The dark side of nostalgia: Yearning for the past fosters bribe-taking

Past work has demonstrated the psychological benefits of nostalgia; however, little is known about its 'dark side'. Considering both the sociality of nostalgia and the relational nature of bribery, we proposed that nostalgia would bolster social connectedness, which, in turn, would promote bribe-taking. We conducted four experiments (N = 887 online and laboratory participants) to test this assumption. Experimentally induced nostalgia boosted the willingness to take a bribe across different scenarios (Experiments 1 and 2) and facilitated bribe-taking behaviour (Experiment 3); the increased social connectedness accounted for these effects (Experiments 2 and 3). Furthermore, the positive effect of social connectedness on bribe-taking was salient, especially when bribe-taking was framed as a way of establishing social relationships (Experiment 4). The findings not only broaden our understanding of nostalgia and bribe-taking but also provide practical implications for anti-bribery initiatives.