Arts and Humanities Commons^™

How Music Awakens The Heart: An Experimental Study On Music, Emotions, And Connectedness, Rebecca N. H. De Leeuw, Sophie Janicke-Bowles, Qihao Ji

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Many studies in the field of positive media psychology have investigated the effects of meaningful film on viewer’s feelings and openness to others, all the while music is the number #1 media source for feeling moved, touched or inspired. Therefore, the current study examined the role of meaningful compared to pleasurable music on listeners emotional experiences, feelings of connectedness, and altruistic behaviors. In a pre-posttest experiment, 105 participants (M_age = 23.800; SD = 6.082; 77.3% female) listened to either their favorite meaningful music or their favorite pleasurable music. Findings revealed that listening to meaningful music leads to stronger …