Dr. Ethan Cross

So after this experience, my colleagues and I dug into the literature on music and emotion and asked people, why do you listen to music? And almost 100% of the participants in the sample, I think the number was 96% of them, reported that they listen to music because they like the way it makes them feel. In other words, it's having a regulatory effect.

But then when we do studies and we ask people across a series of studies... Think back to the last time you were anxious or angry or sad. What did you do to manage your feelings? Only between 10 and 30% of the participants in those studies report availing themselves of this tool. Just like I, before this experience, didn't avail myself of this tool.

But then when we do studies and we ask people across a series of studies... Think back to the last time you were anxious or angry or sad. What did you do to manage your feelings? Only between 10 and 30% of the participants in those studies report availing themselves of this tool. Just like I, before this experience, didn't avail myself of this tool.

But then when we do studies and we ask people across a series of studies... Think back to the last time you were anxious or angry or sad. What did you do to manage your feelings? Only between 10 and 30% of the participants in those studies report availing themselves of this tool. Just like I, before this experience, didn't avail myself of this tool.

So what we're talking about here, the light bulb that went off for me in that moment is that our senses are powerful, powerful shifters of our emotions.

So what we're talking about here, the light bulb that went off for me in that moment is that our senses are powerful, powerful shifters of our emotions.

So what we're talking about here, the light bulb that went off for me in that moment is that our senses are powerful, powerful shifters of our emotions.

All of the major five senses are

All of the major five senses are

All of the major five senses are

have the potential to activate our emotions relatively effortlessly part of the way sensation operates is by triggering emotional responses sensation being the way we make sense of the world around us well it makes sense that if you have the equivalent of these satellite dishes mounted all over your body that are tuned to different kinds of information i.e your senses

have the potential to activate our emotions relatively effortlessly part of the way sensation operates is by triggering emotional responses sensation being the way we make sense of the world around us well it makes sense that if you have the equivalent of these satellite dishes mounted all over your body that are tuned to different kinds of information i.e your senses

have the potential to activate our emotions relatively effortlessly part of the way sensation operates is by triggering emotional responses sensation being the way we make sense of the world around us well it makes sense that if you have the equivalent of these satellite dishes mounted all over your body that are tuned to different kinds of information i.e your senses

If you come across stimuli or experiences that are positive or negative, you want those senses to trigger those emotional responses, to cue you to approach or avoid those kinds of stimuli or experiences. So sensation and emotion are intimately linked. I mean, we could go down the list. We just talked about music. Music can push our emotions around in all sorts of directions.

If you come across stimuli or experiences that are positive or negative, you want those senses to trigger those emotional responses, to cue you to approach or avoid those kinds of stimuli or experiences. So sensation and emotion are intimately linked. I mean, we could go down the list. We just talked about music. Music can push our emotions around in all sorts of directions.

If you come across stimuli or experiences that are positive or negative, you want those senses to trigger those emotional responses, to cue you to approach or avoid those kinds of stimuli or experiences. So sensation and emotion are intimately linked. I mean, we could go down the list. We just talked about music. Music can push our emotions around in all sorts of directions.

amplify our emotions and pump us up as Journey did, it can calm us down. Sometimes I now will strategically use music if I find myself too animated before a presentation or important interview, I'll listen to calming music. We can also listen to music to push us in the negative direction as we sometimes do when we're not feeling great.

amplify our emotions and pump us up as Journey did, it can calm us down. Sometimes I now will strategically use music if I find myself too animated before a presentation or important interview, I'll listen to calming music. We can also listen to music to push us in the negative direction as we sometimes do when we're not feeling great.

amplify our emotions and pump us up as Journey did, it can calm us down. Sometimes I now will strategically use music if I find myself too animated before a presentation or important interview, I'll listen to calming music. We can also listen to music to push us in the negative direction as we sometimes do when we're not feeling great.

We lean into those emotions even further by listening to ballads, love ballads, if you will. Vision, art, attractiveness, smell. Let's talk about smell for a second. Smell is a really interesting one. scent elicits emotions. So I remember when my daughters were younger, on vacation, we'd go to a hotel and inevitably the hotel would smell really wonderful in the lobby.