Fachbereich Erziehungswissenschaft und Psychologie der Freien Universität Berlin Why We Listen to Sad Music: Effects on Emotion and Cognition Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades Doktorin der Philosophie (Dr. phil.) Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) vorgelegt von Liila Taruffi (M.Sc./M.A.) Berlin, 2016 Erstgutachter: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Stefan Koelsch (University of Bergen) Zweitgutachter: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Arthur M. Jacobs (Freie Universität Berlin) Disputation: 21. Dezember 2016 II In memory of Riccardo Taruffi 1922 - 2013 III Eidesstattliche Erklärung Hiermit erkläre ich an Eides statt, • dass ich die vorliegende Arbeit selbständig und ohne unerlaubte Hilfe verfasst habe, • dass ich mich nicht bereits anderwärts um einen Doktorgrad beworben habe und keinen Doktorgrad in dem Promotionsfach Psychologie besitze, • dass ich die zugrunde liegende Promotionsordnung vom 02.12.2008 kenne. Berlin, den 30.05.2016 Liila Taruffi IV Table of Contents Acknowledgements ..........................................................................................VIII English Summary ............................................................................................. IX Deutsche Zusammenfassung ........................................................................... XI List of Figures .................................................................................................. XIV List of Tables .................................................................................................... XV List of Abbreviations ........................................................................................ XVII List of Original Publications ............................................................................ XIX I Theoretical Background ............................................................................... 1 Chapter 1. Introduction ................................................................................... 2 1.1 The Paradox of Sad Music ................................................................... 2 1.2 What is Sad Music? ............................................................................. 3 1.3 Music-Evoked Sadness as ªUtilitarianº or ªAestheticº Emotion ............ 5 1.4 Overview and Research Aims of the Dissertation Project .....................6 Chapter 2. Philosophical Perspectives ............................................................. 10 2.1 The Tragedy Paradox: Aristotle's Catharsis ..........................................10 2.2 The Cognitivist Take on Music-Evoked Sadness .................................. 12 2.3 Rewards of Negative Emotions: Levinson ............................................14 Chapter 3. Psychological Research .................................................................. 16 3.1 General and Music-Specific Emotion Models .......................................16 3.2 ªPerceivedº and ªFeltº Sadness ............................................................ 20 3.3 The Principles Underlying Emotion Evocation by Music ......................20 3.4 Personality Traits ¼............................................................................. 21 Chapter 4. Brain Imaging Studies ....................................................................24 4.1 Neural Correlates of Music-Evoked Sadness ........................................24 4.2 Functional Networks Underlying Listening to Sad Music .................... 27 4.3 Musical Reward ...................................................................................29 II Empirical Part ..............................................................................................32 Chapter 5. Study 1 - The Paradox of Music-Evoked Sadness: An Online Survey .............................................................................................................. 33 5.1 Abstract ................................................................................................33 5.2 Introduction .........................................................................................34 5.2.1 ``Everyday'' sadness and the paradox of music-evoked sadness ¼34 5.2.2 Pleasurable experiences underlying music-evoked sadness .........35 5.2.3 Situational factors and listener characteristics modulating the V appreciation of sad music ......................................................................37 5.2.4 Principles underlying the evocation of sadness by music ............ 38 5.2.5 The present study ........................................................................ 39 5.3 Method ................................................................................................ 39 5.3.1 Participants ¼..............................................................................39 5.3.2 Materials ..................................................................................... 40 5.4 Results ................................................................................................. 42 5.4.1 Which are the rewarding aspects of music-evoked sadness? ....... 42 5.4.2 In which situations do listeners engage with sad music? ............ 45 5.4.3 Do mood and personality modulate the liking of sad music? ...... 49 5.4.4 Which emotions are most frequently experienced in response to sad music? ........................................................................................ 50 5.4.5 What is the importance of the theoretically discussed principles underlying the evocation of sadness? .................................................... 51 5.4.6 Are emotional responses to sad music the same across cultures? 54 5.4.7 Is ``self-identified sad music'' consistent with the cultural standards of representing sadness in music? .........................................54 5.4.8 Which uses and rewards are specific to sad music? .....................56 5.5 Discussion ............................................................................................61 5.5.1 Rewards of music-evoked sadness ...............................................62 5.5.2 Situational factors and listener characteristics contributing to the appreciation of sad music ........................................................... 62 5.5.3 Emotions evoked by sad music ....................................................64 5.5.4 Principles underlying music-evoked sadness ............................... 65 5.5.5 Uses and rewards of sad music compared with happy music .....................................................................................................66 5.5.6 Cross-cultural differences in the emotional experiences associated with sad music ..................................................................... 67 5.5.7 Listeners' examples of sad music .................................................68 5.5.8 ``Real'' and music-evoked sadness ................................................69 5.5.9 Implications for music therapy .................................................... 70 5.5.10 Limitations of the study ............................................................ 71 5.6 Conclusions ......................................................................................... 71 Chapter 6. Study 2 - Sad Music Engages Mind-Wandering and the Neural Default Mode Network .....................................................................................73 6.1 Abstract ................................................................................................73 6.2 Introduction .........................................................................................74 6.3 Method ¼.............................................................................................76 6.3.1 Experiment 1 ...............................................................................76 6.3.2 Experiment 2 ¼........................................................................... 79 6.4 Results ................................................................................................. 83 6.4.1 Experiment 1 ¼........................................................................... 83 6.4.2 Experiment 2 ¼..¼..................................................................... 86 6.5 Discussion ............................................................................................88 VI Chapter 7. Study 3 - Individual Differences in Music-Perceived Emotions: The Influence of Externally-Oriented Thinking ............................................... 91 7.1 Abstract ............................................................................................... 91 7.2 Introduction ........................................................................................ 91 7.3 Method ................................................................................................ 97 7.3.1 Participants ..................................................................................97 7.3.2 Materials ..................................................................................... 98 7.3.3 Procedure .................................................................................... 99 7.4 Results ................................................................................................. 100 7.4.1 MER task .....................................................................................100 7.4.2 Individual characteristics influencing performance on the MER task ............................................................................................... 102 7.5 Discussion ¼.......................................................................................