Finding refuge in reverie: The terror management function of nostalgic entertainment experiences

ABSTRACT Drawing on terror management theory (TMT), three experiments examined the impact of mortality threat on nostalgic entertainment experiences. Study 1 (N = 98) validated the stimuli used to elicit three different types of threat: mortality, isolation, and illness. Study 2 (N = 464) found no impact of these threats on participants’ entertainment preferences. Consistent with TMT, Study 3 (N = 906) found that participants experienced a deeper sense of appreciation and solace when they watched a movie under mortality threat. However, these effects only occurred for a lighthearted movie with nostalgic qualities (i.e., Pixar’s Toy Story) and not for a meaningful movie with death-related themes (i.e., Pixar’s Onward). The results illustrated the need for entertainment theorists to adopt a more expansive conceptualization of meaningfulness.