Steven collected data from 20 cllege students on their emotional responses to classical music. Students listened to two 30-second segments from \"The Collection from the Best of Classical Music.\" After listening to a segment, the students rated it on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 indicating that it \"made them very sad\" to 10 indicating that it \"made them very happy.\" Steve computes teh toal scores from each student and created a variable called \"hapsad.\" Steven then condutct a one-sample t-test on the data, know that there is an established mean for the publicication of others that have taken this test of 6. What is the null hypothesis and the hypothesis? Solution Expressiveness of music %u2013 philosophical problems[edit source | editbeta] Claiming that music is expressive of emotions and that it can elicit emotions in the listener does not seem highly disputable at first glance. However, this claim gives rise to a number of questions. How can a piece of music (when we consider purely instrumental music without any vocals, text or title) appear emotional, as a piece of music is no psychological agent? Why would we respond emotionally to music knowing that there is nobody undergoing the emotion expressed? What are psychological mechanisms that lead to the emotional reaction in the listener? What is the nature of these emotions? The first question deals with how emotions are transported in the music, questions 2-4 with emotions in the listener. (Not mentioned here are emotions in the composer or the performer.) However, perceiving a piece of music as to be emotional and being moved by this emotion mostly go in hand. We don%u2019t find it hard to explain why and how we respond emotionally to something expressing an emotion, e.g. a person expressing joy or sadness (or indirectly to an event like an earthquake that affects people as to express an emotion, which ends up being the same). A stone rarely moves us to tears, so why would music do that? Thus, the core of this problem is the question how music can be expressive at all. The field of aesthetics examine this problem. Appearance emotionalism[edit source | editbeta] Two of the most influential philosophers in the aesthetics of music are Stephen Davies and Jerrold Levinson.[1] Without going into the depths of the philosophical argument, this view mainly follows Davies%u2019[2] position. He terms his concept the expressiveness of emotions in music appearance emotionalism. Appearance emotionalism holds that music is for example sad in the same way the posture of a person is sad or a weeping willow is sad. A piece of music is not sad because it feels sadness, but because it expresses sadness, it is sad in appearance. Why does something (that is not a person) appear sad? Because we can identify in its structure certain characteristics that we know from a person%u2019s expression of sadness. We would sometimes call an old hunchbacked lady sad (although we don%u2019t doubt that she might feel .

1. Steven collected data from 20 cllege students on their emotional responses to classical music.
Students listened to two 30-second segments from "The Collection from the Best of Classical
Music." After listening to a segment, the students rated it on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1
indicating that it "made them very sad" to 10 indicating that it "made them very happy." Steve
computes teh toal scores from each student and created a variable called "hapsad." Steven then
condutct a one-sample t-test on the data, know that there is an established mean for the
publicication of others that have taken this test of 6. What is the null hypothesis and the
hypothesis?
Solution
Expressiveness of music %u2013 philosophical problems[edit source | editbeta]
Claiming that music is expressive of emotions and that it can elicit emotions in the listener does
not seem highly disputable at first glance. However, this claim gives rise to a number of
questions.
How can a piece of music (when we consider purely instrumental music without any vocals, text
or title) appear emotional, as a piece of music is no psychological agent?
Why would we respond emotionally to music knowing that there is nobody undergoing the
emotion expressed?
What are psychological mechanisms that lead to the emotional reaction in the listener?
What is the nature of these emotions?
The first question deals with how emotions are transported in the music, questions 2-4 with
emotions in the listener. (Not mentioned here are emotions in the composer or the performer.)
However, perceiving a piece of music as to be emotional and being moved by this emotion
mostly go in hand.
We don%u2019t find it hard to explain why and how we respond emotionally to something
expressing an emotion, e.g. a person expressing joy or sadness (or indirectly to an event like an
earthquake that affects people as to express an emotion, which ends up being the same). A stone
rarely moves us to tears, so why would music do that? Thus, the core of this problem is the
question how music can be expressive at all. The field of aesthetics examine this problem.
Appearance emotionalism[edit source | editbeta]
Two of the most influential philosophers in the aesthetics of music are Stephen Davies and

2. Jerrold Levinson.[1] Without going into the depths of the philosophical argument, this view
mainly follows Davies%u2019[2] position. He terms his concept the expressiveness of emotions
in music appearance emotionalism. Appearance emotionalism holds that music is for example
sad in the same way the posture of a person is sad or a weeping willow is sad. A piece of music
is not sad because it feels sadness, but because it expresses sadness, it is sad in appearance.
Why does something (that is not a person) appear sad? Because we can identify in its structure
certain characteristics that we know from a person%u2019s expression of sadness. We would
sometimes call an old hunchbacked lady sad (although we don%u2019t doubt that she might feel
completely differently) because she looks like someone sad we%u2019ve already seen. In the
same way we would call a piece of music sad because its dynamic character resembles a
person%u2019s expression of sadness. %u201CThe resemblance that counts most for
music%u2019s expressiveness [%u2026] is between music%u2019s temporally unfolding
dynamic structure and configurations of human behaviour associated with the expression of
emotion.%u201D[3] If a person does not give verbal account of his or her feelings, the observer
can still note them from the person%u2019s posture, gait, gestures, attitude, and comportment.
Music recalls an appearance of sadness e.g., according to Davies, by a slow and quiet downward
movement, underlying patterns of unresolved tension, dark timbre, heavy or thick harmonic bass
textures.[4]
Not everybody associates the same musical features with the same emotion. Appearance
emotionalism does not claim that movement in music generally resembles human behaviour but
that many listeners have this perception of similarity, and that this is the crucial connection that
constitutes the expressiveness of music. This perception of similarity can be widely common
among listeners or highly individual. Which musical features are more commonly associated
with certain emotions is left over to the testing of music psychology (see next paragraph). Davies
claims that expressiveness is an objective property of music and not subjective in the sense of
being projected into the music by the listener. Music%u2019s expressiveness is certainly
response-dependent, i.e. it is realized in the listener%u2019s judgement. However, suitably
skilled listeners display a high degree of agreement in attributing emotional expressiveness to a
certain piece of music. Although this is an empirical finding, it indicates according to Davies
(2006) that the expressiveness of music has to be somewhat objective. If there was no
expressiveness in the music, no expression could be projected into it as a reaction to the music.
Psychological methods[edit source | editbeta]
The expressive qualities of music have been studied for years, the foremost of which has been
the expression of emotion.[5] Studies have shown that music is not only emotionally expressive

3. but that there is high agreement among listeners about what type of emotion is being
expressed.[6][7][8] Psychologists study how music conveys or elicits emotions using one
primary method.[7][9][10] Clips of music are chosen based on certain structural features that are
known to convey certain emotions. Participants listen to these clips and make judgments about
the emotions they elicit or convey either during or directly after the clip. Many differing scales
are used; however, a bipolar happy-sad scale is the most common scale given immediately after
the clip to adults, and a choice between four emotions is the most common given to
children.[7][9] In studies on music that conveys or elicits mixed emotions, bipolar scales are
separated so emotions like happiness and sadness are judged independently.[9] When
participants are asked to make judgments while listening to the music clips, they press one button
for when the music is sad, and another when the music is happy, or both when responses are
mixed.[10]
Conveying emotion through music[edit source | editbeta]
The ability to perceive conveyed emotion is said to develop early in childhood, and improve
significantly throughout development.[5] Empirical research has looked at which emotions can
be conveyed as well as what structural factors in music help contribute to the perceived
emotional expression. There are two schools of thought on how we interpret emotion in music.
The cognitivists' approach argues that music simply displays an emotion, but does not allow for
the personal experience of emotion in the listener. Emotivists argue that music elicits real
emotional responses in the listener.[6][11]
It has been argued that the emotion experienced from a piece of music is a multiplicative
function of structural features, performance features, listener features and contextual features of
the piece, shown as:[6]
Experienced Emotion = Structural features x Performance features x Listener features x
Contextual features
Were:
Structural features = Segmental features x Suprasegmental features
Performance features = Performer skill x Performer state
Listener features = Musical expertise x Stable disposition x Current motivation
Contextual features = Location x Event
Structural features[edit source | editbeta]
Structural features are divided into two parts, segmental features and suprasegmental features.
Segmental features are the individual sounds or tones that make up the music; this includes
acoustic structures such as duration, amplitude, and pitch. Suprasegmental features are the

4. foundational structures of a piece, such as melody, tempo and rhythm.[6]
Specific structural features[edit source | editbeta]
There are a number of specific musical features that are highly associated with particular
emotions.[7] Within the factors affecting emotional expression in music, tempo is typically
regarded as the most important, but a number of other factors, such as mode, loudness, and
melody, also influence the emotional valence of the piece.[7]
Tempo[edit source | editbeta]
Tempo is the speed or pace of a musical piece.[7] Studies indicate an association between fast
tempo and happiness or excitement (or even anger). Slow tempo may be associated with sadness
or serenity.[7][9][12][13][14]
Mode[edit source | editbeta]
Mode, or the major or minor tonality in a piece often indicates happiness or sadness.[7] Major
tonality often conveys happiness or joy, while minor tonality is associated with
sadness.[7][9][12][13][14]
Loudness[edit source | editbeta]
Loudness, or the physical strength and amplitude of a sound, may be perceived as intensity,
power, or anger; while soft music is associated with tenderness, sadness, or fear.[7] Rapid
changes in loudness may connote playfulness or pleading, whereas few or no changes can
indicate peace and sadness.[7]
Melody[edit source | editbeta]
In melody, a wide range of notes can imply joy, whimsicality, or uneasiness; a narrow range
suggests tranquillity, sadness, or triumph.[7] Consonant, or complementing harmonies, are
connected with feelings of happiness, relaxation, or serenity; dissonant, or clashing harmonies
may imply excitement, anger, or unpleasantness.[7]
Rhythm[edit source | editbeta]
Rhythm is the regularly recurring pattern or beat of a song.[7] A smooth, consistent rhythm may
be associated with happiness and peace. A rough, irregular rhythm may be associated with
amusement and uneasiness, while varied rhythm implies joy.[7]
Performance features[edit source | editbeta]
Performance features refers to the manner in which a piece of music is executed by the
performer(s). These are broken into two categories, performer skills and performer state.
Performer skills are the compound ability and appearance of the performer; including physical
appearance, reputation and technical skills. The performer state is the interpretation, motivation,
and stage presence of the performer.[6]
Listener features[edit source | editbeta]
Listener features refers to the individual and social identity of the listener(s). This includes their

5. personality, knowledge of music, and motivation to listen to the music.[6]
Contextual features[edit source | editbeta]
Contextual features are aspects of the performance such as the location and the particular
occasion for the performance (i.e., funeral, wedding, dance).[6]
These different factors influence expressed emotion at different magnitudes, and their effects are
compounded by one another. Thus, experienced emotion is felt to a stronger degree if more
factors are present. The order the factors are listed within the model denotes how much weight in
the equation they carry. For this reason, the bulk of research has been done in structural features
and listener features.[6]
Conflicting cues[edit source | editbeta]
Which emotion is perceived is dependent on the context of the piece of music. Past research has
argued that opposing emotions like happiness and sadness fall on a bipolar scale, where both
cannot be felt at the same time.[9] More recent research has suggested that happiness and
sadness are experienced separately, which implies that they can be felt concurrently.[9] One
study investigated the latter possibility by having participants listen to computer-manipulated
musical excerpts that have mixed cues between tempo and mode.[9] Examples of mix-cue music
include a piece with major key and slow tempo, and a minor-chord piece with a fast tempo.
Participants then rated the extent to which the piece conveyed happiness or sadness. The results
indicated that mixed-cue music conveys both happiness and sadness; however, it remained
unclear whether participants perceived happiness and sadness simultaneously or vacillated
between these two emotions.[9] A follow up study was done to examine these possibilities.
While listening to mixed or consistent cue music, participants pressed one button when the music
conveyed happiness, and another button when it conveyed sadness.[10] The results revealed that
subjects pressed both buttons simultaneously during songs with conflicting cues.[10] These
findings indicate that listeners can perceive both happiness and sadness concurrently. This has
significant implications for how the structural features influence emotion, because when a mix of
structural cues is used, a number of emotions may be conveyed.[10]
Specific listener features[edit source | editbeta]
Development[edit source | editbeta]
Studies indicate that the ability to understand emotional messages in music starts early, and
improves throughout child development.[5][7][15] Studies investigating music and emotion in
children primarily play a musical excerpt for children and have them look at pictorial expressions
of faces. These facial expressions display different emotions and children are asked to select the
face that best matches the music's emotional tone.[16][17][18] Studies have shown that children
are able to assign specific emotions to pieces of music; however, there is debate regarding what
age this ability begins.[5][7][15]

6. Infants[edit source | editbeta]
An infant is often exposed to a mother%u2019s speech that is musical in nature. It is possible
that this motherly singing allows the mother to relay emotional messages to the infant.[19]
Infants also tend to prefer positive speech to neutral speech as well as happy music to negative
music.[16][19] It has also been posited that listening to their mother%u2019s singing may play a
role in identity formation.[19] This hypothesis is supported by a study that interviewed adults
and asked them to describe musical experiences from their childhood. Findings showed that
music was good for developing knowledge of emotions during childhood.[20] The role of the
mother in emotional development of the child goes beyond the singing that the child receives in
infancy. It has been shown that mothers that explain the emotions of others to their children
during preschool allows the child to be more sensitive to the emotions of those around them.[21]
Therefore, the mother%u2019s role in the emotional development of the child begins in infancy
but will extend well into childhood.
Pre-school children[edit source | editbeta]
These studies have shown that children at the age of 4 are able to begin to distinguish between
emotions found in musical excerpts in ways that are similar to adults.[16][17] The ability to
distinguish these musical emotions seems to increase with age until adulthood.[18] However,
children at the age of 3 were unable to make the distinction between emotions expressed in
music through matching a facial expression with the type of emotion found in the music.[17]
Some emotions, such as anger and fear, were also found to be harder to distinguish within
music.[18][22]
Elementary-age children[edit source | editbeta]
In studies with four-year-olds and five-year-olds, they are asked to label musical excerpts with
the affective labels "happy", "sad", "angry", and "afraid".[5] Results in one study showed
that four-year-olds did not perform above chance with the labels "sad" and "angry", and the
five-year-olds did not perform above chance with the label "afraid".[5] A follow-up study
found conflicting results, where five-year-olds performed much like adults. However, all ages
confused categorizing "angry" and "afraid".[5] Pre-school and elementary-age children
listened to twelve short melodies, each in either major or minor mode, and were instructed to
choose between four pictures of faces: happy, contented, sad, and angry.[7] All the children,
even as young as three years old, performed above chance in assigning positive faces with major
mode and negative faces with minor mode.[7]
Personality Effects[edit source | editbeta]
Different people perceive events differently based upon their individual characteristics.
Similarly, the emotions elicited by listening to different types of music seem to be affected by
factors such as personality and previous musical training.[23][24][25] People with the

7. personality type of agreeableness have been found to have higher emotional responses to music
in general. Stronger sad feelings have also associated with people with personality types of
agreeableness and neuroticism. While some studies have shown that musical training can be
correlated with music that evoked mixed feelings[23] as well as higher IQ and test of emotional
comprehension scores, [24] other studies refute the claim that musical training affects perception
of emotion in music.[22][26] It is also worth noting that previous exposure to music can affect
later behavioral choices, schoolwork, and social interactions.[27] Therefore, previous music
exposure does seem to have an effect on the personality and emotions of a child later in their life,
and would subsequently affect their ability to perceive as well as express emotions during
exposure to music. Gender, however, has not been shown to lead to a difference in perception of
emotions found in music.[22][26] Further research into which factors affect an
individual%u2019s perception of emotion in music and the ability of the individual to have
music-induced emotions are needed.
Eliciting emotion through music[edit source | editbeta]
Along with the research that music conveys an emotion to its listener(s), it has also been shown
that music can produce emotion in the listener(s).[28] This view often causes debate because the
emotion is produced within the listener; and thus, hard to measure. In spite of this controversy,
studies have shown observable responses to elicited emotions, which reinforces the Emotivists'
view that music does elicit real emotional responses.[5][11]
Responses to elicited emotion[edit source | editbeta]
The structural features of music not only help convey an emotional message to the listener, but
also may create emotion in the listener.[6] These emotions can be completely new feelings or
may be an extension of previous emotional events. Empirical research has shown how listeners
can absorb the piece's expression as their own emotion, as well as invoke a unique response
based on their personal experiences.[15]
Basic emotions[edit source | editbeta]
In research on eliciting emotion, participants report personally feeling a certain emotion in
response to hearing a musical piece.[28] Researchers have investigated whether the same
structures that conveyed a particular emotion could elicit it as well. The researchers presented
excerpts of fast tempo, major mode music and slow tempo, minor tone music to participants;
these musical structures were chosen because they are known to convey happiness and sadness
respectively.[9] Participants rated their own emotions with elevated levels of happiness after
listening to music with structures that convey happiness and elevated sadness after music with
structures that convey sadness.[9] This evidence suggests that the same structures that convey

8. emotions in music can also elicit those same emotions in the listener.
In light of this finding, there has been particular controversy about music eliciting negative
emotions. Cognitivists argue that choosing to listen to music that elicits negative emotions like
sadness would be paradoxical, as listeners would not willingly strive to induce sadness.[11]
However, emotivists purport that music does elicit negative emotions, and listeners knowingly
choose to listen in order to feel sadness in an impersonal way, similar to a viewer's desire to
watch a tragic film.[11][28]
Researchers have also found an effect between one's familiarity with a piece of music and the
emotions it elicits.[13] In one study, half of participants were played twelve random musical
excerpts one time, and rated their emotions after each piece. The other half of the participants
listened to twelve random excerpts five times, and started their ratings on the third repetition.
Findings showed that participants who listened to the excerpts five times rated their emotions
with higher intensity than the participants who listened to them only once.[13] This suggests that
familiarity with a piece of music increases the emotions experienced by the listener.
Emotional memories and actions[edit source | editbeta]
Music may not only elicit new emotions, but connect listeners with other emotional sources.[6]
Music serves as a powerful cue to recall emotional memories back into awareness. Because
music is such a pervasive part of social life, present in weddings, funerals and religious
ceremonies, it brings back emotional memories that are often already associated with it.[6][15]
Music is also processed by the lower, sensory levels of the brain, making it impervious to later
memory distortions. Therefore creating a strong connection between emotion and music within
memory makes it easier to recall one when prompted by the other.[6] Music can also tap into
empathy, inducing emotions that are assumed to be felt by the performer or composer. Listeners
can become sad because they recognize that those emotions must have been felt by the
composer, much as the viewer of a play can empathize for the actors.[6]
Listeners may also respond to emotional music through action.[6] Throughout history music was
composed to inspire people into specific action - to march, dance, sing or fight. Consequently,
heightening the emotions in all these events. In fact, many people report being unable to sit still
when certain rhythms are played, in some cases even engaging in subliminal actions when
physical manifestations should be suppressed.[15] Examples of this can be seen in young
children's spontaneous outbursts into motion upon hearing music, or exuberant expressions
shown at concerts.[15]