1. The Effect of Classical and Dance Music on Emotion
James Fulks
We consider emotions to be short term and high in intensity, as compared to mood which we
consider to be long term and lower in intensity (Lamont & Eerola 2011).
In 2008 Delsing showed through a study that those who preferred intense music with a fast
beat (high arousal music) had lower moral though and high openness to experience, this was
characterized by dance music in this study.
In 2011 Gardikiotis showed that those who like classical and jazz music (low arousal music)
tended to have more conservative values, this was characterized by classical music in this study.
Through this study we were trying to find how different types of music may affect behavior
through emotion.
If types of music have a direct affect on how we feel it can also affect how we behave.
A one-way ANOVA was used to test difference between the groups.
A Post Hoc test was used to compare the differences between the groups.
There was a Statistical difference between the Negative Affect of the Dance and
Control groups.
Although not quite statistically significant at the .05 level the classical group did
have less negative emotions than the control group.
The P-value is low 0.004, showing a significant difference between the groups.
The control group had on average a 4.30 higher rating of negative emotions, than the dance
group.
4.30 on a scale of 50 is not a huge difference.
None of our groups were statistically significant on Positive Affect
Instead of having more negative emotions as I expected, the dance music group had less
negative emotions than the control group. Music seems to reduce negative emotions.
Participants were BYU-Idaho Students, Caucasians 18-25.
There were 57 participants.
Three groups, the Control group (n=17), Classical music group (n=18), and the Dance
Music group (n=22).
Participants worked on simple addition and subtraction problems for 15 minutes.
The dance group listened to Dance music and the Classical group listened to Classical music
while doing the math problems.The Control group listened to no music.
After the 15 minutes of math problems the participants completed the PANAS-X
questionnaire, which measures positive and negative emotions.
Dance music was defined by taking instrumental versions of songs that were in the top 30 in
the “dance/party” genre on each of two websites: dancetop40.com and billboard.com.
Classical music was defined as songs from well-known composers from the years 1750-1830
AD, such as Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn.
Participants were separated into classrooms and the music for the two groups was played over
the speakers in the room.
Delsing, M. (2008),Adolescents’ music preferences and personality characteristics. European
Journal of Personality, 22(2), 109-130. doi:10.1002/per.665.
Gardikiotis,A; Baltiz,A. (2011),‘Rock music for myself and justice to the world!: Musical
identity, values and musical preferences. Psychology of Music, 2012, 40, 143.
doi:10.1177/0305735610386836
Lamont,A. and Eerola,T. (2011) Music and emotion:Themes and development.
Musicae Scientiae, July 2011 vol. 15 no. 2 139-145; doi:10.1177/1029864911403366
Watson, D; Clark, L.A (1994). The PANAS-X:Manual for the Positive and Negative Affect
Schedule- Expanded Form. University of Iowa.
Thank you to Devin Marrott, Kelly Sutton,Taylor Ririe, Ben Duncan, Devin Malone, Kevin
Murphy, NikoleAlyes for helping conducting the study.And thank you to Professor Eric Gee
for all his help and direction!
Dance music reduced negative emotions, showing that dance music could actually cause
people to feel better when listening to it, compared to not listening to anything.
Overall music listening may reduce negative emotions, and increase positive emotions,
although more testing would need to be conducted.
Although not statistically significant the participants did report less negative emotions in the
classical music group than in the control group.
There was very little difference between the negative emotions of the two groups that did
listen to music.
Limitations:
It is difficult to define the music genres.
The setting in which the participants listened to music was somewhat artificial.
We played music at the same volume and without lyrics.
Many times Dance music is listened to at a louder volume, which may influence emotion.
Small n sizes, Control group (n=17), Classical music group (n=18), & Dance Music group
(n=22).
Further Research:
Effects on emotions of other genres of music such as Hard Rock & Bluegrass.
Effects of lyrics on emotions (we excluded lyrics).
Effects of music volume on emotions.
Effects of music tempo and beat on emotions.
Effects on emotions of listening to music one prefers vs. not-prefer.
Results Discussion
References
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Methods
Department of Psychology