Ironically Enjoyed Music: An Investigation of the Unique Self-Regulatory Value of Irony as Part of the Enjoyment of Music

Ironic enjoyment occurs when people enjoy music despite or because of it being evaluated as bad. Although initial qualitative results suggest that this phenomenon fulfils a variety of self-regulatory functions that are also found in enjoyed music, to date no research has experimentally tested how important these functions are in ironically enjoyed music, in comparison to naturally enjoyed music. In two between-subjects experiments, participants (N=216 & N=143) were instructed to think back to a recent occasion in which they listened to a piece of music which they either enjoyed ironically, or enjoyed naturally. They then answered questions on the effects this had on them (Study 1 and 2) and on the subjective qualities of the music (Study 2).

The results suggested that ironically enjoyed music had less effect on personal identification and on managing positive or negative moods, and was also appreciated less and judged as less novel than naturally enjoyed music. Differences in mood management functions were associated with lower levels of subjective qualities of ironically enjoyed music, especially appreciation. Novelty was especially related to positive mood enhancement for ironically enjoyed music. Participants mentioned humour as an additional function of ironically enjoyed music listening.