The psychological functions of music listening
Why do people listen to music? Over the past several decades, scholars have proposed numerous functions that listening to music might fulfill. However, different theoretical approaches, different methods, and different samples have left a heterogeneous picture regarding the number and nature of musi...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2013-08-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00511/full |
| _version_ | 1819239058284478464 |
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| author | Thomas eSchäfer Peter eSedlmeier Christine eStädtler David eHuron |
| author_facet | Thomas eSchäfer Peter eSedlmeier Christine eStädtler David eHuron |
| author_sort | Thomas eSchäfer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Why do people listen to music? Over the past several decades, scholars have proposed numerous functions that listening to music might fulfill. However, different theoretical approaches, different methods, and different samples have left a heterogeneous picture regarding the number and nature of musical functions. Moreover, there remains no agreement about the underlying dimensions of these functions. Part one of the paper reviews the research contributions that have explicitly referred to musical functions. It is concluded that a comprehensive investigation addressing the basic dimensions underlying the plethora of functions of music listening is warranted. Part two of the paper presents an empirical investigation of hundreds of functions that could be extracted from the reviewed contributions. These functions were distilled to 129 non-redundant functions that were then rated by 834 respondents. Principal component analysis suggested three distinct underlying dimensions: People listen to music to regulate arousal and mood, to achieve self-awareness, and as an expression of social relatedness. The first and second dimensions were judged to be much more important than the third – a result that contrasts with the idea that music has evolved primarily as a means for social cohesion and communication. The implications of these results are discussed in light of theories on the origin and the functionality of music listening and also for the application of musical stimuli in all areas of psychology and for research in music cognition. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-23T13:46:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d70a9987d05f43d09437f6dfcab4a78d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-23T13:46:05Z |
| publishDate | 2013-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-d70a9987d05f43d09437f6dfcab4a78d2022-12-21T17:44:44ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782013-08-01410.3389/fpsyg.2013.0051154458The psychological functions of music listeningThomas eSchäfer0Peter eSedlmeier1Christine eStädtler2David eHuron3Chemnitz University of TechnologyChemnitz University of TechnologyChemnitz University of TechnologyTho Ohio State UniversityWhy do people listen to music? Over the past several decades, scholars have proposed numerous functions that listening to music might fulfill. However, different theoretical approaches, different methods, and different samples have left a heterogeneous picture regarding the number and nature of musical functions. Moreover, there remains no agreement about the underlying dimensions of these functions. Part one of the paper reviews the research contributions that have explicitly referred to musical functions. It is concluded that a comprehensive investigation addressing the basic dimensions underlying the plethora of functions of music listening is warranted. Part two of the paper presents an empirical investigation of hundreds of functions that could be extracted from the reviewed contributions. These functions were distilled to 129 non-redundant functions that were then rated by 834 respondents. Principal component analysis suggested three distinct underlying dimensions: People listen to music to regulate arousal and mood, to achieve self-awareness, and as an expression of social relatedness. The first and second dimensions were judged to be much more important than the third – a result that contrasts with the idea that music has evolved primarily as a means for social cohesion and communication. The implications of these results are discussed in light of theories on the origin and the functionality of music listening and also for the application of musical stimuli in all areas of psychology and for research in music cognition.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00511/fullMusicself-awarenessmood regulationfunctions of musicsocial relatednessarousal regulation |
| spellingShingle | Thomas eSchäfer Peter eSedlmeier Christine eStädtler David eHuron The psychological functions of music listening Frontiers in Psychology Music self-awareness mood regulation functions of music social relatedness arousal regulation |
| title | The psychological functions of music listening |
| title_full | The psychological functions of music listening |
| title_fullStr | The psychological functions of music listening |
| title_full_unstemmed | The psychological functions of music listening |
| title_short | The psychological functions of music listening |
| title_sort | psychological functions of music listening |
| topic | Music self-awareness mood regulation functions of music social relatedness arousal regulation |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00511/full |
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