Abstract
Black and White male and female high-school students reported their enjoyment of various love-lamenting and love-celebrating videos of popular romantic music. The student groups were subdivided into high versus low loneliness in terms of romantic deprivation. Loneliness proved inconsequential for the enjoyment of love-lamenting songs. Love-celebrating songs, however, were markedly less enjoyed by highly lonely males than by less lonely males; in contrast, these love-celebrating songs were more enjoyed by highly lonely females than by less lonely females. Reports of music choices in hypothetical situations of romantic success and failure yielded strikingly differed results. Most students indicated that they would make mood-congruent choices; that is, that they would match the music's mood to their own.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.