Emotions of music listening in Finland and in India : Comparison of an individualistic and a collectivistic culture
Abstract
Music is appreciated for emotional reasons across cultures, but knowledge on the cross-cultural similarities and differences of music-evoked emotions is still sparse. The current study compared music-evoked emotions in Finland and in India, contextualizing them within the perceived psychological functionality of music in an individualistic versus collectivistic culture. Participants (N = 230) answered an online survey on music-evoked emotions and related personal meanings. A mixed-method approach using factor analysis and qualitative content analysis was used to identify the concepts for cross-cultural comparison. Results show that both cultures value music for positive emotional experiences, but the prevalence of more detailed emotional nuances and underlying meanings is distinctively different. The highest-scoring emotion factor for Finns was Power-Empowerment while for Indians it was Peaceful-Transcendence. For Finns, the personal relevance of music was distinctively related to self-enhancement, self-reflective insights, and self-expression, while for Indians the relevance was particularly related to using music as a mood management tool for reaching positive, relaxed, and motivated affective states. Both cultures found music important for experiencing social connection. The results partly reflect the individualistic-collectivistic dimensionality of cultures and emphasize the relevance of contextualizing music psychological knowledge of music-evoked emotions in individuals’ culturally bound meaning-making processes.
Main Authors
Format
Articles
Research article
Published
2021
Series
Subjects
Publication in research information system
Publisher
Sage Publications
The permanent address of the publication
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-202011306833Käytä tätä linkitykseen.
Review status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0305-7356
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735620917730
Keywords
music listeningemotionscross-cultural comparisoneveryday lifepsychological functionsarkielämämusiikkikulttuurienvälinen tutkimustunteetarki
Language
English
Published in
Psychology of Music
Citation
- Saarikallio, S., Alluri, V., Maksimainen, J., & Toiviainen, P. (2021). Emotions of music listening in Finland and in India : Comparison of an individualistic and a collectivistic culture. Psychology of Music, 49(4), 989-1005. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735620917730
Funder(s)
Research Council of Finland
Funding program(s)
Academy Project, AoF
Akatemiahanke, SA
![Research Council of Finland Research Council of Finland](/jyx/themes/jyx/images/funders/sa_logo.jpg?_=1739278984)
Additional information about funding
The study was funded by the Academy of Finland, Project Number 316912.
Copyright© The Author(s) 2020