People tend to assume that sad music makes us feel sad and happy music makes us feel happy, even though listeners often report their emotions as more complex than that. Yet many survey-based studies require people to select only one experienced emotion. This left the researchers from The Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain, Margarida Baltazar, Iballa Burunat and Suvi Saarikallio wondering: how common it is to experience both positive (such as love, happiness and relaxation) and negative emotions (such as sadness, pain and loneliness) while listening to music?
“We wanted to capture a more complete picture of people’s experiences with music. For that, it was necessary to consider the possibility of meaningful songs triggering both positive and negative emotions. It was also important to include participants from diverse cultural backgrounds and to measure their personality, uses of music, and cultural orientation, as this allows us to understand when mixed emotions are more likely to occur”, Baltazar explains.
The new study is now available online in the Journal of Research in Personality. The researchers collected a large dataset from 2 137 participants from 84 countries. Each participant was asked to name a song that was personally meaningful to them and rate how strongly they felt each emotion while listening to it. The participants also reported how often they used music in their lives for different purposes such as remembering the past, shaping identity, and regulating their emotions (for example, managing a bad mood or coping with stress).
Listening habits shape whether we experience mixed emotions
The results showed that the way people use music affected whether they experience mixed emotions. Songs used for triggering emotions, experiencing music’s emotions, and expressing one’s own identity tended to elicit more mixed emotions, whereas songs used for emotion regulation and distraction tended to elicit less mixed emotions.
Mixed emotions were also more common among younger people, individuals who tend to experience strong and changing emotions, and individuals who prefer spontaneity and flexibility. They were also more frequent among people who value independence, goals, and achievements while accepting differences in status and success. This part is explained by cultural orientation:
“These individuals were more likely to use music to express their identity, bring back personal memories, and fully experience the music’s emotions, which in turn can lead to richer and more complex emotional experiences”, comments Baltazar.
Overall, the study highlights how individual differences, such as age, personality, and cultural orientation shape musical emotions, and songs that matter to us tend to evoke more complex emotions, revealing how nuanced our relationship with music can be.
“The next studies could examine how different musical features, such as lyrics, personal memories, mode, timbre, and other acoustic features are linked to different emotions resulting in feeling both happy and nostalgic, for example.” Baltazar suggests.
Want to learn more about your own style of music listening?
The research team is now conducting a new study on music and emotions in daily life. To take part, fill out the survey, register for the second phase of the study, and win a movie ticket.
