Concurrents – Environmental Psychology: Familiar Can Be Best

by Sally Augustin, Ph.D. | October 14th, 2019

Although society often seems to prioritize change, sometimes something more familiar is best. Generally, research has shown that we’re more up for the unfamiliar when we’re in a more positive mood than when we’re in a more negative one. A recent study by Ortlieb and Carbon (2019) details when we may feel better about moving from the familiar and when we won’t: “Whenever we feel safe and self-sufficient…our interest in unfamiliar [options] [increases] as well as in innovative, cognitively challenging aesthetic stimuli (art). By contrast, when we feel vulnerable and dependent, a longing for safety and relatedness (nostalgia) attracts us not only to familiar and trustworthy individuals but also to conventional aesthetic stimuli charged with positive emotions…any episode in life during which needs for security and attachment are significantly augmented (e.g., couples expecting a baby) should be associated with a greater susceptibility for familiar, easy-to-process-stimuli, whereas life events that boost people’s …