Individual studies and experiments the world over have shown that a strong correlation exists between music and mood --- listening to a particular kind of music impacts the mood of the listener. In fact studies have also shown that, in everyday life, music is primarily used for mood and emotion regulation. Indeed, one of the reasons music is able to transcend the barriers of language and garner universal appeal is the emotional response it evokes in its listeners. However, not all people respond similarly to the same kind of music.
A new study shows that listening to the same piece of sad music can actually make some people happy while others sad. Clearly, the difference in the response generated is due to the difference or the lack of the same in the perceived and the induced emotions experienced by the participants. Perceived emotion is defined as the act of sensing the emotional content of the stimuli whereas induced emotion is the emotion felt by the receiver after being subjected to the stimuli.
In the study, the participants with a higher level of exposure to and knowledge of music were the ones who reported being happy after listening to the music, while others reported as being sad. These participants rated the piece of sad music as highly unpleasant on the scale of perceived emotions; however, their induced emotion score was really low for the level of unpleasantness experienced by them and hence did not match with their perceived emotions score. For this reason, these participants felt that they could enjoy the piece of music without feeling sad and hence reported their emotional state as closer to being happy.
However, the findings of the study do not necessarily suggest that the perceived emotion score by the not so musically literate was low. It could just mean that either their perceived and induced emotion scores coincided or that the difference between the two was insignificant.
A new study shows that listening to the same piece of sad music can actually make some people happy while others sad. Clearly, the difference in the response generated is due to the difference or the lack of the same in the perceived and the induced emotions experienced by the participants. Perceived emotion is defined as the act of sensing the emotional content of the stimuli whereas induced emotion is the emotion felt by the receiver after being subjected to the stimuli.
In the study, the participants with a higher level of exposure to and knowledge of music were the ones who reported being happy after listening to the music, while others reported as being sad. These participants rated the piece of sad music as highly unpleasant on the scale of perceived emotions; however, their induced emotion score was really low for the level of unpleasantness experienced by them and hence did not match with their perceived emotions score. For this reason, these participants felt that they could enjoy the piece of music without feeling sad and hence reported their emotional state as closer to being happy.
However, the findings of the study do not necessarily suggest that the perceived emotion score by the not so musically literate was low. It could just mean that either their perceived and induced emotion scores coincided or that the difference between the two was insignificant.
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