Craving for music increases after music listening and is related to earworms and personality

Abstract

Recent research suggests that music listening elicits chills during intense moments. In addition, anticipative physiological and neural responses prior to the chills occur. Those responses can be interpreted as craving for the particularly intense moments. The concept of craving originates in addiction research and describes the urge to consume a substance or to execute a behavior. The current study aims to investigate craving for music and its psychological correlates. Participants’ craving for music was assessed via questionnaire before and after they listened to a song. In addition, earworms before and after music listening were assessed. Finally, personality traits were measured. The results indicated that craving for music significantly increased after listening to a song. The same was observed for earworms. Craving for music and earworms were significantly related, and baseline craving was also related to psychoticism and openness to experience. The results emphasize that craving reactions not only occur within a piece of music but also increase after listening to music. This is in line with the findings from addiction research. The relationship between craving for music with other psychological states and traits opens perspectives for future research.