No abstract

Awe is a complex, cognitive–conceptual emotion associated with transcendence and wonder. Music has the power to create this kind of transcendence. Can music evoke awe? Previous research demonstrates that awe is associated with individual differences in personality such as openness. This study examined whether different kinds of music across a wide variety of genres can evoke awe and whether the experience of awe depends on individual differences. The study further investigated the relationship of awe to patterns of emotional responses to different dimensions of musical genre. Study 1 demonstrated that high need for cognition and low cognitive closure predicted awe for reflective and complex music, that felt happiness predicted awe for all kinds of music, and that perceived happiness and sadness predicted awe only for reflective and complex music. Study 2 replicated the finding that perceived sadness can evoke awe in reflective and complex music and further demonstrated that experienced musical awe correlates with individual differences in the tendency to experience awe more generally. These results are of interest to advertisers interested in evoking awe with music and marketers interested in segmenting to target the appropriate populations for this purpose.

Purpose – The purpose of these studies is to determine how maximizing sport fans seek optimal outcomes through team identification. Maximizers seek optimal outcomes but do not always obtain them. This may be particularly true of sport fans, who often identify with teams for reasons that run deeper than team success. Maximizing fans may be more concerned with being the best fans than following the best teams. Design/methodology/approach – In Study 1, the authors measured maximizing tendency and identification with participants’ favorite National Football League (NFL) teams. The authors then used moderated regression to predict identification levels from the interaction of maximizing and the historical win–loss records of these teams. In Study 2, the authors manipulated team success by providing participants either an optimistic or pessimistic preview of their college basketball team’s upcoming season. The authors measured maximizing tendency as a moderator of this relationship and identification with the college basketball team as the dependent variable. Findings – In Study 1, maximizers identified more strongly with their favorite NFL team when their favorite team was a historically unsuccessful team. In Study 2, maximizers identified more strongly with their college basketball team after reading a pessimistic preview of the team’s upcoming season than after reading an optimistic preview of that season. Research limitations/implications – Study 1 required participants to self-report their favorite NFL teams, so the results were only correlational. However, the authors were able to address this limitation with an experimental Study 2. Practical implications – There are a number of potential implications for sport marketing strategy. For one, sport marketers may want to appeal to fans’ desire to be the best by supporting their teams when they need it most, particularly for teams that are not performing well. Originality/value – This is the first examination of team or fan identification in the context of maximizing tendency.

Affective contrast refers to the tendency for stimuli to be judged as less evocative when preceded by more evocative same-valence stimuli. The authors used facial electromyographic (EMG) activity over corrugator supercilii, which is inversely related to affective valence, to determine if context influences underlying affective reactions. In Experiment 1, moderately pleasant pictures elicited less activity over corrugator supercilii when they were embedded among mildly pleasant, as opposed to extremely pleasant, pictures. In Experiment 2, moderately pleasant pictures elicited less activity over corrugator supercilii when they were embedded among mildly valent (i.e., pleasant and unpleasant), as opposed to extremely valent, pictures; moderately unpleasant pictures elicited comparable EMG activity regardless of context. Results indicate that context can influence affective reactions underlying affective judgments of moderately pleasant stimuli.

Wanting more, Happiness, well-being, Materialism, Have-want discrepancies, Wanting what one has, Desire fulfillment,