Why do we like songs we know? And movies, and series too.

Books, too. Basically, we like everything we already know. Why does this happen? What is wrong with us? Maybe, on the contrary, everything is just fine. I mean, I'm fine. I don't know about you. Maybe we will find out at the end of this text.

You cannot start a text about why we like the things we know with an immortal quotation from a man who might as well close the discussion because what he said can be considered the final answer. The protagonist of the film "The Cruise" ("Rejs") played by the fantastic Zdzisław Maklakiewicz said this:

Sir, I am an exact mind. I like tunes I've heard before. It's a matter of reminiscence. How can I like a song that I have heard for the first time? - Engineer Mamoń

That's right. How? After all, it's clear that if we like it, it means that something in our head tells us that this is how it should be. What's more. Even if we like something new in theory, it actually echoes what we already know and like, so it is easier for us to like the new. This is an intentional simplification, of course. Therefore, let's move on.

I know because I like it. I like it because I know

The brain tries to rest whenever it has the opportunity. Working at full speed, it has to look for shortcuts. Something that will make you not spend your precious energy wondering what activities lead to the brewing of your morning coffee. In this case, we are acting habitually. In the case of rewards, a situation where the brain already knows it will be able to reward itself, it is similar. Just thinking about a movie we like and know well makes us feel better. The whole process isn't just about nostalgia. That one is important, but it's not necessarily what pushes us to our twentieth screening of "Pulp Fiction."

Cristel Antonia Russell, a marketing professor at American University, and Sidney J. Levy, who holds the same position at the University of Arizona, decided a few years ago to examine what makes us reach for the same movie or book again. They asked the respondents - 23 people - about what they recently happened to "check out" again. A movie, a book, or maybe a vacation spot. The questions were structured so that the respondents had to give extended answers in the first person. This made it possible to check at the end to see if a pattern was present in the answers. Keywords. We were able to find it. This is because it turned out that regardless of the answer or topic, the respondents reached for what is "tried and true," which makes them feel confident.

You may think that you are in control of everything, but I will worry you because that is not the case. When it comes to habits and how the brain works using the subconscious we often become slaves to them. The brain in all cases already knows what reward awaits us. Happiness, excitement, relaxation. However, it doesn't stop there. Russell and Levy's research also found that reaching for familiar cultural products is a kind of confirmation of ourselves. Of how we have changed. How our lives have changed. For example, there was a woman who watched "Letter in a Bottle" with Kevin Costner from time to time. Why did she do it? Because the movie helped her survive after an unhappy relationship. She watched it, he reminded her of that unhappy event, but at the same time her reaction, the opportunity to look inside herself made her feel that she was coping with the problem better and better with each subsequent screening.

I was very surprised. I thought that people reach for already known things out of nostalgia to go back to the past. Meanwhile, it is actually a manifestation of looking to the future and perspective. - Cristel Antonia Russell

It's a beautiful state when you're in the middle of a bang

When you're listening to music and a number comes on that you really like, that you know well, your brain explodes. The body is flooded with endorphins. Later, dopamine appears, which in a sense saves a given situation in the memory as one worth remembering. To which it is worth returning. It saves a number to your internal playlist of best bits. And now just try to think of the words of your favorite number and you feel better. For example, at this moment I'm humming "Łan pała" by Łąki Łan.

I wouldn't be myself if I didn't mention research while writing about music. The experiments in this area were conducted by psychologist Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis who directs the Music Cognition Lab at the University of Arkansas. She had volunteers play excerpts from music. The music was created by such composers as Luciano Berio and Elliott Carter. The experiment was divided into stages:

• The first - when the fragments did not contain repetitions.
• The second - when the same fragments were subjected to computer processing and repetitions appeared.

The result was that, in virtually every case, the passages from the second stage scored better. The reworked ones. As scientists say, the experiment was conducted in a different way. The participants were told everything before the experiment. What the experiment was about. How the fragments from the second part of the study were processed. What happened this time? The same thing happened. People found the fragments from the second part of the experiment to be better anyway. The experiment was repeated many times and the effect was always the same.

Repetition is the quality that underlies our musicality - Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis

In confirmation of the professor's words, I would like to mention that during research on the source of success of particular musical pieces, it turned out that the most successful pieces were those based on repetition. Such research was conducted by Professor Andrea Ordanini of Milan's Bocconi University together with scientists from the University of Southern California. The result of their research was that the popularity of a song was strongly dependent on the repetition of the refrain. Each additional repetition increased the likelihood that the number would become a hit by more than 14 percent.

Use it again, Sam

Speaking of scientists, they have a term for such constant repetition. I don't know if I'm translating it correctly, but we can talk about "regressive reuse." The brain uses pop culture to make leaps into the past. Such jumps are needed to remind us of specific moments in our lives. In a sense, they prevent forgetting. They fulfill a therapeutic function, but they also touch upon the issues connected with existentialism. Russell and Levy, already mentioned in the text, talk about reaching for the same films or albums in this way:

The dynamic connections between past, present, and past through the reuse of a given creation allow us to existentially understand. Even a single re-contact allows for a return of the experience of the pleasures experienced, but also an understanding of the choice made.

In this view, pop culture is not even seen as a form of therapy or an ongoing nostalgic journey. It takes the form of a palimpsest based on experiences stored in memory, but with a new layer applied. A new perspective.

Hence, another visit to Hogwarts or watching Jack Nicholson's phenomenal monologue from the film "Men of Honor" are not only a pleasant journey in time. We reach for them because our brains, we ourselves, derive pleasure from reconnecting with memories. We rummage through our own memory. We rebuild what is familiar to us. The brain is happy because it can process everything much easier than something completely new. We are happy because we know the reward that awaits us at the end of the road. And after all, happiness is what we're all about. Right?