"Singing in the rain": The effect of perspective taking on music preferences as mood management strategies
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Date
2007-06
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
This research examines the relationship between the first-person (1P) and third-person (3P) perspective and subsequent music selections when considering a sad scenario. 195 undergraduates at the Ohio State University read a sad scenario involving either a funeral or a sad movie from the 1P or 3P perspective, and then rated preferences for 16 genres of music. I predicted that the 3P perspective would result in little variance in rated music preferences, reflecting an implicit theory about the type of music sad people in general would prefer. In contrast, the music preferences in the 1P perspective should vary more, based on both the specific sad scenario presented (funeral or sad movie) and each participant’s individual music preferences. As predicted, 3P preferences were stronger and showed less variance than 1P preferences, supporting our belief that people have implicit theories about responding to sadness. Participants did not, however, differentiate between types of sad scenarios in their music choices. Results for several specific genres of interest are also reported. Finally, theoretical implications and future directions are discussed.
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Keywords
perspective taking, music and social psychology, mood management