Psychology Behind Music - Emotion

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1 Journal of Young Investigators November 2010

The Science and Psychology Behind Music and Emotion

Gavin Ryan Shafron1

1University of California, Los Angeles, U.S.A

Volume 20, Issue 5November 2010


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The Science and Psychology Behind Music and Emotion

Gavin Ryan Shafron1

1 University of California, Los Angeles, [email protected]

ABSTRACT Music has been used for thousands of years as a means of emotional expression. The goals ofthis paper are to (a) review current literature on how music induces emotion (b) explore themechanisms of how this happens both physiologically and psychologically and (c) to look at therole of desired effect and musical preference to move towards a general conclusion of whatdrives listeners’ musical choices. This paper approaches this by looking at structural theories ofmusic including those of Krumhansl (1997) that music has inherent qualities that instill specificresponses in the listener. The paper then continues by addressing a Jungian perspective oftenemployed in music therapy. Here, music is used to express what is otherwise inexpressible. The

Behavioral Perspective section postulates that music can prime listeners by making thempredisposed through associations to feel positive or negative emotions. This theory is carriedover to an analysis of music and consumerism where emotional priming can serve as a bridgeto an association with a product. The Physiological Effects section explores research on music’ssomatic connection indicating that pleasant music reduces stress and may decrease the body’spost-stress responses. The Music and Performance section analyzes the Mozart effect and itspotential relationship to the arousal and mood hypothesis, stating that the improved spatial IQscores recorded in the Mozart effect may have more to do with the arousal generated by allclassical music rather than Mozart’s music itself. The paper concludes with an analysis of whatdrives listeners and the Arnett (1991a; 1991b; 1992) heavy metal studies, which show thatmusic is the way adolescents deal with emotional upheaval and how music can be used as ameans of achieving catharsis.

INTRODUCTION Music has been used for thousands

of years as a means of religious, cultural,social, and self-expression. Gold et al.(2007) noted that music can be used as aform of nonverbal communication andinteraction. Music’s communicative impactis displayed quite prominently in theresearch and methods of music therapy.Music therapy utilizes musical instruments

and voice as tools to express emotions thatwere previously inexpressible.

Also, music often elicits emotionthrough emotional associations to specificchord progressions (Luck et al. 2007). Thispaper examines the mechanisms of howmusic affects emotion.

Kivy (1990) and Krumhansl (1997)note that within the study of music and

emotion lie two primary perspectives. Thefirst of which suggests that music itself hasinherent, unchangeable qualities that willincite in a listener a specific emotionalresponse, as designed by the composer ofa given piece. This position is known as the‘emotivist’ position. Indeed, major and minormode music are associated with specificemotional reactions in listeners (Krumhansl

1997).The second perspective, known as

the ‘cognitivist’ position, states that theemotion experienced by a listener is aproduct of emotions that the listenerassociates with, or recognize within, themusic. However, unlike with theexperiences of Heavy Metal listeners, to bediscussed in later sections (Arnett 1991a),


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Kivy (1990) argues that emotion felt whilelistening to music is a product of theexpressive nature of the music and is notnecessarily the same emotion as isnormally experienced day-to-day. Thisperspective is given with the possible

exception, of cases of psychopathology orassociation between the music andpreviously felt emotion (Kivy 1990;Krumhansl 1997).

Falling somewhere in the middle ofthe spectrum between the emotionist andcognitivist perspectives are the findingspertaining to Heavy Metal music from Arnett(1991a). To many who do not prefer HeavyMetal, this form of music would likely beseen as negative, angry and aversive, whileto those that do prefer it, it is seen as

cathartic (Arnett 1991a). Indeed, researchhas shown that those who suffer fromnegative affect will seek out negativelyvalenced media to achieve some sort ofgratifying emotional response (Mares andCantor 1992; Nabi et al. 2006), falling in linewith the exception present within thecognitivist principle of Kivy (1990).

According to Arnett (1991a), listeners useHeavy Metal music to bring to the surfaceemotions that they already are experiencingabsent the musical stimuli.

The psychological effects section ofthis paper explores the Jungian perspectiveof music and emotion, as represented in thegoals of music therapy. Research from thisview of psychomusicology implies thatmusic can be a tool to express specificemotions felt by a patient (McClary 2007;Luck et al. 2007). The behavioralperspective on music would seem to fall inline with this as positively associated musiccan be paired with a neutral object to createa positive association with that object,

thereby displaying some sort of relationalconnection between music and emotion.

The main goals of this paper are asfollows: (a) to review current thinking onwhether music directly induces emotion, (b)to explore the mechanisms of how musicimpacts or induces emotion bothphysiologically and psychologically, andfinally (c) to look at the role of desired effect

and musical preference to move towards ageneral conclusion of what drives listenersto select specific types of music.

DOES MUSIC INDUCE EMOTION?

Music’s Direct Effect on Emotion

According to Rider (1997), thehomeodynamic theory states that, thosewho experience poorer emotional health willexpress their ailments physically (Rider1997). Shea et al. (1993) found that thosewho scored higher in two types ofrepression scored lower in overall T-cellcount. Furthermore, Temoshok (1987)found that cancer patients tended to score

higher on levels of repressive coping. Additionally, those who experience

high levels of repression can mosteffectively be restored to homeostasisthrough cathartic release (Rider 1997).Rider found that one of the most effectiveways of achieving this type of catharsis (or“homeodynamic shifts” as Rider oftenreferred to it) was through music (Rider1997). Additional evidence exists indicatingmusic as actually inducing and amplifyingemotions. Traditional researchers studying

music effects have found associationsbetween minor modes and sad emotionsand major modes and happy emotions (Kivy1990; Krumhansl 1997). This evidentconnection between music and mood ispartially the foundation behind musictherapy which uses structured and freemusical improvisation, singing and listeningto music to address a client’s given issues.The process of music therapy is describedby McClary (2007):

The modality of music therapy attempts toutilize the nonverbal and often nonthreateningnature of music to provide a safe place toexpress the inexpressible….The act ofprocessing a musical experience involveslooking at the material that arose [throughmusical expression] and directing it throughcarefully structured questions andobservations into conscious awareness.By….walking around the experience and


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looking at it from all sides, the implication isthat there is movement with the experience.Movement implies a process through whichsymptoms of psyche can come to the surfaceand be viewed from a therapeutic standpoint.(McClary 2007 p.155)

Music as a type of psychotherapyhas many forms. One common approach isto simply expose listeners to musical stimulito facilitate a desired response (Luck et al.2007). Another, known as “Improvisation,”was developed in the early 1960’s as apsychological treatment method forhandicapped children. Improvisation can beused alone or in combination with othertherapeutic methods. In this method musicaland non-verbal communication are used as

methods for communicating, and amplifyingemotion that a patient may have otherwisebeen unable to express, or may be alltogether unaware of (Luck et al. 2007).

Music therapy has been effectivelyused for promoting emotionalexpressiveness in children (Gold et al.2007). Hendon (2008) found that acrossvarious studies, music has been shown tobe an effective therapeutic technique acrossdiffering individuals with differing needs. InHendon’s same study, music therapy led to

significantly more smiles in hospitalizedchildren for every three minutes observedthan play therapy. Since smiles are a goodindicator of positive mood in children,Hendon inferred that children were happierin music therapy than in play therapy. Thisinference was reinforced by children’sincreased willingness to participate in musictherapy over play therapy (Hendon 2008).Music therapy has also been found toencourage overall emotional welfare (Pauland Ramsey 2000).

Music therapy has also been shownto be effective at instilling positive mood andpositive behavioral reactions in adolescents.

A case study by Pasagiannis (2002) foundan increasing trend of affiliative (pro-social)behaviors in a female participant and anincreased ability for both of the researcher’ssubjects to engage with a therapist andothers. The authors therefore implied that

music therapy is a positive and effectiveway of boosting retention rates inadolescent treatment and boosting positiveemotional reactions and behaviors.

Hospitalized children oftenexperience stress from their stay possibly

because of separation from loved ones,isolation, discomfort from their illness andfear of the new and unknown environment(Longhi and Pickett 2008). Music therapyhas been shown to be an effectivetechnique for reducing resulting pediatricanxiety and stress (Longhi and Pickett,2008). Longhi and Pickett (2008) found thatafter being exposed to live music, twenty-one pediatric patients at a London hospitalshowed blood oxygen saturation levels hadsignificantly risen compared to tests

performed prior to the music session. Therise in blood oxygen levels is a physiologicalindication of reduced anxiety. This findingheld regardless of sex.

Furthermore, this study indicatedthat these results were present not only forpremature newborns during circumcisionand low birth weight pediatric patients, butalso for pediatric patients regardless of ageor condition. This finding revealed that livemusic, especially with emotional andsoothing components, was beneficial in

helping to alleviate stress for children inanxiety provoking situations. (Longhi andPickett 2008)

Evidence for the impact of music onmood transcends music therapy alone. LeRoux et al. (2007) found that exposure toJ.S. Bach’s Magnificat reduced levels ofcortisol in the blood of listeners with andwithout medical conditions. McCraty (1999)displayed a relationship between increasedlevels of anger and higher levels of cortisol.Since levels of cortisol are associated with

physiological stress, one could surmise thatexposure to the Magnificat reducedlisteners’ physiological stress levels.Because lower cortisol levels are also agood indication of reduced emotional stress,one could also conclude that exposure tothe Magnificat also reduced listener’semotional and psychological stress levelsas well.


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fall in line with expected emotionalresponses, specific features of the piecemay decrease or increase the perception ofspecific emotion as the piece progresses.Still, this study supports the findings ofKrumhansl (1997) by implying that a specific

emotional tone is held within a piece ofmusic.

One confound to Krumhansl (1997),however, is that this lab study did notaddress the possibility that the emotionalperception of a piece of music inside of andoutside of a lab may be different.Furthermore, this study did not address howthe perceived emotional quality of a givenpiece of music may not necessarily be inline with the emotional experience of thelistener. If the latter is in fact the case, the

possible inherent quality of the music maynot be a catalyst for an emotional reactionthat matches the music’s emotional tone. Inother words, the perceived emotionalexperience of listening to a piece of musicmay be different from what one woulddescribe as the inherent emotional quality tothat given piece, such as whether that pieceis considered happy, sad, angry, etc.

The dimensional theories of emotionattempt to explain inherent emotionalqualities of music by picking apart aspects

of a piece of music. The dimensionaltheories of emotion state that: the emotionalmeaning of a piece of music “can bedescribed within a multidimensional emotionspace comprised of a small number ofdimensions.” These “dimensions” are knownas “potency/strength,”“valence/pleasantness,” and“activity/arousal” (Luck et al. 2007). Whenlooking at perceptions of music as ratedwithin the dimensional model, Luck et al.(2007) found that ratings including

“pleasantness,” “activity” and “strength”related to “large scale temporal patterns ofmusical features.”

Higher ratings of musical “activity”were predicted best by a greater pulseclarity and a higher level of note density.Higher “strength” ratings were bestpredicted by a higher average velocity,dissonance and note density and finally,

higher “pleasantness” ratings were bestpredicted by lower note density, lower pulseclarity and higher tonal clarity. These resultstherefore indicate that specific structuralcharacteristics of a given piece of music canpredict, elicit and induce emotional

responses. These findings provide a veryinteresting look at music’s impact on itslisteners, but what of the listener’s role inmusic? Why do some listeners preferharsher more violent forms of music, whileothers slower and more “pleasant” forms?These questions are addressed in thefollowing sections.

PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF MUSIC

The Jungian Perspective

For a psychological perspective, onecould look to the works of Carl Jung - apsychoanalytic theorist and formerunderstudy of Freud- to understand themechanisms of how music induces emotion(Dunne 2002). According to Jung, the goalof any therapy should be one of therealizations of the authentic self, or makingone’s issues conscious where they wereonce unconscious. By addressing these

issues, one reveals the true self residingunderneath the once unconscious issue.Music therapy can therefore be seen assharing the same goals as the Jungianmodel of psychotherapy and musicalpreference, using music to expressunconscious or inexpressible emotions(McClary 2007).

Improvisational music therapy wouldseem to follow along with this model,showing a view of a psychologicalmechanism of music’s emotional effect that

is consistent with psychodynamic theory.Free improvisation in music therapy is aform of psychotherapy where the clientcreates musical sounds in an environmentdevoid of any guidelines, rules or directionsas indicated by the therapist (Luck et al.2007).

While this form of music therapydisplays the musical representation and


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amplification of what the client is feeling, it isthe job of the therapist to “define and extractthe clinically relevant combinations ofmusical features that are ‘hiding’ within theimprovisations…. [this is further complicatedby the fact that]….these combinations of

features change and evolve as animprovisation unfolds raising the question ofhow best to investigate their relationship tolisteners’ perception of emotional content”(Luck et al. 2007). There are several waysto interpret this information, from continuousratings of emotional perceptions ofemotional content to examiningrelationships between these ratings andmodifying the combinations of the featuresof the music in the improvisation (Luck etal., 2007).

The Behavioral Perspective on Music

Similar to how a score can cause anemotional priming effect on a listener,making them predisposed to feel specifictypes of emotions before or during a relatedevent i.e. a movie (Simonton 2007), musiccan be used to positively prime a consumerby creating a positive association betweenthe consumer and a product, or a consumer

and a brand name (Fulberg 2003). Thebehavioral concept of classical conditioningsuggests that a preferred song or piece, ifpaired with a neutral product will produce apositive, or negative association betweenthe two stimuli (Zander 2006). Gorn (1982)noted that classical conditioning could beapplied to consumer selection through hispen selection experiment. Gorn (1982)paired light blue and beige pens with musiceither preferred or disliked by subjects. Atthe end of his experiment, he found that

when asked to pick a pen, 79% of subjectschose the one that had been paired withtheir preferred music.

Music’s dramatic potential toinfluence people is especially present in thecase of familiar music. Familiar music hasthe potential to promote “peripheralprocessing” where: through a process ofassociation of familiar with positive, and

unfamiliar with negative, unfamiliar music,objects and individuals could create atendency to incite negative affect, such asfrustration and anxiety (Garivaldis et al.2007; Bornstein 1989). Further reinforcingthis concept are Garivaldis et al. (2007)

finding that familiar music does in factinduce favorable observations exercised byindividuals within a job applicant selectiontask. This would imply that familiar musicinstilled in listeners positive feelings towardsthe individuals who were paired with it.

PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF MUSIC

As mentioned in the first section,music has been shown to reduce stress and

anxiety, and to reduce levels of cortisol inthe blood. Further questions still stand: howare the emotional effects that listenersexperience when exposed to musicrepresented on a physiological level? Thesequestions are addressed in the studies ofSuda et al. (2008) and by others mentionedin this section.

Suda et al. (2008) represents acomplex analysis of physiological responsesto music. Their study recruited 10participants between 25 and 35 years of

age without any known psychiatric orneurological disorders. Participants weregiven an intelligence task to initially raisecortisol levels. Participants were thenexposed to major mode music (primarilypleasant/happy) and minor mode music(primarily sad/unpleasant). After exposureto major mode music, cortisol levelsdropped dramatically. This responseimplies, as discussed before, that pleasantmusic reduces stress and that music maydecrease post-stress responses of the

hypothalamus-adrenal-pituitary axis (Sudaet al., 2008). This area of the brain isimplicated in mood control and regulation,and stress based reactions (Holsboer et al.1994).

Additionally, localized areas of thebrain were shown to respond to musicunder stressful conditions. Hemoglobinchanges in cerebral blood oxygenation,


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similar to previously mentioned studies weredetected as a “focal increase.” (Suda et al.2008).

Furthermore, increased hemoglobinwas detected in the dorsal front area inresponse to major mode music. This makes

sense when one considers that dorsal frontareas of the brain mostly correspond to thedorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a region ofthe brain associated with positive mood(Suda et al. 2008).

Suda et al. (2008) also notedchanges in the lower temporal cortexspecifically in decreased hemoglobin levelswith exposure to minor mode music.

Additionally, the upper temporal cortex ofparticipants experienced noteworthyasymmetric changes in hemoglobin. This

led the researchers to believe that pleasantand unpleasant processing of emotions inthe temporal cortex may be, as previouslyfound, related to stress reduction by music.

In further support of this generalhypothesis they found thatneural structures involved in emotionalfeelings by musical and sound stimuli wereobserved in the orbitofrontal gyrus, theamygdala, the insula, the stratum, thecerebellum, the hippocampus, and theparahippocampus (Suda et al. 2008).

Finally, in the occipital cortex, higherhemoglobin changes were recorded inresponse to minor compared with majormode music. This finding suggested thatattenuated processing areas in the lateraloccipital complex were responsible fornegative emotion through activation of thedorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Thedorsolateral prefrontal cortex - or workingmemory areas- were therefore activatedduring exposure to unpleasant or sadmusic. This finding suggests a significant

interaction of arousal responses to musicfrom endocrine sites in the body (Suda et al.2008).

In another work, (Thompson et al.2001) stated that the effects of positiveemotional reactions from music are linkedwith higher levels of dopamine. Dopamineprojects from the ventral tegmental area tovarious areas throughout the brain, one of

which is known as the locus ceruleus. Thelocus ceruleus is the brain’s largestproducer of norepinephrine which is theneurotransmitter most significantlyassociated with arousal. Therefore,enhanced positive mood resulting from

musical exposure can stimulate brain areassuch as the locus ceruleus, therebyincreasing arousal and overall performance(Thompson et al. 2001). Music has alsobeen shown to have a direct effect onarousal and mood by changes in heart rate,skin conductance, finger pulse amplitude,breathing rate, and other skin measures(Davis and Thaut 1989; Krumhansl 1997).

MUSIC AND CONSUMERISM

Influencing choice through emotional

amplification

As has been indicated, music ishighly effective at amplifying andcommunicating emotion (McClary 2007;Luck et al. 2007). In cinema, Musical piecescan be conceived of as a means of furtheramplifying a film scene’s emotional qualitiessuch as happiness, sadness, withdrawal,

anger or fear (Simonton 2007). Simonton(2007) describes music as an emotionalcommunicator that helps to facilitate anintellectual understanding of a film’s storyline. Simonton (2007) also suggests thatthe music within a film may in fact withdrawto the background of the cinematicexperience, conveying a sort ofunconscious priming effect to the listener forthe emotional and cognitive aspects of thefilm. Robazza et al. (1994) found thatindividuals were able to interpret the

emotional meaning of a piece of musicregardless of age, sex, or prior musicaltraining. These findings would seem toindicate that music’s effect on individuals ispresent to the same degree regardless ofpotentially confounding factors. This wouldtherefore indicate a relatively uniformeffectiveness of music in the background ofretail/in-store shopping environments. While


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retail may not hinder music’s influence onan individual’s experiences, music may infact influence an individual’s behavior inretail settings.

The experience of a product intoday’s retail markets is now a sensory

experience, where retail in and of itself is acommunication strategy (Fullberg 2003).Music provides an opportunity for acompany to communicate with a consumerdirectly, to attempt to connect and foster asense of brand loyalty (Fullberg 2003). Agreat deal of evidence exists to suggest thatthe presence of music in retail environmentssuch as stores and other consumer servicelocations affects the specifics oftransactions taking place in those retailsettings (Morin et al. 2007).

Caldwell and Hibbert (2002) foundthat pleasant music, as opposed to music ofa less pleasing nature, is associated withlonger consumption times, fewer negativeemotional responses to waiting (Hui, Dubé,and Chebat 1997), shorter time perceptions(Cameron et. al. 2003; Kellaris and Kent1992) and more positive attitudes towardsthe service provider (Dubé et al. 1995).Background music in retail environmentshas also been found to affect suchconsumer behaviors as the pace of in-store

movement, perceived and actual time spentshopping, and willingness to interact with asales official (Milliman 1982; Yalch andSpangenberg 2000; Dubé, Chebat, andMorin 1995).

The concept of utilizing music tocreate a positive ambiance for theconsumer is represented by the concept of“Brand Theaters” (Fullberg 2003). A “BrandTheater” is a space where the brandattempts to aggrandize the experience of aproduct. The role of music and sound in this

theater, as Fullberg argues, is to be aprimary communicator between the productand the consumer, setting the mood andemotion of a product through the music,similar to film and background music(Fullberg 2003).

Fullberg (2003) also addressed the‘wine-aisle experiment’ by North et al.(1999) which used specific styles of French

music to increase the sales of French wineand German music to increase the sales ofGerman wine, implying that the musicplayed induced a preference or comfortlevel with one product over another (Northet al. 1999).

Millman (1982) observed that thepace with which music was played in achain of U.S. supermarkets encouragedcustomers to stay in the store and continueshopping 39% longer. Fullberg (2003)noted that the direct connection betweenthe musical induction of an emotion-basedreaction has never been fully investigatedwhich contradicts the results of otherpreviously mentioned studies that predateFullberg (2003).

Dubé and Morin (2001) theorized

that music in a retail setting does notinfluence store evaluation through themusic’s pleasant qualities directly, butinfluences store evaluation by changing theconsumers’ attitudes toward the serviceenvironment and specifically the serviceprovider. This, in turn subsequently impactsthe consumers’ overall in-store evaluation.In their model, pleasant music improves theattitude of the service environment, whichimpacts in store evaluation in both directand indirect ways. The first of which is the

customers’ view of the service provider andenvironment, and then follows the view ofthe store itself.

In a study of music’s effect onattitude formation, Chebat et al. (2001)found that music that enhanced cognitiveactivity such as complex or fast pacedmusic is associated with lower attitudes ofsubjects. These results imply that in order tocreate a positive emotional response to aproduct or in a retail setting, one may choseto select music that induces lower, rather

than higher cognitive activity.On the similar topic of music

conveying the emotional message of film,Baumgartner et al. (2007) found that in ananalysis of emotional valence, participantsexperienced emotional responses such ashappiness, fear and sadness the strongestwhen music that represented those specificemotions was paired with pictures that the


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music could be interpreted as representing.These reports were bolstered by thefindings that these intense emotionalresponses were paired with neuralactivation in areas of the brain associatedwith emotion. Furthermore, Baumgartner et

al. (2007) found that these emotionalresponses activated the brain’s motor cortexbecause of an overall and unspecificincrease in arousal and a high focus onexternal stimuli.

Similar to previously mentionedstudies relating to the concept of usingmusical scores to underline the emotionalmessage of a film, music can be used inadvertising to reinforce a customer’s beliefabout a product, such as using rock musicto underscore messages about power or

speed or classical music to underscoreelegance or refinement (Zander 2006).More specifically, Zander (2006) found thatimpressions of a brand name could bemaneuvered by means of playing specificmusical pieces. Depending on which musicwas used the brand could convey eitherstrength or softness. Zander also found thatperception of music, unlike in previousstudies was found to differ significantlybetween men and women, with womenreacting more openly and positively overall.

Music’s emotion based impact onperception is not only limited to objects andbrand names but to individuals as well.Chebat et al. (2000) found that calmingmusic promotes customer compliance torequests from salespersons.

Music and Performance

Music has been shown repeatedlyto enhance task performance and memory

in several studies, the most notable of whichis commonly referred to as the Mozarteffect. Raucher et al. (1993) made note thatthe reading comprehension and spatial IQscores of school aged children increasedwhen they were exposed to Mozart.Furthermore, the same study made notethat college students tended to performbetter on standardized tests of special

abilities after listening to a short ten-minuteexcerpt of Mozart, as well. As a direct resultof such findings, the concept that music canmake a person more intelligent has risen toprominence as a popular interpretation andresearch finding (Thompson et al. 2001).

The ‘arousal and mood hypothesis’was proposed by Thompson et al. (2001)and states that musical exposure affectscognitive abilities because music causeschanges in listeners’ levels of arousaland/or overall mood. Musical mode istraditionally associated with mood, such aswith major and minor chords, and tempowith arousal (Husain et al. 2002). Thisprovides a platform for understanding theMozart effect whereby the music actuallyprimes the mind in the unrelated domain of

spatial-temporal learning and memory(Rausher and Shaw, 1998; Rauscher et al.1993).

This effect, however, may not bespecific to Mozart and would therefore beapplicable to similar types of musicaccording to the arousal and moodhypothesis (Schellenberg et al. 2007). Whilesome literature, however, contrasts thesefindings under similar conditions (McKelvieand Low 2002), the main question withthese findings is what is the reason for this

response in individuals, and does it stemfrom some sort of emotional component?

Schellenberg et al., (2007) foundthat IQ test’s benefits favoring Mozart are infact a byproduct of mood and arousalgenerated by the music. This findingtherefore reinforces that similar types ofmusic can yield similar benefits to listeners.These findings generalize across agegroups, non-IQ cognitive tasks and culturalbarriers. In contrast to the idea that similartypes of music yield similar effects across

different individuals, Cassidy andMacDonald (2007) theorized that this effectwas dependent on the personality structureof the listener, specifically with regard towhether they were extroverted orintroverted. This theory reflected theconcept that the emotional experience of agiven piece of music is dependent on theindividual listener.


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Russell’s (1980) ‘circumplex’ modelof emotions stated that emotions exist withina two dimensional space with onedimension comprising arousal andactivation, and another mood and valencedepicting arousal as a degree of physical

activation and experienced emotionalresponse (Schellenberg 2007). Introvertsand extroverts reactions to musicalpreference may be based on theirpreference for overall arousal duringconcentration.

Campbell and Hawley (1982) foundthat extroverts were more likely to chooseareas to work with high amounts of noiseand activity while introverts tend to work inareas secluded from distraction. Because ofthese findings, Cassidy and MacDonald

(2007) hypothesized that task performanceduring musical performance would bemoderated by extroversion and introversion.

This hypothesis was supportedshowing that performance benefits in higharousal settings were most experienced byextroverts and in low arousal settings byintroverts. It is therefore possible to surmisethat extroverts were calmed and focused byhigh arousal music more than introverts,hence displaying discrepant emotionalreactions between listeners. These findings

reflect the overall concept that like withemotion and performance, responses differbased on the personality structure of thelistener.

A further study on the topic of musicand performance was performed by

Anderson et al. (2003). The aforementionedstudy linked concepts of negative behaviorand aggression to theories about thearousal potential of music and internalarousal itself. Wienberger (1995) madenote of how music played during a learning

exercise yielded higher procedural recallwhen it was played during an examination.When different music was played during theexam from the learning exercise, proceduralrecall was at its lowest. These results shedlight on music’s possible power to inducerecall and music’s powerful effect on themind (Fullberg 2003).

ROLES OF PREFERENCE AND DESIREDEFFECTS: What Drives Listeners?

What drives listeners to prefer sometypes of music rather than others? Kurdek(1987) stated that listening to music was the

way that adolescents, both male and femaledealt with anxiety. Many new forms of musicin the past 10-20 years have entered themain stream such as Hip-Hop and HeavyMetal. Particularly in the case of HeavyMetal, new darker forms of the music,known as Death Metal, Screamo, andHardcore among others, have evolved fromonce fringe styles with undergroundfollowings into popular music often playedon the radio. With themes such as self-mutilation, murder and suicide, one may

wonder, what drives listeners to prefer thisstyle of music? Are listeners angrier or dothey experience more dysphoric mood thannon-listeners? What does this music do forthe listeners? Is it cathartic, or does it makethem angry or sad?

Exposure studies have often foundthat repeated exposure to a stimulusoriginally rated as neutral or positive causesincreased positive association withrepetitive exposure (Arnett 1991a).Washburn et al. (1927) showed that

repetitive exposure to classical musictended to cause increased responses ofpleasantness and initially more pleasantaffect among listeners. Altschuler (1948)found that depressed mood could be alteredif a patient was initially exposed to musicthat matched their original mood state.Later, Altschuler successfully changed thetone of the music to alter the patients’emotional state naming the theory behindthis process the “Iso-Moodic” principle

Altschuler (1948). Similarly, the research of

Brickman et al. (1972), suggested the abilityto manipulate specific aspects of music toinfluence musical preference and emotionalresponse.

Witvliet and Vrana (2007)hypothesized that similar responses wouldoccur with music designed to invoke highand low arousal affective responses andpositive and negative affective responses.


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Using a sample of 67 undergraduatepsychology students ranging in age from18-35, participants were rated on self-reportmeasures of music liking, pleasantness andarousal as well as physiological responsesincluding facial electromyography and heart

rate. According to self-report data,

participants reported preference forpositively valenced music as compared tonegative, and tended to like highly arousingmusic more than low arousal music. Initialliking responses polarized with participantsdisliking negative music more over time andliking positive music more over time.Research has shown that listening topreferred music reduces anxiety levels inlisteners, the possible reason for the

polarizing responses of listeners over time(Davis and Thaut 1989). Listeners to oncefringe styles of music under the HeavyMetal umbrella were not interviewed until

Arnett (1991b) conducted a study of freeresponse interviews of actual adolescentHeavy Metal music listeners. This work isdiscussed later on in this section.

The mood management theory wasproposed by Zillmann (1988a, 1988b, 2000,2003). This theory states that listeners willselect media, in this case music, that

promises to optimize their mood state. According to this viewpoint, individualswould be more inclined to choose mediathat is of more positive content than theircurrent mood state in an effort to distractthem from their current negative mood(Carpenter et al., 2008).

According to Carpinter et al. (2008)arguably the most empirically supportedfinding with regard to mood managementhas been that those experiencing positivemoods will seek positive media to maintain

their current mood state (Biswas, Riffe andZillman 1994). This is conversely true ofthose experiencing negative mood stateswho tend to uplift their mood through mediaconducive to positive thinking while at thesame time avoiding media content with sadsubject matter (Meadowcroft and Zillamann1987).

Research has not always shown this to bethe case, however, whereby that individualswith negative affect often seek outnegatively valenced media (Mares andCantor 1992). In many cases, this mediaseems to result in some form of gratifying

emotional response. (Nabi et al. 2006)Carpinter et al. (2008) sought to

explore media usage such as the usage ofmedia and its interaction with mood indepressed adolescents. The Carpinter et al.(2008) study consisted of 51 adolescentparticipants ranging in age from 7 to 17years with and without depression. Theyfound that adolescents with majordepressive disorder tended to use mediasuch as music more often than thosewithout major depressive disorder.

Moreover, those with lower positive mood atone time were more likely to be using mediasubsequently.

Overall Carpinter et al. (2008)reported that both adolescents sufferingfrom depression and those withoutdepression turned to media after feelingless positive emotionally. Furthermore,adolescents did not seem to use media withsad qualities based on their previouslyreported mood. Interestingly, moreadolescents who were using any type of

media were in neutral mood statescompared to those not using media at all.Furthermore, Carpinter et al.’s 2008 findingsindicated the higher the prior mood level ofthe subject, the more fun the emotionalquality of the media used in subsequentsessions.

Growing in popularity in the 1980’s,Heavy Metal music had entered the mainstream by the early 1990’s. From early onHeavy Metal music was not without itsdetractors; much of the American public

viewed heavy metal as distasteful.Governmental bodies even sought to banmusic with the often violent and negativethemes found in Heavy Metal ranging fromdrug use to suicide (Weinstein 2000).

Heavy Metal music is characterizedby pounding rhythmic beats, extremely loudvolume, vocals screamed as much as sung,and heavily distorted guitar instrumentals


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(Arnett 1991b). Heavy Metal and Hard Rockmusic distinguish themselves from otherforms of rock music with their more sexual,hedonistic and depressed themes (Arnett1992). Hard rock and Heavy Metal furtherdistinguish themselves from one another

with hard rock being more often played inmajor keys, and Heavy Metal being playedmostly in minor keys, with a moredepressed emphasis.

Arnett (1991a) was one of the fewstudies that approached listeners whopreferred Heavy Metal music and directlyquestioned them about why they liked theirmusic and what it did for them. The samplefor Arnett (1991a) was 17 subjects recruitedfrom a Georgia music store who were asked28 open ended questions about Heavy

Metal music and how it made them feel.Forty-three percent of subjects indicatedthat they listened to Heavy Metal especiallywhen they were angry, indicating that it wasnot necessarily the music that caused theirnegative emotions, rather, those withpreexisting negative affect sought the musicout themselves. One listener indicated thatthe more angry or dysphoric his emotionalstate, the “harder” the metal he would listento. Very few listeners indicated that theylistened to the music while happy or while

experiencing positive emotional states.More interestingly two thirds of

listeners who listened to Heavy Metal musicwhile angry stated that the music had a“purgative” or cathartic effect that reducedtheir negative emotions, calmed them down,or provided a “vicarious release oraggression.” These findings and statementsare in line with the Jungian view of music intherapeutic contexts, as a channel torelease negative emotion whetherconscious or unconscious (McClary 2007).

Furthermore, these findings are inline with aforementioned music therapystudies displaying a reduction in anxiety forlisteners under emotional stress (Longhiand Picket 2008). Paradoxically, of thelisteners interviewed, only two stated thatthe music actually produced moreaggression. Therefore only those tworespondents in Arnett’s study reflected the

results of other music studies theorizing thatit is actually the inherent structural qualitiesof the music itself that causes specificemotional reactions.

One reason for this discrepancy maybe the emotional state of the adolescent

listeners. A number of subjects intervieweddescribed “smoldering conflict” betweenthem and their parents, indicating thepossibility of a tumultuous home life orpsychological maladjustment of theselisteners (Arnett 1991b). Indeed if somelisteners listen to Heavy Metal specificallywhen they are angry and prefer HeavyMetal music in general, it is plausible tosurmise that they in fact have higher levelsof anger and utilize Heavy Metal music as ameans of emotional release.

In an unstructured and open endedstudy of middle school and high schoolstudents, Wass et al. (1988) examinedstudents who usually preferred songs,usually from Heavy Metal bands containingthemes of suicide, homicide and satanismto students who preferred other types ofrock music. Wass et al. (1988) determinedthat students who liked Heavy Metal musictended to disagree that their preferredmusic would lead to behaviors thatcorrespond with those stated in the lyrical

content. These findings are consistent withfindings by Arnett (1991b). Together, theseresults suggest Heavy Metal music,provides an emotional release, and doesnot necessarily encourage or instigateaggressive behavior.

King (1988) examined adolescentshospitalized in a psychiatric unit and foundthat 59% of those hospitalized for substanceabuse specifically named Heavy Metal astheir favorite musical style. Additionally,Stack, Gundlach and Reeves (1994) found

that the per capita subscriptions to HeavyMetal magazines were associated with theoverall youth suicide rate in the UnitedStates. Lester and Whipple (1996) foundthat those who preferred Heavy Metal musicwere more likely to have considered suicidein the past, implying a history ofpsychological problems such as depression.Furthermore, Rubin et al. (2001) found that


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Heavy Metal listeners displayed morenegative attitudes towards women and heldthem in significantly lower regard than didlisteners of other surveyed musical styles.

In a study of adolescents betweenthe ages of 16 and 19, Arnett (1991b) found

that, boys who listed a preference for HeavyMetal music reported significantly higherfrequencies of reckless behavior in thepreceding one year period. Furthermore,

Arnett (1991a) found that 87% percent ofadolescents who listened to Heavy Metalmusic had driven over 80 mph (in a statewith a 65mph speed limit) at least once inthe past year and 87% percent ofadolescent boys who listened to HeavyMetal music had driven more than 20 mphover the speed limit (Arnett 1991a).

Furthermore, physical expression ofemotional discontent can be seen with 61%of surveyed Heavy Metal listeners listing apreference for Heavy Metal music havingcaused destruction or damage to publicproperty in the past year (Arnett 1991a).

Arnett (1992) delved deeper into thecase of Heavy Metal and emotional andbehavioral responses in its listeners. In astudy of 248 10th and 11th graders, Arnettaddressed questions pertaining to musicalpreference and behavioral and relationship

dysphoria. More specifically, Arnettaddressed whether or not adolescents whopreferred Heavy Metal music reportedhigher rates of, low self-esteem, recklessand sensation seeking behavior, and poorrelationship quality at home, with theopposite sex and with peers.

Arnett (1992) found that adolescentswho stated a preference for Heavy Metal orHard Rock did indeed report higher rates ofreckless behavior such as unsafe andcasual sex, use of illicit drugs such as

cocaine and marijuana, vandalism,shoplifting and other antisocial behaviors.Furthermore, listeners to Heavy Metal musicreported higher levels of sensation seeking.

Again, results indicated that thosewho stated a preference for Heavy Metalmusic expressed having poor filialrelationships, as indicated by complaintssuch as being perceived as “unimportant,”

or being “disliked by their parents.” Arnett(1992) hypothesized that it is possible thatthe need for sensation seeking, and thepotentially anti-social behavior exhibited bylisteners may be in direct response to apoor family situation. Adolescents therefore,

as previously mentioned, may use themusic for some sort of purgative release tocalm their anger, frustration and discomfortstemming from an uncomfortable home life(Arnett 1992).

Female listeners, unlike malelisteners of Heavy Metal music were foundto have significantly lower self-esteem thanthose who preferred other styles of music(Arnett 1992). Arnett (1992) theorized thatthis may be a direct result of themisogynistic and objectifying nature of many

Heavy Metal songs of the early 1990’s.Whether the music is lending itself to thisquality of low female self-esteem, girls withlow self-esteem seek out Heavy Metal, orHeavy Metal itself reinforces preexisting lowself-esteem is currently unclear (Arnett1992).

The news for female listeners toHeavy Metal music is not all bad. Selfhout(2007) examined “externalizing behavior”(reckless and antisocial behavior) among931 Dutch adolescents between the ages of

11 and 18 years of age. These adolescentswere studied over a period of 2 years.Externalizing behaviors, involving suchbehaviors as illicit drug use, aggression andunsafe sexual practices was found to besignificantly higher among males,suggesting that females may be lessvulnerable to the externalizing tendencies ofmale Heavy Metal listeners.

As was previously mentioned,music does not appear to cause negativeemotional responses, and as mentioned in

the case of Heavy Metal, may actually servea positive cathartic function (Arnett 1991a;

Arnett, 1991b; and Arnett 1992). Again,these findings run counter, however, toother studies that find that inherentstructural foundations of music contributesignificantly to the emotional responses ofthe listener (Krumhansl 1997).


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music and perceived emotional tone vs.music and felt emotion may therefore betwo independent processes.

On the topic of musical preferenceand desired effect, it is likely that very fewlisteners to Heavy Metal music would doubt

the angry emotional tone of their music ofchoice. However, their reason for listening,(e.g. to achieve catharsis, to calm themdown from an angry or agitated emotionalstate) would run counter to the Krumhansl(1997) findings that suggest that listeners toa type of music similar to Heavy Metalwould only feel more angry or agitated uponlistening.

This is similar in concept to theMozart effect. As previously mentioned, thepopular perspective on Rauscher et al.’s

(1993) findings is that listening to classicalmusic, namely that of Mozart will increaseone’s intelligence (Thompson 2001). Thismay not in fact be the case as the addedbenefit of Mozart music may be aphysiological corollary of relaxation that aidsin arousal and therefore allows for addedfocus on intellectually challenging tasks.Therefore, it may be fair to say that theimpact of music on individuals may notalways be as it seems.

Looking across naturalistic and lab-

based studies, it appears that music’seffects on emotion are not solely based onits inherent attributes. That is, there seem tobe between-person differences in theperceived emotional quality of a musicalpiece and the evoked experience by thelistener. Future research can directlyexamine this idea by duplicating Krumhansl(1997) in lab and real world settings. Thisfuture study could ask participants to ratetheir perceived and felt emotions whenlistening to music that varies in positive and

negative emotional characteristics andmajor and minor modal tones.

The Arnett studies of the early1990’s (e.g. Arnett 1991a, 1991b, 1992)made significant contributions to the studyof musical preference and emotional andbehavioral response. These studiesindicated that those who listen to HeavyMetal music do not believe that the music

actually causes negative behavior, butrather it causes a purgative and catharticeffect for the listener (Arnett 1991b). Alimitation of Arnett (1991b) was that itsinterviews of Heavy Metal listeners utilizedopen ended questions allowing listeners to

state varying responses lasting frombetween 20 minutes to 2 hours dependingon the willingness of the participant to shareinformation. One possibility for futureresearch would be to attempt a study in thestyle of Arnett (1991b) with structured,multiple-choice questions that would allowfor quantitative or musical preference andeffects.

Furthermore, Arnett’s studiessuggest that listeners who prefer HeavyMetal music suffer from poor family

relationships, engage in more recklessbehavior, and rate much higher on levels ofsensation seeking. Additionally, in the caseof female listeners, those who prefer HeavyMetal music may have lower self-esteemthan listeners of other types of music,possibly a reflection of the misogynistic andobjectifying nature of Heavy Metal songs(Arnett 1992).

One of the confounds of this study isthat it did not explore the deeper emotionalelement of its listeners. While Arnett’s

studies did look to a negative home life as apossible cause for the dangerous risk takingbehaviors and preference for Heavy Metalmusic, he did not explore whether listenersto this music are more likely to suffer frompersonality disorders, depression or anxiety.

An interesting topic for future research mayalso be to examine those factors.

Another interesting possibility forfuture research is to examine what aspectsof Heavy Metal music are catharticallybeneficial to listeners, (e.g. the distorted

musical attributes, the violent and angrysubject matter the screamed lyrics or somecombination?) Furthermore, if thecombination of these specific aspects ofHeavy Metal music are beneficial, might theindividual components of this music such asscreaming lyrics or distorted instrumentalsserve different purposes, or does thisintense music serve to drown out negative


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emotions through some sort of overloadedsensory experience? Answers to thesequestions would provide important insightsinto music’s effects.

Finally, as Heavy Metal music hasincreasingly entered mainstream, it has

acquired increasingly darker and moreviolent themes and styles such as Emo,Death Metal, and Hardcore. It would beinteresting to try to replicate Arnett’s studiesin light of current trends in Heavy Metalmusic. Performing a study such as this onemay be even more interesting in light of apossible increase in Heavy Metal listenersdue to the added popularity of these newforms of Heavy Metal.

In light of the violent and disturbingtrends of musical content, it is important to

understand this darker music’s effects onemotion. Even in its most violent form,music may serve a positive purgativefunction based on the psychological profileof the individual listener. Furtherexamination of this phenomenon will beimportant to better understand musicalpreference.

Acknowledgements - Great appreciationgoes to Mitchell Karno Ph.D, my facultysupervisor on this, and other projects,

mentor and former professor. Without youthis paper could not have been completed.Your guidance has helped shape my skillsand direct me positively towards my futurecareer as a psychologist and a researcher.Your intelligence, patience and kindnesstruly set you apart. Many thanks.

Further thanks must go to my formerprofessor, mentor and friend Jeffery L.Cohen Ph.D. Your friendship and guidancewas what inspired me to pursue psychologyas both a field of study and as a career.

Most of what I know comes what you havetaught me. You saw a potential in me fewothers recognized, for that and foreverything, I am forever in your debt. Thankyou.

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