Why people listen to sad music: Effects of music sad moods

Abstract

The present study examined characteristics of music that university students listen to when in a sad mood, and the relationship of the intensity of their sad mood prior to listening to the music and the affective tone of the music, to the students' mood after listening to the music. It was hypothesized that the students' sad mood would be weakened when they had been very sad, and that it would be enhanced or unchanged when they had been only a little sad. The results of Experiments 1 and 2 indicated that no matter how severe the listeners' sad mood had been, their mood shifted to a level predicted by the affective tone of the music that they had listened to. Sad moods were weakened after listening to sad music if the listeners had felt very sad, whereas their sadness remained unchanged if they had been only a little sad. These findings suggest that sad music may be effective for easing sadness in people in a deeply sad mood, but that it may not be as effective for those who had been only a little sad.