This study investigated the effects that people expect when listening to their preferred, familiar, and nostalgic music. One hundred and ninety-two college students (114 Japanese, 78 American) took part in the study. Two questionnaires, Expected Effects of Music Listening Inventory (EEMLI) and General Affective Scale (GAS; Ogawa et al., 2000), with 24 questions each, were administered. Participants were asked to indicate three pieces of music, one that was preferred, one that was familiar, and one that was nostalgic, and to rate their cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses when listening to each piece on a fourpoint scale. The results showed overall greater responses to preferred music than for other types of music, and participants’ cultural background interacted with music types, which seemed to influence the results. Compared with the Japanese students, American students tended to highly value preferred music for mood management, identity expression, and reminiscence, while the responses of the Japanese students were dependent upon the type of music. Clinical applications of the results are discussed.