David Huron: “The Science of Sadness”

Prof. David Huron, Ohio State University (USA):

“Sounds, Signals, and Sadness: How Signaling Theory Illuminates Emotion-Related Displays and Helps Inform us about Music-Induced Emotions”

Why do people cry tears of grief, joy, anger, and affection, but not tears of jealousy, hope, or disgust? The answer, I propose, is that emotion-related displays are actually ethological signals and that their principal function is not to communicate one's emotional state, but to induce specific emotional states in observers which motivate behaviors that typically benefit both displayer and observer. Repercussions for understanding music-induced listener affect are highlighted.