Why does music make us happy

This varies from one culture to another. Composers and performers walk a delicate tightrope, needing to tweak expectations to just the right degree. Not enough, and the music is dully predictable, as nursery tunes seem to adults. All this can rationalise a great deal about why we feel emotions from particular musical phrases and performances. We can recognise sad music without feeling sad. If you would like to comment on this article or anything else you have seen on Future, head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter.

Will We Ever? Will we ever… understand why music makes us feel good? Share using Email. Terms of Use Privacy Policy Accessibility. BY Rich Tozzoli April 23, And who knows what secrets future research will unlock about the power of music?

Keep reading. Happy, sad, excited, scared, hopeful. We see these emotions every day in our hospitals. If you've had a memorable or moving moment with SCL Health, we'd love to hear from you! Categories: Life , Mind. Like 0. We get dealt a healthy dose of dopamine. Neurology and nostalgia work hand in hand. Positive thinking and listening really does work.

You have even more advantages if you play music. Do you have any favorite tunes that get you going? A recent study by Jan Stupacher and colleagues suggests that just viewing synchronized movements can influence how we see others. In this study, adult participants watched videos of two people figures walking side by side and imagined that they were one of the people.

When music accompanied the videos, participants were more inclined to see the two figures as close and they liked the other one better, compared to when a metronome or silence accompanied the video. Perhaps the music made them happier as in the gym experiment , suggest the researchers—or maybe music plays a unique role in social bonding.

In some versions of the experiment, the two figures moved out of sync with one another. When the other figure was moving out of phase with the music, but the figure the participant was pretending to be was moving in phase, participants rated the other figure as less likeable compared to the opposite situation other-figure in phase and self-figure out of phase.

Could this mean that moving to the beat could help you find a new friend at a party? Further research is needed. But this smattering of studies suggests that there are ways music may indeed help. Summer Allen, Ph. A graduate of Carleton College and Brown University, Summer now writes for a variety of publications including weekly blog posts for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.