The Pleasure Evoked by Sad Music Is Mediated by Feelings of Being Moved.

ABSTRACT: Why do we enjoy listening to music that makes us sad? This question has puzzled music psychologists for decades, but the paradox of "pleasurable sadness" remains to be solved. Recent findings from a study investigating the enjoyment of sad films suggest that the positive relationship between felt sadness and enjoyment might be explained by feelings of being moved (Hanich et al., 2014). The aim of the present study was to investigate whether feelings of being moved also mediated the enjoyment of sad music. In Experiment 1, 308 participants listened to five sad music excerpts and rated their liking and felt emotions. A multilevel mediation analysis revealed that the initial positive relationship between liking and felt sadness (r = 0.22) was fully mediated by feelings of being moved.

SUBMITTER: Vuoskoski JK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5359245 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature