Pleasure in music and its relationship with social anhedonia (Placer por la música y su relación con la anhedonia social)

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the inability to feel pleasure towards music — or musical anhedonia — is part of the psychological construct of anhedonia (DSM-5) or whether they are both independent constructs, as suggested by the field of cognitive neuroscience. To assess this objective, six unpublished musical compositions were created to evoke basic emotions. We analysed the level of arousal and valence in a sample of 153 music professionals and 303 students (M = 17.58 years, SD = 4.16) and were able to verify a high consistency between the results of both groups. By using a structural equation model, we subsequently observed a statistically significant high correlation (r = .63, p < .001) between the latent means of valence (pleasure evoked by musical fragments) and levels of social anhedonia, measured by the Anticipatory and Consummatory Interpersonal Pleasure Scale (ACIPS). Furthermore, social pleasure maintained inverse correlations with the emotions of negative valence (Anger, Fear and Disgust) provoked by musical fragments, which allowed us to conclude that musical anhedonia is strongly related to social anhedonia.