Musicae Scientiae 15(2) 146–158 © The Author(s) 2011 Reprints and permission: sagepub. co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1029864911401171 msx.sagepub.com Article Corresponding author: David Huron, School of Music, 1866 College Road, Ohio State University, USA Email: huron.1@osu.edu Why is sad music pleasurable? A possible role for prolactin David Huron School of Music, Ohio State University, USA Abstract A hedonic theory of music and sadness is proposed. Some listeners report that nominally sad music genuinely makes them feel sad. It is suggested that, for these listeners, sad affect is evoked through a combination of empathetic responses to sad acoustic features, learned associations, and cognitive rumination. Among those listeners who report sad feelings, some report an accompanying positive affect, whereas others report the experience to be solely negative. Levels of the hormone prolactin increase when sad – producing a consoling psychological effect suggestive of a homeostatic function. It is proposed that variations in prolactin levels might account for the variability in individual hedonic responses. Specifically, it is conjectured that high prolactin concentrations are associated with pleasurable music-induced sadness, whereas low prolactin concentrations are associated with unpleasant music-induced sadness. Keywords music, pleasure, prolactin, sadness Introduction Sadness is a commonly reported music-related emotion. In a questionnaire study, Juslin and Laukka (2004) found that sadness was the eighth most commonly reported affective state induced by music (after happy, relaxed, calm, moved, nostalgic, pleasurable, and loving). In an exhaustive study, Zentner, Grandjean, and Scherer (2008) identify sadness as one of nine com- mon emotions evoked by music (along with wonder, transcendence, tenderness, nostalgia, peacefulness, power, joyful activation, and tension). Along with joy, anger, and fear, sadness is one of four emotions commonly studied in research on music and emotion. Both adults and children readily identify particular passages as sounding “sad” (e.g., Terwogt & Van Grinsven, 1991), although recognition of some sadness-related cues (such as the Western minor mode) are known to be learned (Crowder, 1985; Crowder, Reznick, & Rosenkrantz, 1991; Dalla Bella, Peretz, Rousseau, & Gosselin, 2001; Kastner & Crowder, 1990). Nor is this phenomenon limited to Western music or modern times. Innumerable historical texts refer to music’s ability to either evoke or temper sadness, including ancient Egyptian, Chinese, Hebrew, Persian, Arabic, and Sanscrit sources. Moreover, laments, sorrow songs, dirges, elegies, cry-songs, and musical