The analgesic effect of nostalgia elicited by idiographic and nomothetic approaches on thermal stimulus
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Updated: Aug 28, 2025

Determining heat and mechanical pain threshold in inflamed skin of human subjects
Published on: January 14, 2009
Ming Zhang1,2, Ziyan Yang1,2, Jiahui Zhong3
1CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Abstract:
Nostalgia is shown to relieve an individual's perception of pain evoked by cold water, pressure, and thermal stimuli. However, there is no direct evidence to show the analgesic effects of different nostalgia-inducing methods on various stimulus intensities. We conducted two studies to examine the analgesic effect, at different pain intensities, after inducing nostalgia either idiographically or nomothetically. Study 1 (N = 118) induced nostalgia through an idiographic approach (i.e., event reflection task) and found that nostalgia relieved both high and low thermal pain. Study 2 (N = 66) induced nostalgia through a nomothetic approach (i.e., viewing nostalgic pictures) and found that nostalgia relieved low but not high thermal pain. The findings verify the analgesic effect of nostalgia on thermal pain and suggest the potential moderating role of the nostalgia induction approach and pain intensity. Practically, these findings have implications for using nostalgia as a nonpharmacological treatment for pain.
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