Firstly, the demographic of experiencers spanned a much wider range than anticipated. They also conducted several studies, methodically analyzing participants’ experiences of nostalgia given different contexts and prompts. In 1999, Constantine Sedikides, Ph.D., assembled a team of psychologists at Southampton University to create the Southampton Nostalgia Questionnaire, intended to track people’s experiences of nostalgia.
Rather, as the OED states, nostalgia is “a sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past.” It is a state of mind, an activity. Obviously, cowbells had nothing to do with the phenomenon, and psychologists soon figured out that nostalgia is neither pathology nor a form of depression. Coined in 1688 by physician Johannes Hofer, who treated afflicted Swiss soldiers in France, nostalgia is a pairing of the ancient Greek “nóstos,” meaning, “return home,” and “álgos,” meaning “pain.” The homesick Swiss men, psychologists, and physicians mused, must have suffered neurological damage due to the cowbells prevalent in their homeland’s rolling hills, leading to acute withdrawal symptoms. Before we go any further, though, let’s trace nostalgia to its formal origins.
Forbes journalists have even highlighted something called “nostalgia marketing” as a surefire way for brands to sink their teeth into wistful youths, eager to revisit the days of Mad Libs and Oscar Mayer’s Lunchables. The ‘90s have also come back with a vengeance, as millennials lace their necks with black chokers and turn to Buzzfeed for nostalgia-porn.
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