What’s New Is Old Again: Nostalgia and Retro-Styling in Response to Authenticity Threats

Nostalgia is both a past- and self-referencing emotion that provides diverse psychological benefits. In this article, we explore retro-styling as a means for tapping into nostalgia. We define retro-styling as new objects that, through their design, reference the past. We propose that threats to authenticity lead to heightened preference for these retro-styled objects because they can create a sense of self-continuity by linking present...