Rosy retrospection

Rosy retrospection is a proposed psychological phenomenon of recalling the past more positively than it was actually experienced.^[1]

The highly unreliable nature of human memory is well documented and accepted amongst psychologists. Some research suggests a 'blue retrospective' which also exaggerates negative emotions.

Though it is a cognitive bias which distorts one's view of reality, it is suggested that rosy retrospection serves a useful purpose in increasing self-esteem and sense of well-being.^[2][3]

Simplifications and exaggerations of memories such as occur in rosy retrospection may make it easier for the brain to store long-term memories, as removing details may reduce the burden of those memories by requiring the generation and maintenance of fewer neural connections.^{[citation needed]}

Declinism, the predisposition to view the past more favourably and the future more negatively, may be related to cognitive biases like rosy retrospection.^[4][5]

Rosy retrospection is very closely related to the concept of nostalgia though still different respectively in being rosy retrospection being biased towards perceiving the past as better than the present.^[6]

The English idiom "rose-colored glasses" or "rose-tinted glasses" refers to perceiving something more positively than it is in reality.

The Romans occasionally referred to this phenomenon with the Latin phrase "memoria praeteritorum bonorum", which translates into English roughly as "memory of good past", or more idiomatically as "good old days".^{[7][relevant? – discuss]}