Research suggests that people frequently use music to regulate their emotions. However, little is known about what kinds of music may regulate affective states. To investigate this, we examined how the music preferences of 794 university students were associated with their use of music to regulate emotions. We found that preferences for pop, rap/hip-hop, soul/funk, and electronica/dance music were positively associated with using music to increase emotional arousal. Soul/funk music preferences were also positively associated with using music for up-regulating positive emotionality and down-regulating negative emotionality. More broadly, energetic and rhythmic music was positively associated with using all examined forms of musical emotion regulation, suggesting this dimension of music is especially useful in modulating emotions. These results highlight the potential use of music as a tool for emotion regulation. Future research can extend our findings by examining the efficacy of different types of music at modulating emotional states.
Aging into later life is often accompanied by social disconnection, anxiety, and sadness. Negative emotions are self-focused states with detrimental effects on aging and longevity. Awe-a positive emotion elicited when in the presence of vast things not immediately understood-reduces self-focus, promotes social connection, and fosters prosocial actions by encouraging a "small self." We investigated the emotional benefits of a novel "awe walk" intervention in healthy older adults. Sixty participants took weekly 15-min outdoor walks for 8 weeks; participants were randomly assigned to an awe walk group, which oriented them to experience awe during their walks, or to a control walk group. Participants took photographs of themselves during each walk and rated their emotional experience. Each day, they reported on their daily emotional experience outside of the walk context. Participants also completed preand postintervention measures of anxiety, depression, and life satisfaction. Compared with participants who took control walks, those who took awe walks experienced greater awe during their walks and exhibited an increasingly "small self" in their photographs over time. They reported greater joy and prosocial positive emotions during their walks and displayed increasing smile intensity over the study. Outside of the walk context, participants who took awe walks reported greater increases in daily prosocial positive emotions and greater decreases in daily distress over time. Postintervention anxiety, depression, and life satisfaction did not change from baseline in either group. These results suggest cultivating awe enhances positive emotions that foster social connection and diminishes negative emotions that hasten decline.
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