Beneath the surface

: The role of music genres and personality traits perceived to be socially aversive in the context of stress

Abstract

Evidence suggests music listening and personality can protect against the negative repercussions of everyday stress. Though there is extensive literature on the role of music listening and personality for stress management, genres and traits perceived to be socially aversive have been under-researched in relation to stress, possibly due to their perceived undesirability outside this context. Therefore, their contribution to stress-coping is not yet fully understood. This thesis investigated the role of music genres and personality traits perceived to be socially aversive in the context of stress. Specifically, it (1) assessed the effects of hiphop/rap and the Dark Triad traits (DT; psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism) on stress outcomes, whilst exploring interactions between music, personality, and stress variables, and (2) examined public attitudes towards hip-hop/rap and the DT traits in relation to stress, in nonclinical adult populations. The latter aim was established to assess how receptive the general population would be to these factors’ potential stress-coping benefits. Two systematic reviews and a series of laboratory- and survey-based experimental studies revealed that: (a) listening to hip-hop/rap can consistently reduce induced stress irrespective of the experimental environment, stressor type, and listeners’ negative attitudes towards its association with stress; (b) narcissism can aid stress management despite the experimental environment and stressor type, though other factors (e.g., music preferences and uses) may influence the manifestation of its stress-coping properties; and (c) establishing hip-hop/rap and narcissism as assets for stress-coping may be received by the general population with less resistance than anticipated, provided that they are publicly depicted as complex and contextually beneficial. These findings suggest that hip-hop/rap and narcissism could be valuable assets for stress-coping, despite their perceived undesirability. By searching ‘beneath the surface’ of well-established negative connotations, this thesis paves the way for new valuable insights into how music and personality can enhance the well-being and everyday functioning of healthy adults.

Date of Award	Dec 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Sponsors	Northern Ireland Department for the Economy
Supervisor	Mihalis Doumas (Supervisor) & Konstantinos Papageorgiou (Supervisor)