Nostalgia as a Sources of Happiness in Aging Population : Insights from India

Abstract

What started off as a word to describe a disease provoked by excessive attachment to a distant homeland, has now become a raging phenomenon in positive psychology. Nostalgia has recently faced new attention due to the uncovering of its benefits in instigating positive affect and resulting in a happier perspective of the new reality. However, nostalgia can have certain drawbacks. Over obsessive reminiscing of the past bring about a possibility of the individual expecting and yearning for utopia which brings them up for a platform of disappointment. A recent study by Stoyanova, S. Y., Giannouli, V., &Gergov, T. K focused on Sentimentality and Nostalgia in Elderly People in Bulgaria and Greece showed a trend for cross-cultural differences in the way these emotions were experienced. This further encourages the need for similar research to be conducted from culturally niche perspectives. The first part of this research aims to identify the consequent response of nostalgic experience in old age. People above 60 are largely considered to have lived through the majority of their lives and for that very reason, nostalgic experiences may have the most lasting effects on their mood and momentary state of affect. The purpose of this study is to identify how old is related to nostalgia and as well as its connectivity with the sources of happiness. The second part of this study to determine sources of happiness among the elderly to ascertain what aspects of their lives play an important role.