David Baxter PhD
Late Founder
Sad - in a nice way!
by Annelies van Goethem
PhD student, School of Psychology, Keele University
Whether consciously chosen or not, music often influences our moods. However, we know that music of our own choice influences our moods more (Sloboda, O'Neill, & Ivaldi, 2001). From exposure and lifelong experience with music, we develop knowledge of which kinds of music influences us in which ways. We use this knowledge to actively influence our moods in the direction we desire - maintaining a relaxed mood, changing an angry mood, creating a happy mood or even enhancing a sad mood. This is known as mood regulation (Larsen, 2000).
In the general mood regulation literature many different ways have been defined in which people can regulate moods. People may try to distract themselves from the situation or the mood, rationalize it, vent their emotions, try to relax, or engage in introspection. All these ways of mood regulation are termed mood regulation strategies. However, music does not seem to be such a broad way of mood regulation, but acts to support these broader strategies. It can help evoke introspective thoughts, it can help us to relax, and so on. In other words, music can be seen as a mood regulation tactic which can help mood regulation strategies.
Let?s imagine Sarah. She is on her way to a job interview, and she is very nervous. She wants to distract herself from her thoughts and her feelings. She turns up the volume of her favourite CD in her car and starts to sing along. The music helps her to ?forget? about the interview for a while and when she arrives at the interview she is in a more relaxed and uplifted mood. Sarah?s behaviour illustrates how music helps us to regulate mood by helping to engage in broader strategies like distraction, introspection, venting and so on. In my own research I have carried out two survey questionnaires where people were asked to distinguish mood regulation tactics and mood regulation strategies from a list of 100 different ways to influence moods. They were also asked how often they used the different strategies and tactics. Respondents overwhelmingly rated music listening as a tactic, and they also rated it as by far the most common way of regulating their moods.
Listening to music is not the only tactic we can use to regulate our moods. Sarah could have called a friend, or if she was travelling by train she could have read a book or magazine. Other examples of mood regulation tactics are exercising, doing housework, watching TV, or eating (Parkinson & Totterdell, 1999; Thayer, Newman, & McClain, 1994). All these tactics can also support broader mood regulation strategies. Music however, was shown in my questionnaires to be the most widely used mood regulation tactic. This is possibly due in part to our lifelong experience and consequent skilful use of it, but also down to the enormous accessibility of music (Schramm, 2005). We can listen to music at home, in the car, or while walking. Additionaly we can combine listening to music with many other activities like exercising, working, travelling, and doing mundane tasks.
In a diary study I asked participants to monitor their deliberate music listening for a week. They filled out a questionnaire for every music listening episode they had in the week, and reported how their mood changed from before the music to after the music, what their intention to listen to the music had been (did they intend to regulate their mood, or were there other reasons to listen to music?), and noted which strategies were supported by the music. In follow-up interviews participants were asked to explain in more depth how they thought the music exactly had helped them with their mood regulation. Participants reported that they intended to regulate their mood by music listening in half of the occasions. Additionally in half of the occasions in which mood regulation was not intended, the participant?s mood was still influenced by the music.
These results show that music can be used to regulate a wide variety of different moods. Although people mostly try to change into or create a positive mood, sometimes they decide to create, maintain, or even enhance a negative mood. They can do this, for example, by listening to music that reminds them of past events, which helps them to introspect about their feelings. It might seem strange to think that people would want to actively make themselves sad or melancholic. However, this so-called downward regulation does have some important functions. Participants explained that it is sometimes necessary to feel sad to be able to communicate feelings (e.g. while writing a letter to a friend whom you miss very much). In some cases it is easier to understand why we are sad after enhancing the feeling. When we understand the origins of our feelings it makes it possible to deal with them. In many cases participants simply reported to enjoy being sad with music. They enjoy listening to music, and the memories it often evokes, even if it makes them sad. Together with the high controllability of the music - we often know what effect it will have, and we can turn it off whenever we want - becoming sad with music seems a safe thing to do. Music makes us feel ?sad in a nice way?.
In conclusion, music seems to help us with mood regulation by helping mood regulation strategies. Even though we are not always aware of the strategy we use ? Sarah might not have consciously thought: ?I must distract myself from my anxiety? ? when we consciously think about why we listened to the music, and how it helped us to regulate our mood, it appears to be through broader strategies. The high accesibility of music, and our skilful use of it, makes music such a successful and powerful mood regulation tactic.
Reference List
by Annelies van Goethem
PhD student, School of Psychology, Keele University
Whether consciously chosen or not, music often influences our moods. However, we know that music of our own choice influences our moods more (Sloboda, O'Neill, & Ivaldi, 2001). From exposure and lifelong experience with music, we develop knowledge of which kinds of music influences us in which ways. We use this knowledge to actively influence our moods in the direction we desire - maintaining a relaxed mood, changing an angry mood, creating a happy mood or even enhancing a sad mood. This is known as mood regulation (Larsen, 2000).
In the general mood regulation literature many different ways have been defined in which people can regulate moods. People may try to distract themselves from the situation or the mood, rationalize it, vent their emotions, try to relax, or engage in introspection. All these ways of mood regulation are termed mood regulation strategies. However, music does not seem to be such a broad way of mood regulation, but acts to support these broader strategies. It can help evoke introspective thoughts, it can help us to relax, and so on. In other words, music can be seen as a mood regulation tactic which can help mood regulation strategies.
Let?s imagine Sarah. She is on her way to a job interview, and she is very nervous. She wants to distract herself from her thoughts and her feelings. She turns up the volume of her favourite CD in her car and starts to sing along. The music helps her to ?forget? about the interview for a while and when she arrives at the interview she is in a more relaxed and uplifted mood. Sarah?s behaviour illustrates how music helps us to regulate mood by helping to engage in broader strategies like distraction, introspection, venting and so on. In my own research I have carried out two survey questionnaires where people were asked to distinguish mood regulation tactics and mood regulation strategies from a list of 100 different ways to influence moods. They were also asked how often they used the different strategies and tactics. Respondents overwhelmingly rated music listening as a tactic, and they also rated it as by far the most common way of regulating their moods.
Listening to music is not the only tactic we can use to regulate our moods. Sarah could have called a friend, or if she was travelling by train she could have read a book or magazine. Other examples of mood regulation tactics are exercising, doing housework, watching TV, or eating (Parkinson & Totterdell, 1999; Thayer, Newman, & McClain, 1994). All these tactics can also support broader mood regulation strategies. Music however, was shown in my questionnaires to be the most widely used mood regulation tactic. This is possibly due in part to our lifelong experience and consequent skilful use of it, but also down to the enormous accessibility of music (Schramm, 2005). We can listen to music at home, in the car, or while walking. Additionaly we can combine listening to music with many other activities like exercising, working, travelling, and doing mundane tasks.
In a diary study I asked participants to monitor their deliberate music listening for a week. They filled out a questionnaire for every music listening episode they had in the week, and reported how their mood changed from before the music to after the music, what their intention to listen to the music had been (did they intend to regulate their mood, or were there other reasons to listen to music?), and noted which strategies were supported by the music. In follow-up interviews participants were asked to explain in more depth how they thought the music exactly had helped them with their mood regulation. Participants reported that they intended to regulate their mood by music listening in half of the occasions. Additionally in half of the occasions in which mood regulation was not intended, the participant?s mood was still influenced by the music.
These results show that music can be used to regulate a wide variety of different moods. Although people mostly try to change into or create a positive mood, sometimes they decide to create, maintain, or even enhance a negative mood. They can do this, for example, by listening to music that reminds them of past events, which helps them to introspect about their feelings. It might seem strange to think that people would want to actively make themselves sad or melancholic. However, this so-called downward regulation does have some important functions. Participants explained that it is sometimes necessary to feel sad to be able to communicate feelings (e.g. while writing a letter to a friend whom you miss very much). In some cases it is easier to understand why we are sad after enhancing the feeling. When we understand the origins of our feelings it makes it possible to deal with them. In many cases participants simply reported to enjoy being sad with music. They enjoy listening to music, and the memories it often evokes, even if it makes them sad. Together with the high controllability of the music - we often know what effect it will have, and we can turn it off whenever we want - becoming sad with music seems a safe thing to do. Music makes us feel ?sad in a nice way?.
In conclusion, music seems to help us with mood regulation by helping mood regulation strategies. Even though we are not always aware of the strategy we use ? Sarah might not have consciously thought: ?I must distract myself from my anxiety? ? when we consciously think about why we listened to the music, and how it helped us to regulate our mood, it appears to be through broader strategies. The high accesibility of music, and our skilful use of it, makes music such a successful and powerful mood regulation tactic.
Reference List
- Larsen, R. J. (2000). Toward a Science of Mood Regulation. Psychological Inquiry, 11, 129-141.
- Parkinson, B. and Totterdell, P. (1999). Classifying Affect-regulation Strategies. Cognition and Emotion, 13, 277-303.
- Schramm, H. (2005). Rezeption von Musik. In H.Schramm (Ed.), Mood Management durch Musik: Die allt?gliche Nutzung von Musik zur Regulierung von Stimmungen (pp. 55-109). K?ln: Herbert von Halem Verlag.
- Sloboda, J. A., O'Neill, S. A., and Ivaldi, A. (2001). Functions of music in everyday life: An exploratory study using the Experience Sampling Method. Musicae Scientiae, 5, 9-32.
- Thayer, R. E., Newman, J. R., and McClain, T. M. (1994). Self-regulation of mood: Strategies for changing a bad mood, raising energy, and reducing tension. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 910-925.
