The effect of mood congruence music in mood change.

Abstract

This study was set out to assess the importance of listening to mood congruent songs versus mood incongruent songs in terms of mood change. Forty-eight participants were divided into four groups (1) participants with a happy pretest score and who received a happy song (mood congruent), (2) participants with a sad pretest mood and who received a happy song (mood incongruent) (3) participants with a happy pretest score who received a sad song and (mood incongruent)(4) participants with a sad pretest score who received a sad song (mood congruent). It was assessed whether there is a relationship between change in mood and listening to the preferred mood of the music piece opposed to not listening to the preferred mood of the music. The results of this study show that participants who received their happy song showed a significant happier mood compared to participants who received their sad song, who showed a sadder mood state after listening to the music piece. It was also found that the effect of the mood of the song on mood change is significantly larger if the mood of the song is incongruent with the participants’ mood. Whether receiving the song of preference or not, most participants cherished the feeling the piece had offered them (76.60%), the percentage increases for the participants who did receive their preference into 86.20%.