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Listening Context: Group Rumination and Emotional Contagion

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Why Are We Attracted to Sad Music?

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Abstract

The popular media has often focused on events such as the double suicide of two teenage girls in Australia in 2007, in an attempt to vilify certain genres of music or musical subcultures. In this chapter, Garrido discusses the debate around the idea that music evoking negative emotions can intensify tendencies to self-harm and suicide. Results of a study by the author investigating the relationship between listening context and the effect of music on depression are presented. Garrido here argues that while certain genres of music or their associated subcultures can provide useful sources of support and catharsis for troubled youths, group rumination and emotional contagion can amplify negative effects in some vulnerable individuals.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MARCS Institute for Brain Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Milperra, NSW, Australia

    Sandra Garrido

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  1. Sandra Garrido
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Garrido, S. (2017). Listening Context: Group Rumination and Emotional Contagion. In: Why Are We Attracted to Sad Music?. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39666-8_10

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