Beneath the surface: the role of music genres and personality traits perceived to be socially aversive in the context of stress

The latter aim was established to assess how receptive the general population would be to these factors’ potential stress-coping benefits. Two systematic reviews and a series of laboratory- and survey-based experimental studies revealed that: (a) listening to hip-hop/rap can consistently reduce induced stress irrespective of the experimental environment, stressor type, and listeners’ negative attitudes towards its association with stress; (b) narcissism can aid stress management despite the experimental environment and stressor type, though other factors (e.g., music preferences and uses) may influence the manifestation of its stress-coping properties; and (c) establishing hip-hop/rap and narcissism as assets for stress-coping may be received by the general population with less resistance than anticipated, provided that they are publicly depicted as complex and contextually beneficial.

These findings suggest that hip-hop/rap and narcissism could be valuable assets for stress-coping, despite their perceived undesirability. By searching ‘beneath the surface’ of well-established negative connotations, this thesis paves the way for new valuable insights into how music and personality can enhance the well-being and everyday functioning of healthy adults.<br><i><br><br></i>