Eye of the Beholder: Memory Recall Perspective Impacts Nostalgia's Influence on Positive Affect.

Recalling memories for which one is nostalgic provides a host of psychological benefits, including promoting positive affect. The present research (N = 409) examined how memory recall perspective impacts this affective consequence of waxing nostalgic. Memory recall perspective research indicates that people show stronger affective engagement with memories recalled from a first person perspective (seeing the event through one's own eyes, as one experienced it) rather than a third person perspective (seeing the event as an outside observer may have). Results indicated that when participants recalled memories from a first person perspective, those who recalled an event for which they felt nostalgic reported higher positive affect compared to their counterparts who recalled an ordinary past event. However, when participants recalled memories from a third person perspective, those who recalled an event for which they felt nostalgic reported levels of positive affect that did not differ from participants who recalled an ordinary past event. This finding suggests that, when comparing nostalgic reverie to recalling an ordinary past event, the extent to which nostalgia serves as a well-spring of positive affect is partially impacted by memory recall perspective.

The effect of visualizing healthy eaters and mortality reminders on nutritious grocery purchases: an integrative terror management and prototype willingness analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To use insights from an integration of the terror management health model and the prototype willingness model to inform and improve nutrition-related behavior using an ecologically valid outcome. METHOD: Prior to shopping, grocery shoppers were exposed to a reminder of mortality (or pain) and then visualized a healthy (vs. neutral) prototype. Receipts were collected postshopping and food items purchased were coded using a nutrition database. RESULTS: Compared with those in the control conditions, participants who received the mortality reminder and who were led to visualize a healthy eater prototype purchased more nutritious foods. CONCLUSION: The integration of the terror management health model and the prototype willingness model has the potential for both basic and applied advances and offers a generative ground for future research.

Sport fans' impressions of gay male athletes.

The purpose of this study was to examine sport fans' impressions of gay male athletes. Participants formed impressions of a fictional athlete from their favorite team after reading a short scenario about the player. The scenarios described the athlete as being gay or straight, and either becoming a distraction or not causing a distraction to the team. While males' ratings of the athlete did not significantly differ, female fans formed significantly more positive impressions of the gay male player than the straight athlete. These results are discussed in terms of the ingroup bias and the shifting culture of homophobia in sport.

Conceptualizing death in a worldview consistent, meaningful way and its effects on worldview defense.

Research within terror management theory (TMT) has shown that when mortality is made salient, people subsequently engage in worldview defense: an increase in derogation of an individual who does not share their worldview along with an increase in veneration of an individual who does. Research has also shown that high levels of self-esteem (either dispositionally possessed or artificially enhanced) or legitimization of one's meaning supplying system (worldview) can attenuate the increase in worldview defense typically seen after mortality salience. Extending these findings, this research examined the hypothesis that motivating participants to consider their mortality in a manner that was personally meaningful and thus consistent with their particular worldview would also serve to assuage the need for worldview defense. The research reported below supported this reasoning. Specifically, participants with a Christian religious background who were given the typical mortality salience prime produced more positive evaluations of a Christian target and more negative evaluations of a Jewish target. However, participants with a Christian religious background who were presented with a meaningful mortality salience induction produced evaluations of the Christian and Jewish targets that did not differ. The implications of conceptualizing death meaningfully are discussed.