What makes you feel nostalgic? A self-generated approach to nostalgia-evoking cues

Abstract

Nostalgia is often characterised as a predominantly positive, mixed-valence emotion that arises when recalling autobiographical memories from one’s personal past. Nostalgic recollections may emerge involuntarily in response to environmental stimuli, such an old photograph or music, or through deliberate voluntary retrieval. The present study examined how individuals describe what makes them feel nostalgic, using a minimally constrained, open-ended self-generated approach. Participants (N = 256) responded to the question What makes you feel nostalgic? Their responses were coded for cue type and subtype, type of nostalgia, content and theme, and cultural life script events; and analysed for gender differences. Participants most frequently referred to sensory and environmental elements such as photographs, music, media, smells, conversations, and food. The majority of responses reflected personal nostalgia, whereas cultural life script events were less prominently represented, with the exception of childhood. Gender differences were modest. The study offers a descriptive mapping of how nostalgia is articulated when individuals are not constrained by predefined categories. The convergence between reported elements and themes identified in experimental designs suggests that certain sensory domains are consistent features of nostalgic remembering. These findings highlight the value of participant-centered approaches for understanding how nostalgia is described in everyday contexts.