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

Religious music can trigger religious experiences, but this effect is at least partly dependent on cultural background. In a cross-cultural experiment with 84 Turkish and 63 German participants, religious music elicited religious experiences more strongly in some cultural contexts, while certain types of religious music failed to trigger such experiences regardless of culture, suggesting a possible neuropsychological component. Positive emotions felt during music strongly predicted religious experience. The findings indicate that both cultural and neuropsychological factors play a role.

Study at a glance

Abstract

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. Whether this musical effect is culture-dependent, a pure neuropsychological phenomenon, or a combination of 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 least partially, a culture-dependent experience. Moreover, certain kinds of religious music can fail to trigger a religious experience independent of culture, which can also underpin a neuropsychological effect of musical features on religious experience. Religious experience during music is strongly predicted by positive emotions that are felt during the musical experience. Future studies should be more interdisciplinary, focusing on the effect of certain musical features on the religious experience of individuals from different cultural backgrounds.