, Sedikides, Arndt and Routledge (Nostalgia: Content, Triggers, Functions from Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Copyright 2006 by the American Psychological Association 2006, Vol. 91, No. 5) Sensory input and social interaction are the main triggers of nostalgia.
By sensory input Wildschut and co. mean STIMULI (see my bloggings on Perception for more info) and these stimuli can be ANYTHING that our 5 senses react to.
Veryevolved.com says "Smell and touch are strong evokers of nostalgia and memories in general due to the processing of these stimuli first passing through the amygdala, the emotional seat of the brain."




Nostalgia's Ugly Side
All those memories of "the good old days" will surely have a downside... (yup!).. They actually do. Veryevolved.com says " But with a brain that supports consciousness comes problems that we’ve all experienced: depression, self doubt, lack of motivation."
the problem with reminiscing those good old days is that they remind you of how crap the present is (Out comes the secret resentment of growing up, going to uni etc.) and apparently too much dwelling on the past can lead to a downward spiral of depression! But all's well that ends well eh?




NOW FOR SOME FUN!


My lucky parents were born in the late 80's so they got to experience the happy-go-lucky, take-it-easy lifestyle of the 80's
THEY HAD EVERYTHING!(Except iPods, Playstation and Flatscreens) I'm actually very jealous right now =[

My 80's Fashion Moodboard

They had Your Love by The Outfield (I wasn't even born when this song came out and I get nostalgic when I hear it)










and the classique by Marvin Gaye .... Sexual Healing

Then there was this smasher by KC and the Sunshine Band

And THERE WAS THIS!!!!!!

Cause I couldn't find any pictures of what my parents looked like in the 80's - (God knows where they hid them!)

I Made them pick 1 song that summed up the 80's for them....

Now lets compare that to the last decade of Music & Fashion *Yawns*
We'll start with this

FASHION 2000-2010

Its kinda sad to see where music went after the 80's

Nostalgia in advertising
"While science is still struggling to unravel the neuro-dynamics of nostalgia, studies have identified some nostalgic cues that can be exploited and how images and sounds from the past can create favorable attitudes about products." - Bob Deutsch, President of Warc.com

The Christmas Coca-Cola advert is a perfect example of Bob's statement... Whenever you hear this advert, no matter where you are in the world you get a buzz and suddenly you're in the mood for mistletoe, turkey and more importantly SPENDING!


In Layman's terms... HO HO HO! Go Spend Your Money!


Nostalgic Ads are perfect because they get at your emotions so deeply you don't even realise you want to buy the product being marketed at you.




Bob Deutsch's take on Nostalgia in advertising
http://www.warc.com/Blogs/FullBlog.asp?BlogID=1034


A Really good blog entry on Nostalgia: http://veryevolved.com/2009/02/neuroscience-and-nostalgia/


A Really "interesting" take on Nostalgia: http://www.charminghealth.com/applicability/nostalgia.htm