In every genre of music, concerts typically play a huge role in fan enjoyment.
Not everyone is into concerts, but many are hooked, and today I’d like to look at the science behind why concerts are fun (and even give you reasons to justify going to them :)).
Specifically, we’ll be taking a look at why the research says concerts are a better purchasing decision than buying music.
As I did in my post on the psychology of music, we’re going to be dropping science like a kid from Catholic school, but don’t worry, I’ll break down each study into laymen’s terms and give you the “quick-and-easy” on why our brains love concerts.
Onward!
Why Your Brain Loves Concerts
So, why does your brain love going to concerts? (“Drugs” is not a scientific enough answer btw ;)).
Specifically, how can I make the claim that concerts may be a better expense than actual music? One answer may be found in the way that your brain reacts to spending.
There has been some pretty insane research that digs into how your brain perceives money, and the findings are quite scary:
- Your brain actually treats money like a drug, substituting it for social acceptance (our minds even subconsciously dull pain when thinking about money!)
- Thinking about money and making money makes you behave more selfishly, even when buying gifts for your mom! (You jerk!)
There’s another side to this money v. brain battle though, and it’s a bit more positive…
Turns out, your brain loves concerts because it classifies them as an “experience” and favors purchases of this type.
Now, putting concerts squarely in the category of an “experience” isn’t all that shocking, so what’s the big deal?
How Concerts Can Make You Happy
Recent psychological research by Van Boven & Gilovich shows us that overall, people are “happier” when they spend money on an experience in an area they like rather then spending money on a material purchase.
So a surfing trip creates more pleasure than a new board, entering a cycling race makes us happier than buying a new bike, and going to a concert is likely to make us happier than buying a ton of music.
While this is obviously not true for everyone, even when people were polled, they were more likely to state that they were happier with their “experience” purchases than with their material purchases [source]:
- 57% said experiences made them happier
- 34% said things made them happier
To take things further, when Stanford researchers conducted a “time vs. money” study that involved a free concert (and in a subsequent study, iPods), they found that people who were asked, “How much time did you spend on this concert?” had far more favorable ratings of the experience than people who were asked, “How much money did you spend on this concert?”.
Think about that: Even though the concert was free, people still rated the experience better when queued with a question on time!
Why?
5 Reasons Experiences > Possessions
If experiences are superior, we definitely need to look into what experiences offer that possessions don’t.
From the literature, there are 5 recurring reasons as to why our brains love experiences more than buying material things…
1.) Good experiences improve over time
Call it the “nostalgia effect” or whatever you like, but reminiscing about enjoyable past experiences only seems to improve over time.
Researchers have noted that physical items tend to get old quickly (novelty of the new item wears off), but great experiences can age like a fine wine.
Experiences can also take on new meaning as you age, whereas things stay the same.
2.) People revisit experiences more often
Going hand-in-hand with the above reason, research shows that experiences get “revisited” in our heads more often than past purchases.
This means we tend to think about “that one time” more than we do about “that one thing I bought”, and as a result, experiences tend to provide pleasure (dopamine) long after a material purchase can.
Concerts obvious fill this requirement beautifully, whereas music is labeled in our brain as a “material” purchase (despite the fact that listening to music is an experience).
3.) Experiences are more unique
So what? Well, there are a couple reasons as to why this uniqueness makes us happier.
First is that experiences are harder to compare, and as a result, unfavorable comparisons (and buyer’s remorse) are less likely to happen with experiences.
Your brain may hurt your own feelings by comparing your car with that other guy’s (or gal’s) ride, but your experience at some even is unique to you and your mind is less likely to compare it to anything else.
You also don’t have to make as many choices (typically) when purchasing an experience vs. purchasing an item, and since too many choices makes us unhappy, this has a big impact on your overall satisfaction with your purchase.
Things are easy to compare (especially mass produced things), but experiences are harder to measure with others and as a result, we get more personal enjoyment out of them without having the risk of running into “mine’s better than yours” syndrome.
4.) We adapt slowly to experiences
Habituation (repetition) is often called the “enemy of happiness”, because it is highly correlated with being unhappy.
Experiences are obviously very unique, as because of this, we adapt and evaluate them far more slowly than we do items and products.
Because of this slower processing of experiences, the research has shown that they bring us more happiness. (Think about a long trip you might have taken, it can often take a few days to get “back into your groove”, but your brain loves that change of pace)
5.) Experiences tend to be social
The most obvious of all, but perhaps the single strongest reason to spend money on experiences.
Human beings are social animals, and that’s not an opinion, it’s fact.
Did you know that solitary confinement has often been classified as “cruel and unusual punishment” by psychologists because of the incredibly destructive effects it can have on the human mind?
Healthy social interaction is intrinsically tied to happiness, and when you look at how important “remembering and reminiscing” play in the enjoyment of experiences, you can see how recalling great experiences with others could be even more powerful.
It’s Not Once Size Fits All…
Although experiences have shown to be the superior way to spend your money in many instances when relating to happiness, nothing in psychology ever truly seems to be universal.
You still need to buy “things” from time to time, and material purchases can make some people happier than others.
I’m also not implying that concert goers are “truer fans” or are necessarily having a better time than those people who’d rather just purchase the music…
I’m just giving a little ammunition for concert junkies to justify their spending habits! 😉
…and to fire people up a bit, just because I can.
Do you know someone who has a strong opinion on concerts? Share this article with them, then leave your thoughts by commenting below.
