TY - JOUR
T1 - Who enjoys listening to violent music and why?
AU - Thompson, William Forde
AU - Geeves, Andrew M.
AU - Olsen, Kirk N.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant (DP160101470) awarded to William Forde Thompson. We thank members of the Macquarie University Music, Sound, and Performance Research Group for helpful comments on a draft.
Funding Information:
This research was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant (DP160101470) awarded to William Forde Thompson. We thank members of the Macquarie University Music, Sound, and Performance Research Group for helpful comments on a draft
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 American Psychological Association.
PY - 2019/7
Y1 - 2019/7
N2 - Negative emotions are usually avoided in daily life yet often appreciated in artistic endeavors. The present study investigated emotional experiences induced by death metal music with extremely violent themes and examined whether enjoyment of this genre of music is associated with personality traits. Fans (N = 48) and nonfans (N = 97) listened to 60-s excerpts of death metal music and rated their emotional experiences. Compared with nonfans, fans experienced a wide range of positive emotions including power, joy, peace, and wonder. In contrast, nonfans reported uniformly negative experiences, including tension, anger, and fear. Fans and nonfans were also distinguished by personality traits, with fans lower in conscientiousness and agreeableness, and in their motivations for listening to music. Results suggest that individuals with certain personality traits and music-listening motivations are drawn toward aggressive music with violent themes, and their enthusiasm for this genre promotes a range of positive emotional responses to this music.
AB - Negative emotions are usually avoided in daily life yet often appreciated in artistic endeavors. The present study investigated emotional experiences induced by death metal music with extremely violent themes and examined whether enjoyment of this genre of music is associated with personality traits. Fans (N = 48) and nonfans (N = 97) listened to 60-s excerpts of death metal music and rated their emotional experiences. Compared with nonfans, fans experienced a wide range of positive emotions including power, joy, peace, and wonder. In contrast, nonfans reported uniformly negative experiences, including tension, anger, and fear. Fans and nonfans were also distinguished by personality traits, with fans lower in conscientiousness and agreeableness, and in their motivations for listening to music. Results suggest that individuals with certain personality traits and music-listening motivations are drawn toward aggressive music with violent themes, and their enthusiasm for this genre promotes a range of positive emotional responses to this music.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85043296359&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/ppm0000184
DO - 10.1037/ppm0000184
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85043296359
SN - 2160-4134
VL - 8
SP - 218
EP - 232
JO - Psychology of Popular Media Culture
JF - Psychology of Popular Media Culture
IS - 3
ER -