Celebrating Your Circle of Life: Eudaimonic Responses to Nostalgic Entertainment Experiences

Abstract

Abstract Studies of eudaimonic entertainment experiences have primarily examined the effects of exposure to serious content (e.g., tragic movies) rather than lighthearted content that nonetheless harbors personal significance (e.g., beloved movies from childhood). Two experiments investigated the characteristics of these so-called nostalgic entertainment experiences among U.S. adults, using Star Wars movies in Study 1 (N = 1,127) and animated Disney movies in Study 2 (N = 945). Results indicate that exposure to nostalgic content elicits more appreciation than comparable content released recently (i.e., sequels and remakes), and the same level of appreciation as exposure to scenes of self-sacrifice. However, exposure to nostalgic content produces self-affirmation, whereas exposure to scenes of self-sacrifice produces self-transcendence. These findings underscore the limitations of existing two-factor models of entertainment, and modifications are proposed.