“Someone Like You” by Adele, “Yesterday” by the Beatles, and “Wake Me Up When September Ends” by Green Day all have two distinct commonalities: they are all considered sad songs, and they have all been within the top 10 on Billboard’s “Hot 100” chart—“Yesterday” and “Someone Like You” remaining at #1 for multiple days. This is quite the paradox and raises the question: if humans generally desire to prevent sad experiences and associations, then why are some people attracted to sad music and why do they find pleasure in listening to it? Many scientists, philosophers and psychologists have been debating, questioning, and researching this phenomenon and this has led to varied neurological and psychological discoveries and theories. For the most
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Huron conducted a study where he asked people about their experience when listening to sad music. He found that between two-thirds and four-fifths of listeners agreed with the statement “I enjoy listening to sad music.” Additionally, he found that between one-tenth and one-third of listeners agreed with the reverse statement: “I don’t really enjoy listening to sad music,” and around one-tenth agree with the statement “sad music is the music I most enjoy.” He also discovered a slight percentage that claimed to actively “hate” sad music (Huron, 2011). Because of these results, he focused on determining what exactly it is that makes certain types of people, such as the people in his study, intentionally seek out and listen to nominally sad music. He found that sad music genuinely evokes sad emotions within some people. This is induced through various stimuli, which include: sad acoustic features, learned associations, and cognitive rumination (Huron, 2011). However, a portion of these people also stated that, in addition to sadness, they felt positive emotions as well. Huron believes these results can be attributed to the hormone prolactin, which induces a positive “feel-good” state. Huron used a study done by Rebecca Turner in order to further his theory that …show more content…
It is evident that there are many ongoing debates and studies in order to attempt to answer this question from philosophical, psychological, and neurological perspectives. However, it is clear from the majority of studies that psychological rewards and personality traits play a large role. This musical paradox will continue to confuse and evoke wonder in scientists and music-lovers, especially currently, as Adele’s new album “25”—the epitome of depressing ballads—continues to soar to the top of the music charts. Although it is doubtful that there will ever be a solid consensus regarding the attraction to sad music, the research that has been done is promising and provides confidence that the future will provide even more clarity on this
Huron conducted a study where he asked people about their experience when listening to sad music. He found that between two-thirds and four-fifths of listeners agreed with the statement “I enjoy listening to sad music.” Additionally, he found that between one-tenth and one-third of listeners agreed with the reverse statement: “I don’t really enjoy listening to sad music,” and around one-tenth agree with the statement “sad music is the music I most enjoy.” He also discovered a slight percentage that claimed to actively “hate” sad music (Huron, 2011). Because of these results, he focused on determining what exactly it is that makes certain types of people, such as the people in his study, intentionally seek out and listen to nominally sad music. He found that sad music genuinely evokes sad emotions within some people. This is induced through various stimuli, which include: sad acoustic features, learned associations, and cognitive rumination (Huron, 2011). However, a portion of these people also stated that, in addition to sadness, they felt positive emotions as well. Huron believes these results can be attributed to the hormone prolactin, which induces a positive “feel-good” state. Huron used a study done by Rebecca Turner in order to further his theory that …show more content…
It is evident that there are many ongoing debates and studies in order to attempt to answer this question from philosophical, psychological, and neurological perspectives. However, it is clear from the majority of studies that psychological rewards and personality traits play a large role. This musical paradox will continue to confuse and evoke wonder in scientists and music-lovers, especially currently, as Adele’s new album “25”—the epitome of depressing ballads—continues to soar to the top of the music charts. Although it is doubtful that there will ever be a solid consensus regarding the attraction to sad music, the research that has been done is promising and provides confidence that the future will provide even more clarity on this