How music changes our lives: A qualitative study of the long-term effects of intense musical experiences

Schäfer, Thomas; Smukalla, Mario; Oelker, Sarah-Ann

doi:10.1177/0305735613482024

Cited by 58 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…The potential for music to provide routes to wellbeing other than pleasure is supported by two recent qualitative studies (Lamont, 2011;Schafer, Smukalla, & Oelker, 2014), where it was found that, in addition to pleasure, both absorption and transcendence were commonly reported experiences in response to music listening. …”

Section: Psychology Of Music 0(0)mentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Similarly, although some studies report a selective preference for positive over negative information, or positivity bias in older adults (Mather, 2005), other studies suggest that the major difference between younger and older adults may be in the reduction in negative affect and relative stability of positive affect in old age (Mroczek, 1998). Therefore, as positive emotion remains important throughout adult development, we do not anticipate less affective FML among older adults in general, but a stronger emphasis on positive relative to negative affordances of music listening in older relative to younger adults.Finally, like positive emotion, transcendence is a core virtue highlighted by positive psychology (Peterson & Seligman, 2004), and has been reported in music listening experiences (Lamont, 2011;Schafer et al, 2014). It has been suggested that due to a greater awareness of their mortality and an accompanying need to find meaning older adults have a greater sense of transcendence and spend more time seeking it (Piedmont, 1999), so it is possible that listening to music for transcendence and meaning is more common in older adults when compared with younger adults.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Enhancing wellbeing: An emerging model of the adaptive functions of music listening

Groarke

Hogan

2015

Psychology of Music

112

107

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Affect regulation is generally considered the most important function of music listening (FML). Yet, models of wellbeing also highlight engagement, relationships, meaning, achievement, and other adaptive functions that music may facilitate. However, there is currently no consensus as to how these adaptive FML co-function within an enhancement system that supports wellbeing. The current study used the collective intelligence methodology, Interactive Management (IM) to address this gap in the literature. Four IM sessions were conducted, two with younger adults (N = 24) and two with older adults (N = 19). Participants responded to the stimulus question "why do you listen to music?" Each participant then voted for five FML they believed were most significant for enhancing wellbeing. The eight highest ranked functions were entered into Interpretive Structural Modelling software, and relations between pairs of FML were discussed. Four structural models were generated demonstrating potential interdependencies in FML in the context of wellbeing enhancement. Age differences emerged in the FML considered adaptive: younger adults emphasized affect regulation and social connection, whereas older adults emphasized more eudaimonic functions of music (e.g., Transcendence and personal growth). The influence of FML are discussed in reference to key wellbeing and developmental theories.Research has highlighted the importance of music listening for older adults (Laukka, 2007) and younger adults (Miranda & Gaudreau, 2010;Saarikallio, 2011) in promoting quality of life and managing psychological distress. A review of the literature reveals a wide range of affective, cognitive and social functions of music listening (FML). Affective functions dominate in the literature published to date, with listening to music for mood regulation being reported as the most important function of music (Juslin & Sloboda, 2010).The majority of research in the area focuses on younger adults, with few studies examining the broader relationship between music and wellbeing across the lifespan. Listeners also report listening to music to increase focus and attention and for the cognitive stimulation associated with the analysis of complex compositions (Chamorro-Premuzic & Furnham, 2007;Chin & Rickard, 2012). The social functions of music include establishing social identity (North, Hargreaves, & O'Neill, 2000), social atmosphere (Laukka, 2007) and facilitating social bonding (Huron, 2001). All of these functions are potentially important for understanding the relationship between music listening and wellbeing across the lifespan, however further empirical work and efforts at theory building are needed. Wellbeing and music listeningAccording to traditional perspectives, the components of subjective wellbeing (SWB) are a greater ratio of positive to negative emotions, and a sense of satisfaction with life (Diener, Eunkook, Lucas, & Smith, 1999). However, eudaimonic perspectives provide a broader definition of wellbeing. For example, the Authentic Ha...

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Section: Psychology Of Music 0(0)mentioning

confidence: 95%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing wellbeing: An emerging model of the adaptive functions of music listening

Groarke

Hogan

2015

Psychology of Music

112

107

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“…On the other hand, when listeners are captivated or absorbed by music or have very intense or exceptional experiences (see protracted duration) “time will be experienced in the present as passing slowly but may be retroactively interpreted as having passed quickly” (Holmer Nadesan, 2002, p. 259). In addition, this effect can change when the experiences made are strong enough to leave traces in episodic memory, which would lead to the experience being retroactively interpreted as having lasted longer (see also Croom, 2012; Schäfer et al, 2013; for an overview about music and engagement).…”

Section: Music and The Representation Of Timementioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in the representation of space and time while listening to music

Schäfer¹,

Fachner²,

Smukalla³

2013

Front. Psychol.

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Music is known to alter people's ordinary experience of space and time. Not only does this challenge the concept of invariant space and time tacitly assumed in psychology but it may also help us understand how music works and how music can be understood as an embodied experience. Yet research about these alterations is in its infancy. This review is intended to delineate a future research agenda. We review experimental evidence and subjective reports of the influence of music on the representation of space and time and present prominent approaches to explaining these effects. We discuss the role of absorption and altered states of consciousness and their associated changes in attention and neurophysiological processes, as well as prominent models of human time processing and time experience. After integrating the reviewed research, we conclude that research on the influence of music on the representation of space and time is still quite inconclusive but that integrating the different approaches could lead to a better understanding of the observed effects. We also provide a working model that integrates a large part of the evidence and theories. Several suggestions for further research in both music psychology and cognitive psychology are outlined.

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“…A peak experience is an intricate, transcendent, and intense experience that is crucial for the development of the person. Intense musical experiences can result in lasting changes in a person's values, social relationships, and development [7].…”

Section: The Emotional Qualities Of Sound and Musicmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Sound Challenge to Visualization Design Research

Rönnberg¹,

Löwgren²

2016

Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings

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This paper is an introduction to the emotional qualities of sound and music, and we suggest that the visual and the aural modalities should be combined in the design of visualizations involving emotional expressions. We therefore propose that visualization design should incorporate sonic interaction design drawing on musicology, cognitive neuroscience of music, and psychology of music, and identify what we see as key research challenges for such an approach.

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How music changes our lives: A qualitative study of the long-term effects of intense musical experiences

Cited by 58 publications

References 35 publications

Enhancing wellbeing: An emerging model of the adaptive functions of music listening

Enhancing wellbeing: An emerging model of the adaptive functions of music listening

Changes in the representation of space and time while listening to music

The Sound Challenge to Visualization Design Research

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