Ideal affective states tend to differ across cultures - those from East Asia typically pursue low-arousal positive affect, while Latin American and Western European individuals pursue high-arousal positive affect. Previous research has shown that music may be an effective way to regulate affective state; however, this is seldom examined through the lens of cultural differences. Furthermore, the relationships between valence and arousal of music preference and specific cultural dimensions remains underexplored. As such, this study examined cultural differences in ideal affect through music preference on Spotify. In total, 32,400 songs were drawn from weekly charts across 12 months on Spotify, from 27 countries (three culturally similar regions; Western-European, East-Asian, and Latin-American). The valence and arousal of music from these countries was examined between cultures, and within the context of six cultural dimensions. Consistent with theories around cross-cultural ideal affect, we found that Western-European countries preferred higher arousal music than East-Asian countries, and Latin American countries preferred the highest arousal music. In addition, both Western countries and East Asian countries showed a similar preference for neutral valence music. This contradicted the expected universal preference for positive valence, which was evident only for the Latin American countries. Finally, high uncertainty avoidance was associated with positive valence and high arousal in music, and positive valence was also associated with higher indulgence, and lower long-term orientation. We provide evidence that cultural differences in ideal affect map on to cross-cultural music preferences, and that these preferences relate to several cultural dimensions.
Sectorial specialisation in East Asia and Latin America compared
