Psychology of Music

Dear friends and colleagues, a fellow music-psychology (Amanda Krause, Heriot Watt University) is in need of some participants for her research which looks at the influence of technology on everyday interactions with music. Please could you be of some help and fill out a survey (or surveys!) by visiting the following website: Research About Listening.

---

 

Underpinnings of Musical Emotion

As we all know from experience: music evokes emotion. Listening to music can be used to regulate our emotions, allowing us to 'get in the mood' for a night out or by helping us to 'calm down' after a long day at work (DeNora, 1999). It can also help us release emotion, and freely express the emotions we have bottled up inside. It is even possible to find 'mood-matching music' which helps us maintain a mood we are already in (Juslin & Västfjäll, 2008). Music is deeply connected to our emotions and gives us a sort of emotional playground where we can express our feelings safely (Huron, 2006). But does music really induce emotion? And if so, how does music achieve this? In other words: what are the underlying mechanisms which cause music to evoke emotions within the listener?

Intense debate has arisen over whether music truly induces emotion or not. For example, Sloboda (1992) has suggested that "music arouses deep emotion", while more recently Konecni (2003) has stated that "music cannot directly arouse emotion". The core of such controversy may be rooted in the fact that research has largely ignored the question of how music arouses emotion.

A second issue is that the definition of emotion, which has also been debated, always includes the feature of intentionality. Emotions are 'about' something (Frijda, 1999). For example, you can be happy 'about' your promotion, or sad 'about' the death of your dog. So then, what are musical emotions 'about'? It seems that music typically lacks this quality of intentionality. Furthermore, the appraisal theory of emotion suggests that a person's subjective evaluation of an event leads to an emotional response. For example, if loud music is keeping you awake, then the music would induce annoyance. However, music does not often fit into this sort of situation. So because music lacks intentionality and goal implication (falling asleep) this has led some researchers to believe that music can not induce real emotions (Davies, 2001; Konecni, 2003). And it leads others researchers to the conclusion that music induces 'musical emotions' through some spurious process, and that these sort of emotions are somehow unique, albeit a bit isolated from 'real' emotions.

Juslin & Västfjäll (2008) argue that music and emotion research has failed to reach a consensus for one of two reasons: either because it has neglected the underlying psychological mechanisms which cause emotions to be evoked by music, or because it assumes that music-induced emotion requires a cognitive appraisal. They therefore suggest that music and emotion research needs to consider whether there are a number of other mechanisms which can lead music to induce emotion. For example, music and emotion research has largely neglected the idea of how emotions are evoked by music. Since research has neglected the idea of there being multiple mechanisms which induce musical emotion it means that studies have not control for these different mechanisms during experimentation. Furthermore, most studies have examined how listeners perceive emotion, and so have ignored what emotions are being felt by the listener.

So then how does music induce emotion in its listeners? There are six other psychological phenomena which help to induce emotion. It is important to note that these six mechanisms are NOT mutually exclusive and are in addition to cognitive appraisal, which was addressed earlier. The six mechanisms are:  

      1. Brain stem reflex

        Brain stem reflex occurs when one or more fundamental acoustic musical characteristics are interpreted by the brain stem as signaling an important and ugent event. For example, any musical sounds which are sudden, loud, disonant, or consist of fast temporal patterns. These sounds will increaase activation of the central nervous system (CNS) and induce arousal or feelings of unpleasantness in the listener. This reflex mechanism had an evolutionary purpose. It was meant to direct attention to important stimuli in order to spring you into action, incase, say, an enemy was attacking.

      2. Evaluative conditioning

        Evaluative conditioning occurs when an emotion is induced through classical conditioning. More specifically, evaluative conditioning is when an emotion is induced by music because the music (neutral stimulus) has been previously and repeatedly paired with another stimulus (positive or negative affect stimulus). This therefore causes the music to retain that positive or negative affect of the other stimulus. For example, if a person has repeatedly played the same song (e.g. You and I, Lady Gaga) during a happy event (e.g. while in the company of her boyfriend) then this song will come to evoke happiness even in the absence of her boyfriend.

        Not many studies investigate the effects of evaluative conditions because 1) the responses are highly personal, and therefore difficult to study systematically and 2) because the music is simply a conditioned stimulus, meaning that the responses to music are irrelevant and that the participants would actually be responding to the original unconditioned stimulus (seeing her boyfriend).

      3. Emotional contagion

        Emotional contagion occurs when an emotion is induced by the listener because he/she perceives he emotional expression of the music, and then 'mimics' this emotion internally. For example, music might express sadness through a slow tempo, low pitch, and low sound colume. This may then induce sadness within the listener (Juslin, 2001).          

This mechanism may be the result of empathy, where one perceives the emotional gestures of another causing a direct induction of the same emotion within themselves (Preston & de Waal, 2002). Recent research has suggested that this process occurs through mirror neurons, which are neurons in the ventral premotor region of the brain. These neurons activate when one carries out an action (frowning, smiling) and also when one observes another performing this same action (Rizzolatti & Craighero, 2004).

       Emotional contagion directly relates to music because music often expressive acoustical patterns similar to those found in emotional speech (Juslin & Laukka, 2003). For example, human speech may be interpreted as angry when occurs at a fast rate with loud intensity and a harsh timbre. In this same way, a musical instrument could also sound angry.

    4. Visual imagery

         Visual imagery occurs when an emotion is induced in a listener because he/she creates mental images while listening to music. The resulting emotions are experienced because of an interaction between the music and images. Mental images have been regarded as internal triggers of emotions (Plutchik, 1984), and studies have shown that different emotions result in different mental images (Lyman & Waters, 1989). Some have even suggested music to be especially effective in stimulating visual imagery (Osborne, 1980; Quittner & Glueckauf, 1983). Visual imagery may also occur in conjuction with episodic memory.

      5. Episodic memory

          Episodic memory occurs when an emotion is induced in the listener because they music evokes a memory of a particular event. The process usually requires a bit of back-tracking: The music first evokes a memory, and then this memory evokes an emotion. A great example of this is nostalgia. Hearing a song from high school may remind you of how fun it was to be a teen, and in turn my lead you to feel a longing for the past, for when your life was not so stressful!

        Music theorists regard episodic memory as less musically relevant. However this mechanism is found to manifest emotions quite frequently in listeners and is regarded as highly important by those who engage with music through memory. For example, many people use music to help them remember past times and helps them consolidate their self-identity. Perhaps someone remembers playing baseball through university and remembers how it important it was to them every time they hear the song "Take Me Out To The Ball Game".

      6. Music expectancy

           Musical expectancy occurs when music induced emotion because the listener's musical expectations are either violated, delayed, or confirmed. This idea was first solidified by Meyer (1956) adn its notable for its strong dependence on learning. This means, that tonal hierarchies (Lerdahl & Jackendoff, 1983) must first be learned. Meyer (1956) suggests that in order for music to ahve an aesthetic meaning, the arousal ad tension of music must resolve (think of the chord progression I-ii-V-I). Through the violation, delay, and confirmation of expectations specific emotions in the listener could be evoked, such as anxiety (p. 27), hope (p. 29), or disappointment (p. 182). That is, an individual's tendency to emotionally respond to music results from previous experience with music and musical style (classical vs jazz). From these previous experiences, a person develops expectations regarding the types of patterns that might come next in the music (Radocy & Boyle, 2003). For example, young 5-year old children did not object to gross chordal dissonance, but 9-year olds were found to laugh at 'wrong' chords (Sloboda, 1989).

          However, Meyer's theory is not without criticism. Two arguments against Meyer are that 1) his theory lacks a way of being tested. For example, a single piece of music may produce different expectations at different hierarchical levels, and so result in different expectations for different listeners. This is turn makes it difficult to understand or predict why a listener has had a particular emotional response to a given piece of music (Juslin & Västfjäll, 2008). 2) This theory is not specific enough to explain when in a piece of music a particular emotion would be induced (Miller, 1992). Despite these criticisms listeners of Western music do seem to learn certain chord progressions and so any violation of these canonical progressions may in fact result in an emotional response (Radocy & Boyle, 2003).

Implications for Future Research:

It is important to point out that interactions among two or more mechanisms may exist, which may explain why a single piece of music can result in mixed emotions. For example, a piece may induce happiness in the listener because this is the emotion that the music expresses, but the music may also induce sadness because the listener associated with a past event which was sad. Furthermore, with different reasons for music-induced emotion, perhaps past contradictions in research findings can be explained. For example, Peretz (2001) suggested that emotions are an automatic response, while Meyer (1956) claims that emotions are a result of cognitive expectations. In light of the previous mechanisms discussed, perhaps Peretz statement refers to emotional contagion, while Meyer's theory relates to visual imagery.

A strong argument is presented here, which identifies and explains a multitude of mechanisms responsible for music-induced emotion. For this reason future research is encouraged to control for these different emotional mechanisms when investigating emotion in music. Perhaps through further investigation we can better understand the emotional appeal we have for music on an individual and societal level.

 

---

References

Davies, S. (2001). Philosophical perspectives on music's expressiveness. In: Music and emotion: Theory and research, ed. P. N. Juslin & J. A. Sloboda, 23-44. Oxford University Press.

DeNora, T. (1999). Music as a technology of self. Poetics, 27 31-56.

Frijda, N. H. (1999). Emotions and hedonic experience. In: Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology, ed. D. Kahneman, E. Diener & N. Schwarz, 190-210.

Huron, D. (2006). Sweet Anticipation: Music and the Psychology of Expectation. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.

Juslin, P. (2001). Communicating emotion in music performance. A review and a theoretical framework. In: Music and emotion: Theory and research, ed. P. N. Juslin & J. A. Sloboda, 309-337. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Juslin, P. N. & Laukka, P. (2003). Communication of emotions in vocal expression and music performance: Different channels, same code? Psychological Bulletin, 129, 770-814.

Juslin, P. N. & Västfjäll, D. (2008). Emotional responses to music: Thee need to consider underlying mechanisms. Bhavioral and Brain Sciences, 31, 559-621.

Konecni, V. J. (2003). Review of Music and emotion: Theory and research, edited by P. N. Juslin & J. A. Sloboda. Music Perception, 20,332-341.

Lerdahl, F. & Jackendoff, R. (1983). A Generative Theory of Tonal Music. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.

Lyman, B. & Waters, J. C. (1989). Patterns of imagery in various emotions. Journal of Mental Imagery, 13, 63-74.

Meyer, L. B. (1956). Emotion and Meaning in Music. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Miller, R. F. (1992). Affective responses: In R. Colwell (ed.), Handbook of research on music teaching and learning, pp. 414-424. New York: Schirmer Books.

Osborne, J. W. (1980). The mapping of thoughts, emotions, sensations, and images as responses to music. Journal of Mental Imagery, 5, 33-36.

Plutchik, R. (1984). Emotions and imagery.Journal of Mental Imagery, 8, 105-111.

Preston, S. D. & de Waal, F. B. M. (2002). Empathy: Its ultimate and proximate bases. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 25(1), 1-72.

Quittner, A. & Glueckauf, R. (1983). The facilitative effects of music on visual imagery: A multiple measures approach. Journal of Mental Imagery, 7, 105-120.

Radocy, R. & Boyle, J. (2003). Psychological foundations of musical behavior. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas Publisher, Ltd.

Rizzolatti, G. & Craighero, L. (2004). The mirror-neuron system. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 27, 169-192.

Sloboda, J. (1989). Music as a language. In: Music and child development, ed. F. Wilson & F. Roehmann, 28-43. MMB Music.

Sloboda, J. (1992). Empirical studies of emotional response to music. In: Cognitive bases of musical communication, ed. M. Riess-Jones & S. Holleran, 33-46