Music as a trigger of religious experience: What role does culture play?

Demmrich, Sarah

Zusammenfassung

Music and religion are linked in many ways. For example, music can trigger religious experiences,which has been a topic since the beginnings of the study of the psychology of religion. Whetherthis musical effect is culture-dependent, a pure neuropsychological phenomenon, or a combinationof both remains empirically unanswered. This cross-cultural experiment among n = 84 Turks andn = 63 Germans shows that religious music can trigger religious experience but this is, at leastpartially, a culture-dependent experience. Moreover, certain kinds of religious music can fail totrigger a religious experience independent of culture, which can also underpin a neuropsychologicaleffect of musical features on religious experience. Religious experience during music is stronglypredicted by positive emotions that are felt during the musical experience. Future studies should bemore interdisciplinary, focusing on the effect of certain musical features on the religious experienceof individuals from different cultural backgrounds.