Why do People Seek out Music that Makes Them cry? This paradox is a complex one that appears to have no single answer. Rather, numerous factors appear to be interacting in the diverse responses of individuals to music. The present study tested the hypothesis that individual differences in dissociation, absorption, fantasy proneness, empathy, and rumination would be related to the enjoyment of negative emotion in music. Fifty-nine participants completed a survey pertaining to this question. Results revealed statistically significant positive relationships between enjoyment of evoked negative emotion in response to music with both absorption and the recently reported construct of 'music empathy,' Factor analysis and a regression model confirmed these results, and the approach suggests that further study of individual differences will continue to provide new insights into some of the subtleties of the enjoyment of negative emotions in music.
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February 2011
Research Article|
February 01 2011
Individual Differences in the Enjoyment of Negative Emotion in Music: A Literature Review and Experiment
Emery Schubert
Emery Schubert
The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
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Music Perception (2011) 28 (3): 279–296.
Citation
Sandra Garrido, Emery Schubert; Individual Differences in the Enjoyment of Negative Emotion in Music: A Literature Review and Experiment. Music Perception 1 February 2011; 28 (3): 279–296. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2011.28.3.279
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