Being Moved by Unfamiliar Sad Music Is Associated with High Empathy.
The paradox of enjoying listening to music that evokes sadness is yet to be fully understood. Unlike prior studies that have explored potential explanations related to lyrics, memories, and mood regulation, we investigated the types of emotions induced by unfamiliar, instrumental sad music, and whether these responses are consistently associated with certain individual difference variables. One hundred and two participants were drawn from a representative sample to minimize self-selection bias. The results suggest that the emotional responses induced by unfamiliar sad music could be characterized in terms of three underlying factors: Relaxing sadness, Moving sadness, and Nervous sadness. Relaxing sadness was characterized by felt and perceived peacefulness and positive valence. Moving sadness captured an intense experience that involved feelings of sadness and being moved. Nervous sadness was associated with felt anxiety, perceived scariness and negative valence. These interpretations were supported by indirect measures of felt emotion. Experiences of Moving sadness were strongly associated with high trait empathy and emotional contagion, but not with other previously suggested traits such as absorption or nostalgia-proneness. Relaxing sadness and Nervous sadness were not significantly predicted by any of the individual difference variables. The findings are interpreted within a theoretical framework of embodied emotions.
Department of Music, Durham UniversityDurham, UK; Department of Music, University of JyväskyläJyväskylä, Finland.
Tuomas
T
Eerola
Department of Music, University of JyväskyläJyväskylä, Finland; Faculty of Music, University of OxfordOxford, UK.
Jonna K
JK
Vuoskoski
Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, University of Helsinki Helsinki, Finland.
Hannu
H
Kautiainen
being moved; emotion; empathy; felt experience; individual differences; music; sadness
Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2003 Sep;29(9):1190-201
15189613
Behav Brain Sci. 2005 Jun;28(3):313-50; discussion 350-95
16209725
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2000 Nov;79(5):701-21
11079236
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2006 Nov;91(5):975-93
17059314
J Pers Soc Psychol. 1994 Apr;66(4):776-97
8189352
Biol Psychol. 2005 Sep;70(1):61-6
16038775
Front Psychol. 2014 Jul 22;5:805
25101047
Am Psychol. 1981 Feb;36(2):129-48
7224324
Int J Psychophysiol. 2006 Apr;60(1):34-43
15993964
Emotion. 2011 Oct;11(5):1068-72
21639629
Behav Cogn Neurosci Rev. 2004 Jun;3(2):71-100
15537986
Science. 1981 Jul 10;213(4504):220-2
6166045
Biol Psychiatry. 2003 Dec 15;54(12):1389-98
14675803
Cortex. 2009 Oct;45(9):1072-7
19100972
Science. 2007 May 18;316(5827):1002-5
17510358
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2010 Jan;35(1):67-82
19914001
Emotion. 2010 Jun;10(3):390-403
20515227
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2000 Oct;79(4):656-69
11045745
Emotion. 2013 Jun;13(3):434-49
23398579
Behav Brain Sci. 2008 Oct;31(5):559-75; discussion 575-621
18826699
PLoS One. 2015 Jun 04;10(6):e0128451
26042816
Phys Life Rev. 2013 Sep;10(3):235-66
23769678
PLoS One. 2015 Mar 19;10(3):e0118900
25789992
Neuroimage. 2008 Aug 1;42(1):393-403
18514546
Front Psychol. 2015 Oct 27;6:1541
26578992
Front Hum Neurosci. 2016 Jan 06;9:676
26778996
J Neurosci Methods. 2010 Jun 30;190(1):80-91
20451556
PLoS One. 2014 Oct 20;9(10):e110490
25330315
Br J Clin Psychol. 2004 Sep;43(Pt 3):245-65
15333231
Front Psychol. 2014 May 28;5:502
24904511
Front Psychol. 2015 Jan 12;5:1529
25628581
Int J Psychophysiol. 2004 Jul;53(2):91-103
15210287
PLoS One. 2016 Jun 14;11(6):e0157444
27300268
Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 1993 Apr;41(2):112-23
8468103
J Pers Soc Psychol. 1988 Jun;54(6):1063-70
3397865