Music is awesome: Influences of emotion, personality, and preference on experienced awe

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.

Awe and the interconnected self

“…When participants were allowed to choose among a number of virtual environments, they experienced a greater increase in awe. Similarly, Pilgrim et al (2017) found that individuals who listened to their own musical preferences from a selection of music genres were more likely to experience awe.…”

“…Dispositional awe has been associated with a low need for cognitive closure and a higher tolerance for uncertainty (Shiota et al, 2007). Such a tolerance may lead awe-prone individuals to naturally orient themselves toward science (Gottlieb et al, 2018) or aesthetic experiences (Pilgrim et al, 2017;Silvia et al, 2015) -stimuli and experiences that are informationrich, complex, and uncertain.…”

“…Openness to experience is one personality dimension that is also associated with a greater propensity to awe (Bride, 2016;Shiota et al, 2006;Pilgrim et al, 2017;Silvia et al, 2015). Silvia et al (2015) found that trait openness positively predicted awe in nature and music, and Pilgrim et al (2017) found that individuals high in openness experienced more awe when listening to complex and reflective music. Indeed, individuals high in openness are more likely to seek aesthetic experiences, which are information-rich sources for awe to unfold (Silvia et al, 2015;Silvia & Nusbaum, 2011).…”

The proximal experience of awe

“…Experimental studies eliciting awe have relied on a variety of induction procedures, including writing about awe-inspiring experiences (e.g., [6, 8, 10]), viewing awe-inspiring images (e.g., [8, 11]), reading awe-inspiring stories [7], listening to awe-inspiring music [12], watching awe-inspiring videos (e.g., [2, 6, 8, 10]), and having awe-inspiring experiences (e.g., [2, 6, 13]). Following the induction procedure, these studies commonly include a measure of the emotion awe (e.g., “I felt awe, wonder, amazement”) to verify that the induction (i.e., the awe experience) elicited the emotion (i.e., awe).…”

Effects of awe on consumer preferences for healthy versus unhealthy food products

“…Accommodation refers to the arrangement and adjustment process of mental structures since the existing structure cannot assimilate a new experience (Keltner & Haidt, ). “Awe distinguishes from other emotions at a cognitive‐conceptual level” (Pilgrim, Norris, & Hackathorn, , p. 443).…”