Nostalgia counteracts the negative relation between threat appraisals and intrinsic motivation in an educational context

Abstract

We examined the coping potential of nostalgia in an educational setting. In particular, we investigated whether nostalgia can protect students from the pernicious link between threat appraisal and low intrinsic motivation. Undergraduate students (N = 382) reported threat and challenge appraisals in regards to a class they were taking, their nostalgia, as well as their intrinsic motivation. Threat appraisals predicted reduced intrinsic motivation, but were also prognostic of increased nostalgia. Nostalgia, in turn, was associated with increased intrinsic motivation. Thus, the negative direct association of threat appraisals with intrinsic motivation was counteracted by a positive indirect association via increased nostalgia—a statistical suppression pattern. Nostalgia appears to have implications for achievement contexts.