The Nostalgia Trap

If I had a rupee for every time someone said “I wish we could go back to 2016”, I would probably be writing this from a very comfortable beach villa. Unfortunately, as I sit far away from the beach, I wonder what it is about that year that makes people yearn for it. Admittedly, while some very groovy music tracks were dropped in 2016, we also witnessed some unnerving events such as the Pathankot attack, the collapse of Kolkata’s Vivekananda flyover, the Assam floods, unrest within Kashmir, earthquakes across Taiwan, Italy and New Zealand and the California wildfires! Upon being presented these facts, you may see the confusion that led to my initial question- What is it about that year that makes people, including me, yearn for it?

The answer lies in the Latin phrase ‘Memoria Praeteritorum Bonorum’ translated to mean ‘the past is always well remembered’. Rosy Retrospection, in the words of Donald A. Norman is,

The tendency for people to remember and recollect events they experience more fondly and positively than they evaluated them to be at the time of their occurrence.

In easier words, we tend to remember our past events as having been better than they really were. Now you know why you walked right back into that toxic relationship or miss attending gym class! This bias is closely complimented by the phenomenon of dampening, understood as the tendency for people to minimize the favorability of events they are currently experiencing. While your past is seen as overly rosy, your present is seen as rather pale. Like they say, the grass is always greener on the other side (of time)!

This constant dissatisfaction is well reflected in our pre-pandemic craving to stay home followed by the enforced lockdown that made most of us miss spending time outside our houses. Whenever things go back to the way they used to be (fingers crossed), we might just look back on this dissatisfying lockdown period in hindsight. And here you thought that your boss was the only one impossible to please!

Rosy retrospection, however, should not be confused with nostalgia for two main reasons. Firstly, nostalgia does not necessarily refer to an inaccurate recollection and secondly, nostalgia may also refer to long periods of time, such as ‘Oh! The good old college days’, whereas rosy retrospection occurs exclusively with respect to specific events, like a vacation. An email recovered by Norman in his report would help us understand better how we rosily retrospect without realizing it!

Your discussion regarding the fact that memory of an event is more important than the experience made me remember my trip to Thailand a few years ago… I traveled for three weeks and lost 10 pounds because I didn’t like any food. There were insects on steroids everywhere I turned, and the restrooms were no joy… However, I had the time of my life and I would go back in a second. - Tammy

Sutton (1992) attempted to study this phenomenon using a more real time example of it: trips to Disneyland! He asserted that while an array of negative emotions may be felt during one’s visit to Disneyland, including but not limited to waiting in long lines, hot weather and mediocre food, the recollection of this experience focuses on the more pleasant aspects of the trip, such as how fun the rides were, how clean and aesthetic the place was or how wonderfully charming Mickey Mouse was! As a result, there is a weak link between the emotions felt during the visit to Disneyland and the rosy memory for it, leading to a willingness to re-visit. To add to this, the study shows that these abstract memories are affirmed by tangible photographs, which tend to reflect happier times. Disneyland even has designated ‘Kodak Photo Spots’ in picturesque parts of the theme park!

Why does this rose-tinted view of the past get created? Named after the overly optimistic protagonist of the book Pollyanna, the pollyanna principle refers to an unconscious bias towards positive information. This implies that people tend to perceive and process positive information more easily than negative information. This is in line with another bias called the faded effect bias which counterintuitively states that positive memories elicit a stronger emotional response than negative ones! This explains why memories for negative events are forgotten at a faster rate than their positive counterparts, as seen in the biased positive recall of the pleasant aspects of Disneyland trips by visitors.

However, memory for positive events is not simply determined by the nature of its processing. An important role is played by our prior expectations for the event. A consistency effect takes place which focuses on prevention of cognitive dissonance, a state of discomfort felt when two or more thought processes are contradictory to each other. Disneyland, and theme parks in general, elicit expectations of an enjoyable experience as we are moulded to believe that spending a day around cartoon characters will be a magical experience. Therefore, our memories for the event are in line with such beliefs to prevent dissonance between our expectations and the actual experience. In a study by Kaaren et. al (1994), they demonstrated the influence of such prior expectations by telling half of their participants that watching a film will be a pleasurable experience, while keeping the other half uninformed about what to expect from the film. These groups were further divided based on the actual experience of the event - so the groups were positive expectations-positive experience, positive expectations-negative experience, negative expectations-positive experience and negative expectations-negative experience. It was astounding to see that prior expectations not only played a role in deciding the extent to which people recollected enjoying the film, but was exclusively responsible when it came to decisions regarding willingness to partake in a similar study again! In other words, people in the negative experience condition were more willing to partake in the study if they had positive prior expectations about it than those who were neutral.

An understanding of these factors really allows us to put our own lives into perspective and the plethora of rosy retrospection we’ve been engaging in during our current lockdown situation. You may have found yourself missing travelling by the local train or commuting to work or starting the day early - things most of us did not feel positively about in the moment. In fact, The Economic Times states that long commutes not only lead to health problems such as high blood pressure, diabetes and cardiological illnesses, but also take a toll on the mind, leading to chronic stress, anxiety, frustration and substance use. Yet, 50% of the Londoners interviewed by The Conversation admitted to missing their daily commute. This would be surprising for someone who has not read this article given that the average travel time for those working in London is about 79 minutes and costs £5,256 per annum! However, you and I are no longer surprised because we know that the faded effect bias is at play causing the selective recollection of pleasurable factors associated with commuting such as ‘me time’.

Now that we are aware of this bias, should we consciously work towards preventing it from making our memories overly rosy? Here’s what I think - rosy retrospection can be troublesome when it comes to making decisions which involve speculation such as gambling and investing in stocks or in situations involving unethical amnesia, wherein memories for immoral actions such as cheating or being dishonest are less vivid and disturbing, leading to a willingness to engage in similar behaviours again. In such situations, taking the time out for self-reflection can aid in reducing the negative effects of the bias. However, in a multitude of situations, the operation of the rosy bias is beneficial for our overall well-being. Rosy retrospection allows us to focus on the good, thus inducing positive emotions, hope, helpfulness, reduced aggression, positive interpersonal interactions and generosity. In fact, a study on marathon runners shows that rosy retrospection enables them to feel motivated to run another marathon despite the failure and demotivation felt in the moment. I strongly believe that our minds, even when biased, are programmed to be on our side. In the words of Winnie the Pooh, “It never hurts to keep looking for sunshine!”.