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I wonder how easy it is to classify nostalgia as positive or negative affect. My grandmother seemed to simultaneously enjoy it and be saddened by it.

themodelplumber 5y ago
Negative can sometimes be used as a marker indicating that the subject is obsessed with the "lack of" looking backward being everybody's problem including their own. They may view the suggestion of its use as a function of perceived deficit in other important things. Don't got enough (thing you want) in life? You aren't looking backward enough, or you're looking backward but bringing the "wrong" lessons forward (highly subjective variant). The positive by comparison would reflect a more flexible, demonstrative capacity with the same, including more frequent deployment of it as a problem-solving tool.
- Jeff_Brown 5y ago
  > deployment of it as a problem-solving tool That's why I don't tend to look backward. I just don't see it accomplishing much. (If I felt like I needed more pleasure, and I were convinced nostalgia was reliably pleasurable and would continue to be even if I made a frequent habit of it, I might.)
  - themodelplumber 5y ago
    It's really heavily used in logistics and business stabilization. In the sense of don't get fancy, remember the founding principles, do what you know (your past). And celebrate what you know. Such businesses often do the gold watch, the pension, the career milestones celebration as part of this integration into the nostalgic whole. In other words, it's more like the psychological engine which powers the role and tool selection than the "specific way things are done" and the businesses turn into the big ones over time. Edit: It's interesting though, we could say that in your comments you are basically representing and promoting the best of your past, insofar as it informs your preferred way of doing things. The way you have learned that you like things to be, or be done, by you. So there's this overlap with nostalgia concepts and subjective perception.
    - Jeff_Brown 5y ago
      > heavily used in logistics and business stabilization That's surprising and fascinating. Is there a formal body of work on nostalgia in business?

themodelplumber 5y ago

Negative can sometimes be used as a marker indicating that the subject is obsessed with the "lack of" looking backward being everybody's problem including their own. They may view the suggestion of its use as a function of perceived deficit in other important things. Don't got enough (thing you want) in life? You aren't looking backward enough, or you're looking backward but bringing the "wrong" lessons forward (highly subjective variant). The positive by comparison would reflect a more flexible, demonstrative capacity with the same, including more frequent deployment of it as a problem-solving tool.

Jeff_Brown 5y ago
> deployment of it as a problem-solving tool That's why I don't tend to look backward. I just don't see it accomplishing much. (If I felt like I needed more pleasure, and I were convinced nostalgia was reliably pleasurable and would continue to be even if I made a frequent habit of it, I might.)
- themodelplumber 5y ago
  It's really heavily used in logistics and business stabilization. In the sense of don't get fancy, remember the founding principles, do what you know (your past). And celebrate what you know. Such businesses often do the gold watch, the pension, the career milestones celebration as part of this integration into the nostalgic whole. In other words, it's more like the psychological engine which powers the role and tool selection than the "specific way things are done" and the businesses turn into the big ones over time. Edit: It's interesting though, we could say that in your comments you are basically representing and promoting the best of your past, insofar as it informs your preferred way of doing things. The way you have learned that you like things to be, or be done, by you. So there's this overlap with nostalgia concepts and subjective perception.
  - Jeff_Brown 5y ago
    > heavily used in logistics and business stabilization That's surprising and fascinating. Is there a formal body of work on nostalgia in business?