musical aesthetics & emotion ways of characterizing emotions in music the idea of musical...

Musical Aesthetics & Emotion

• Ways of characterizing emotions in music

• The idea of musical preference

•We all like some forms of music, and dislike other forms of music

• Idea of individual difference response emotional response

• The emotion response to music

•Music engenders in listeners an emotional reaction

•Emotional reaction presumably relatively constant across listeners

Musical Preferences / Aesthetics

• Individual difference factors that might underlie musical preferences

• Personality

•Preference for certain musical styles might be linked to quantifiable characteristics in temperament or personality

• Physiological arousal

• Individuals with particular physiological parameters will prefer music related to those physiological parameters

• Social identity

•Musical preference is a “badge” to communicate values, attitudes, and self-views

Personality Structure and Musical Preferences

Raymond Cattell’s 16PF

Warmth: Desire to develop close relations with others

Reasoning: The extent to which you solve numerical and verbal problems

Emotional Stability: How calmly you respond to life’s demands

Dominance: Tendency to influence and/or control others

Liveliness: How freely you express yourself

Rule Consciousness: How much value is placed on external rules

Social Boldness: How much at ease you feel in social situations

Sensitivity: Extent to which emotions and sentiments influence outlook

Vigilance: The extent to which you are cautious of other’s motives

Abstractedness: How much attention is given to abstract rather than concrete observations

Privateness: How much you like to keep personal information to yourself

Apprehension: How much you are prone to self-criticism

Openness to Change: Extent you enjoy new situations/experiences

Self-Reliance: How much you enjoy your own company and trust your own judgment

Perfectionism: Need to rely on structure rather than leaving things to chance

Tension: How easily situations can cause you frustraction


Eysenck’s Personality Questionnaire (EPQ-R)

• Extroversion / Introversion (E)

• Extraversion is defined as outgoing, talkative, high on positive affect, in need of external stimulation

• Neuroticism / Stability (N)

• Neuroticism or emotionality is characterized by high levels of negative affect such as depression and anxiety

• Psychotocism / Socialisation (P)

• Psychotocism is associated not only with the liability of having a psychotic episode, but also with aggression. Psychotic behavior is rooted in toughmindedness, non-conformity, recklessness, hostility, etc.


EPQ-R means and differences for preference for exaggerated bass

McCown, Keiser, Mulhearn & Williamson (1997)

Variable MeanPsychotocismMales 13.02Females 10.03

ExtraversionMales 21.23Females 18.87

NeurotocismMales 15.21Females 19.66

Variable p level Mean # of bass choicesGender .001 Female 6.2

Male 9.4

Extraversion .05 Low 6.7High 9.5

Psychotocism .001 Low 5.9High 9.7


Dimensions of musical preference and their relation to musical attributes

Rentfrow & Gosling (2003)

Musical Preferences and Social Identity

Perceived normative characteristics of fans of different types of music

North & Hargreaves (1999)

Musical and Emotion

• Possible reasons for the paucity of research on music and emotion

• The difficulty of studying emotions in the laboratory in general

• The dominant influence of cognitive science on music psychology

• The difficulty of studying musical emotions

• The academic study of music as promoting a particular way of listening to music

Music and Emotion

Emotion and Meaning in Music

Meyer (1956)

Absolutist view: The idea that musical meaning lies exclusively in the perception of the relations set out in the music itself

Referentialist view: The idea that music ALSO communicates extramusical concepts of actions, emotional states, and so on.

Music and Emotion

A cognitive theory of emotions

Mandler (1984)

• Human cognition operates by means of perceptual-motor schemata through which expectancies are generated for upcoming events and future behaviors are planned

• If you interrupt an ongoing schema, you get biological arousal

• The biological reactions triggers a search for a cognitive interpretation of what happened, or a search for meaning

• The arousal and interpretation join together in producing an emotional experience

Music and Emotion

The ITPRA theory

Huron (2005)• Pre-outcome phase: Feelings that occur prior

to the expected/unexpected event

• Post-outcome event: Feelings that after the expected/unexpected event

• Imagination Response: Imagining an outcome to a particular situation

• Tension Response: Prepare organism for impending event

• Prediction Response: Provide positive and negative inducements that encourage the formation of accurate expectations

• Reaction Response: The immediate protective response

• Appraisal Response: Provide positive and negative reinforcements related to biological value of the end state

Music and Emotion

Emotional ratings and musical attributes

Hevner (1935, 1936)

Musical attribute Emotional descriptions

Minor mode Pathetic, doleful, sad, dreamy, tender, yearning

Major mode Merry, joyous, gay, spiritual, lofty, dignified

Music and Emotion

Emotional ratings and musical attributes

Cosa, Fine, & Bitti (2004)

Musical attribute Emotional descriptions

Major mode Happiness, serenity

Perfect 4th Pleasant

Minor 7th

Tonally strong

Minor 2nd Active, instable, motion

Tritone

Music and Emotion

Emotion and brain activation attributes

Koelsch et al. (2006)

musical aesthetics & emotion ways of characterizing emotions in music the idea of musical...

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