# “I feel good… I knew that I would…”: The role of self in musical reward across cultures

## TL;DR

This study explores how a person's sense of self influences the rewards they get from music across different cultures.

## Contribution

The study introduces self-construal as a novel individual-level cultural factor influencing musical reward.

## Key findings

- Within-region variation of self-construals is positively associated with musical reward.
- Independent self-construal relates to musical seeking and mood regulation.
- Interdependent self-construal is linked to social and sensory-motor rewards but not emotion evocation.

## Abstract

Listening to music can be a rewarding experience for many. Research has shown that multiple factors influence musical reward including personality, age, and musical expertise. However, the role of culture in shaping musical reward remains underexplored. Most cross-cultural studies in music psychology have compared individuals from different countries. This study adopted a novel approach by examining self-construal, an individual-level explanation for cultural differences, in relation to musical rewards associated with favourite music across cultures. A cross-sectional online questionnaire was administered to 435 participants. Results from the multilevel regression analyses, using the two-dimensional model of self-construal, revealed that only within-region variation of interdependent and independent self-construals, not between-region variation of interdependence and independence, were positively associated with musical reward. Specifically, both self-construals were associated with emotion evocation and social reward, while independent self-construal was associated with musical seeking, mood regulation, and sensory-motor subtypes. When applying the eight-dimensional model of self-construal, distinct self-construal profiles emerged in relation to different musical reward subtypes, with the interdependent pole of connectedness to others positively associated with most subtypes except for emotion evocation reward. These findings provide preliminary evidence that self-construal influences the types of rewards experienced across cultures. In particular, one’s sense of self, whether construed as interdependent or independent, shapes the types of rewards experienced with favourite music. This study underscores the importance of incorporating specific cultural factors in cross-cultural research on musical reward. By examining self-construal, this work contributes to a more nuanced understanding of cultural diversity in music psychology.