Solo Music Listening Boosts Social Wellbeing

With Dr. Elaine Paravati Harrigan, Psychologist & Researcher 3 min read

Author

Brady Dowling
May 12, 2025

In this enlightening conversation, Dr. Elaine Paravati Harrigan explores the surprising social benefits of listening to music alone. Her groundbreaking research demonstrates that solo music listening can fulfill our fundamental need for social connection through a process called "social surrogacy." Dr. Paravati explains how your favorite music can provide meaningful social benefits even when you're completely alone, making it an accessible, affordable tool for boosting wellbeing during challenging times—including when breaking habits or experiencing feelings of isolation.

Key Insights

  • Solo music listening can satisfy our basic human need for social connection through "social surrogacy"—non-traditional ways of fulfilling social needs

  • Favorite music works through three pathways: parasocial connections with artists, immersion in the music, and reminders of people or situations from our past

  • These social benefits go beyond just mood improvement—they actively buffer against feelings of exclusion or loneliness

  • The social wellbeing benefits of music are accessible to everyone regardless of musical skill or talent

  • Creating personalized playlists ahead of time provides an easy, low-effort tool for difficult moments when breaking habits or feeling isolated

Quotable Moments

"When I went into psychology, what I was really interested in is the basic need to connect with other people, the need to belong. And over and over again, through decades of research, they've shown that this is a basic need."

"What my work did find was that we actually can feel social connection and feel those well-being things from just listening to music in isolation."

Action Steps

  1. Create personalized playlists ahead of time: Prepare different playlists that connect you to specific memories, people, or artists so they're ready when you need them—removing the barrier of having to make decisions when you're already struggling.

  2. Identify your personal music connections: Experiment with different types of music to discover which songs best fulfill your social needs—whether they remind you of specific people, events, or create a sense of connection with an artist.

  3. Use music strategically during challenging moments: When working on breaking habits or during periods of isolation (like late-night childcare), have your favorite music ready as an accessible, low-effort tool to boost social wellbeing.

  4. Approach yourself as a scientist: Pay attention to which music works best for you in different situations and keep refining your approach—what works for you may be different from what works for others.

Resources Mentioned

  • Cyberball - The experimental paradigm used in Dr. Paravati's research to induce feelings of exclusion

  • Music streaming platforms (Spotify, YouTube, etc.) as accessible tools for creating personal playlists

Listen to the full episode:

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