Remembering our first date brings back those fuzzy feelings: The role of romantic nostalgia in relationship functioning

People often reflect nostalgicallyon the momentous occasions of their relationships. Experiencing romantic nostalgia–nostalgia for shared experiences with one's current romantic partner—likely confers relationship-specific benefits. Indeed, prior research indirectly hints at this assumed outcome by looking at relationship narratives. More recent work provides direct evidence that romantic nostalgia is both positively correlated with and causally enhances relationship-specific benefits. We describe such research and discuss avenues for future investigations that address mechanisms and potential downsides of romantic nostalgia while exploring translational possibilities.