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
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
License
CC BY 4.0Open Access
Funder(s)
Research Council of Finland
Funding program(s)
Academy Project, AoF
Akatemiahanke, SA
Research Council of Finland
Additional information about funding
The study was funded by the Academy of Finland, Project Number 316912.
Copyright© The Author(s) 2020

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