Does feeling nostalgic make it easier for us to feel connected to nature?

In one of my early studies, I had participants walk outside either in nature or an “urban” location. While they were walking, I had them record their thoughts out loud on a device we had provided them. When I listened to the recordings, I noticed that many of the participants mentioned ideas related to nostalgia. It seemed like it might be an important piece of the puzzle.

When I looked a little further into the literature on nostalgia, I noticed all sorts of signs that suggested nostalgia might be able to make us more connected to nature. Some studies found that nostalgia positively predicted social connectedness. Other studies suggested that nostalgia predicted meaning in life (which my other research suggested predicts connectedness). Nostalgia had been specifically shown to influence our sense of self. So it seemed like nostalgia really might be an important precursor of connectedness.

So I started a project looking at the association between connectedness to nature and nostalgia. However, the project is still in progress and I will wait to discuss the results until it is out of the peer review process. Stay tuned!