Music choice as a sadness regulation strategy for resolved versus unresolved sad events

Abstract

This research examined individuals’ preference for happy music when dealing with resolved versus unresolved sad events. In experiment 1 ( N = 49), participants dealing with unresolved sad events were more likely to select music that was happy, exciting, upbeat, and active than those dealing with resolved sad events. Unresolved sadness participants also wanted to listen to music that was significantly happier, more exciting, more upbeat, and more active than the music selected by the resolved sadness participants. In experiment 2 ( N = 79), we employed a ‘mood-freeze’ procedure to investigate whether participants in the unresolved sadness condition were motivated to select happy music in order to cope with their unresolved sad events. Specifically, we tested whether these individuals would still be motivated to select happy music if they were led to believe they could not regulate their feelings of sadness. As predicted, participants whose sadness was ostensibly frozen (unresolved/mood-freeze condition) and participants in resolved sadness condition were significantly less likely to select happy music, and wanted to listen to music that was less happy compared to those in the unresolved/control condition. These findings suggest that choice of happy music by the individuals dealing with unresolved sad events is motivated.