The Emotional Use of Popular Music by Adolescents

Abstract

This study follows up on some recent calls for study of music as a mass medium. An intensive study of high school teenagers finds that music serves as a powerful communication medium, speaking directly to emotions. Here, both men and women most often associated these emotions with music: excitement, happiness and love. Women were somewhat more likely to associate emotions with music and to use music for “mood management.” Social class, race and ethnicity generally did not discriminate among emotions felt by men and women. Cluster analysis allowed these youths to be sorted into different types of listeners: “mainstreamers” “heavy rockers,” “indifferents” and “music lovers.”

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Social Anxiety in İstanbul Heavy Metal Bar Patrons

“…The general public notion of heavy metal fans is that they are usually assertive and comfortable in social relations. Supporting this idea, two studies found that heavy metal preference was linked with assertiveness (15,24). However, conversely, our results above-mentioned reveal that heavy metal bar patrons may be at risk of social anxiety disorder.…”

From Sound to Significance: Exploring the Mechanisms Underlying Emotional Reactions to Music

“…Emotions belong the broad field of 'affect', which also includes moods, preferences and personality traits (see Keltner, Oatley, & Jenkins, 2006, Chapter 1 Sloboda, 1992;Wells & Hakanen, 1991;Zentner, Grandjean, & Scherer, 2008).…”

“…(The selected terms roughly cover the nine factors of GEMS-9, proposed by Zentner, Grandjean, and Scherer (2008), but since there exists no validated version of GEMS-9 in Swedish, and the scale lacks terms that were needed in this study (e.g., surprise), we decided to use a customized scale.) The list features the emotions most commonly reported in previous studies (Juslin & Laukka, 2004;Juslin et al, 2011;Wells & Hakanen, 1991;Zentner et al, 2008). In addition to 12 discrete emotions, listeners also rated liking and familiarity for each version, and whether they experienced any 'chills' (defined as piloerection; gåshud in Swedish everyday terminology).…”

“…Indeed, the intense emotions that music arouses helps to explain why people spend more money on music than on prescription drugs (Huron, 2001). Accordingly, an account of the attraction music holds for most people must at least in part be an account of emotions.Emotions belong the broad field of 'affect', which also includes moods, preferences and personality traits (see Keltner, Oatley, & Jenkins, 2006, Chapter 1 Sloboda, 1992;Wells & Hakanen, 1991;Zentner, Grandjean, & Scherer, 2008).These states, which may be conceptualized as both 'everyday emotions' (e.g., sadness) and 'aesthetic emotions' (e.g., awe) (Juslin, 2013), represent the findings that a theory of music and emotion must be able to explain.Still, it needs to be acknowledged that we often hear music, without actually feeling any emotion at all -at least not one aroused by the music. According to some estimates, the music arouses emotions in only about 55 -65% of the episodes, and there seem to be large individual differences in overall prevalence (Juslin & Laukka, 2004;.…”

“…Survey and experience sampling studies 1 to date suggest that music evokes a wide range of emotional states, including calm, happiness, nostalgia, interest, pleasure, sadness, arousal, love and pride, and numerous synonymous terms (e.g., Juslin & Laukka, 2004;Juslin et al, , 2011Sloboda, 1992;Wells & Hakanen, 1991;Zentner, Grandjean, & Scherer, 2008).…”