A new study found that people who feel nostalgic about the past are more optimistic about their future.

Researchers of a new study term nostalgia as not just a past-oriented emotion but also a future influencing factor. A team of researchers from the University of Southampton conducted this study to see how feeling nostalgic can influence one's future.

"Nostalgia is experienced frequently and virtually by everyone and we know that it can maintain psychological comfort," Dr Tim Wildschut, co-author of the study said in a press statement. "For example, nostalgic reverie can combat loneliness. We wanted to take that a step further and assess whether it can increase a feeling of optimism about the future."

For this study, they asked a group of participants to recall a nostalgic event and write about it. Another group of participants were asked to recall and write about an ordinary event. The number of optimistic words used by both groups of participants was then compared. Researchers noted that the participants who wrote about a nostalgic moment used more optimistic words.

In another experiment, one group was made to hear nostalgic songs while the other group heard controlled songs. Researchers found that the first group reported a higher level of optimism than the controlled group.

In a third experiment, song lyrics that were previously recognized to be nostalgic were given to a group of participants. It was again observed that this group reported a higher level of optimism than the group that read controlled lyrics.

"Nostalgia raises self-esteem which in turn heightens optimism. Our findings have shown that nostalgia does have the capacity to facilitate perceptions of a more positive future," Dr. Wildschut concluded. Memories of the past can help to maintain current feelings of self-worth and can contribute to a brighter outlook on the future. Our findings do imply that nostalgia, by promoting optimism, could help individuals cope with psychological adversity."