Why do we listen to sad music? One reason could be that it generates pleasant emotions as well as sadness. Accordingly, it is necessary to determine what kind of person experiences pleasant affect by listening to sad music. In the current study, we focused on empathy as a personal trait and examined the relationship between trait empathy and emotional response, including liking for the sad music. We targeted children because we considered that this age group is appropriate to highlight individual differences in empathy. Our findings indicated that perspective-taking ability, a sub-component of trait empathy, was correlated with emotional responses to the sad music. In addition, children who experienced pleasant emotions preferred sad music.
Among the many current definitions of empathy, a
common casual definition of empathy is “sharing the
perceived emotion of another”
The German word einfühlung literally translates as “feel
into” in English, and is derived from the verb meaning “to
feel oneself in something”
Lipps applied the idea of einfühlung to the aesthetics of
visual form
Considering the way in which the term “empathy”
emerged, we predicted that empathic ability would be
associated with aesthetic emotional experience. This
suggests that emotion in art, not just in interpersonal
contexts, should be examined from the perspective of
empathic ability. In line with this,
The concept of empathy also includes cognitive aspects
Hence, we examined whether the trait of empathy was positively related to pleasant emotion as well as liking for sad music in children. If there was such a relationship, we aimed to clarify that what kind of trait empathy contributes to pleasure and liking for sad music. In particular, we examined the mediation effect of the emotional responses linking trait empathy to liking for sad music. Our hypothetical model suggests that sub-components of trait empathy were differently associated with varying emotional responses to sad music, and indirectly affect liking for such music. We conducted an experiment in which participants’ emotional responses to sad music and trait empathy were subjectively assessed.
Participants were 42 female children and 43 male children who were enrolled in Grade 6 at an elementary school in Japan. The mean age of the participants was 11.9 years (SD = 0.32).
Musical Stimuli. Excerpts from the following two
musical pieces were used: (1) Glinka’s La Separation (F
minor), played at quarter note = 80; and (2) Granados’s
Allegro de Concierto (G minor), played at quarter note = 70.
We also used these pieces in an earlier study
The sound level of the music excerpts ranged from 58.4dB (C) to 72.5 dB (C) for Allegro de Concierto (G minor), and from 46.5 dB (C) to 70.5 dB (C) for La Separation (F minor). Both music excerpts lasted approximately 30 s.
Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) for use with children,
developed by
Emotional State Scale. This is a self-report scale
consisting of 50 emotion-related descriptive words and
phrases that are rated on a scale ranging from 1 (not at all)
to 5 (very much). After listening to each musical stimulus,
children were asked to rate their emotional state using this
scale. The descriptive words and phrases were almost the
same as the ones we used in a previous study
The experiments were conducted in a music class at the elementary school. The children listened to music coming from a pair of speakers and engaged in two kinds of tasks. First, the participants were asked to report their own emotional state (including their liking for the music) after listening to each music stimulus, on a scale of 1 (not at all) to 5 (very much). Before rating their emotional states in the formal experiment, children completed two practice sessions. For the practice trials, we used two short excerpts of music (approximately 15 s) that were different from the music stimuli used in the rating task. On the basis of the music teacher’s advice, we did not distribute the emotional state questionnaire until after we had played the music, so that the children could focus on the music. After all of the students had answered the questionnaire for the first music stimulus, we collected the questionnaire papers and then played the next music stimulus.
After the rating task was completed, participants answered the IRI. We explained to the children that these questionnaires were not associated with their academic results, and that there was no correct answer. We did not ask the children to write their name on their questionnaires because we wanted to obtain honest answers. Though children did not write their names on both emotional state and IRI questionnaires, we numbered the questionnaires and children sat on the same seat throughout the study; therefore, we could match the two questionnaires.
First, the relationship between trait empathy and liking for sad music was examined. In addition, in consideration of the correlations among IRI sub-components, partial correlations with liking for sad music were investigated for each sub-component. Second, a factor analysis was performed on the data from the emotional state scale to determine possible factors underlying participants’ emotional responses to the music stimuli. The relationships among the identified factors and the study variables were examined. All of the above statistical analyses were completed using IBM SPSS Version 22. Finally, path analyses were conducted to evaluate the model proposed in the present study and to test the hypothesis that subcomponents of trait empathy influence liking for sad music through emotional responses to music. The path analyses were performed using IBM AMOS Version 22 with maximum likelihood estimation. Model solutions were assessed using the following fit indices: chi-square, adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI), comparative fit index (CFI), and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA).
Correlation analyses were performed to investigate the influence of trait empathy on liking for sad music. Participants’ global empathy scores were calculated by averaging the ratings of all IRI items. The scores for the sub-components of trait empathy were calculated as averaged ratings of items representing each sub-component. Liking assessments for the two music excerpts were averaged for each participant to obtain an overall liking score.
Global empathy and two sub-components of trait empathy (PT and FS) demonstrated significant correlations with liking for sad music (Table 1). Further, there were correlations among some of the sub-components of trait empathy. Therefore, partial correlation analyses were performed to assess the association between each subcomponent and liking for sad music, controlling for the effects of the other sub-components (Table 2). There was no significant association between any sub-component of trait empathy and liking for sad music.
Factor analysis, using the principal factor method with promax rotation, was performed on the responses of the 85 participants to the two musical stimuli (N = 170 responses) to identify the underlying structure of the 50 items of the emotional state scale. A three-factor solution explaining 53.95% of the total variance was revealed.
The 50 emotion-related descriptive words and phrases with their corresponding factor loadings are reported in Table 3. Twenty-seven words and phrases, such as tender, fascinated, and peaceful, were included in Factor 1, “Sweet Emotion.” Ten other words and phrases, such as sad, lonely, and gloomy, were included in Factor 2, “Tragic Emotion.” In the third factor, “Heightened Emotion,” there were eight words and phrases, such as panache, restless, and strong.
Path analyses were performed to test the proposed relationship between trait empathy and liking for sad music. The model showed that the indirect effects of the subcomponents of trait empathy on liking for sad music were mediated by the emotional response to music.
Figure 1 shows the final model including standardized regression weights. The fit indices were as follows: the chisquare value was not significant, indicating that the modified model was consistent with the data, and the AGFI (.905), CFI (1.000) and RMSEA (.000) were also acceptable.
Path analysis indicated that some sub-components of trait empathy were associated with emotional responses to the music stimuli, which were then associated with liking for sad music. Regarding the relationships among the subcomponents of trait empathy and emotional responses, only PT demonstrated an effect on emotional responses, in that it was positively associated with all three emotional response factors. Additionally, sweet emotion and heightened emotion were positively assoc*iated with liking for sad music. Though non-significant, the positive effect of PD on tragic emotion and the negative effect of FS on sweet emotion contributed to the amount of variance explained within the model.
Previous studies found that trait empathy was associated
with liking for sad music. For example,
Path analysis of the modified model showed that the indirect effects of the sub-components of trait empathy on liking for sad music were mediated by the emotional response to music. That is, we clarified that PT affected liking for sad music indirectly, mediated by one’s emotional response to the music (Figure 1). Our findings demonstrated that children with high perspective-taking ability tended to experience ambivalent emotions, such as a combination of sweet and tragic emotions, as well as heightened emotions. In addition, particularly pleasant emotions like sweet and heightened emotions contributed to a preference for sad music (Figure 1).
The effect of PT on emotional responses to sad music is a
new finding obtained in the present study. According to
We thank the elementary school that allowed us to conduct our research with their students. We also acknowledge the considerable assistance provided by Ms. Endo, music teacher, and Ms. Oshimura and Ms. Maeda, coordinators at the elementary school. This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI under grant numbers 26540149 (Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research) and 24000012 (Grant-in-Aid for Specially Promoted Research). development (pp. 17-37). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Wundt, W. (1903). Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie (5th ed.) Leipzig: Engelmann.