1. THE INFLUENCE OF MUSIC
ON THE PERCEPTION OF
PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS
N i c o lina N o l l et t i
Sa m a n t ha St i l s on
A l i sha Wa r t l uf t
R a c h a el C a rm i n e

2. MUSIC AND ATTRACTION
 People listen to music to alter emotions
 (Krumhansl, 1997)
 Influence on visual perception
 (May & Hamilton, 1980)
 Lyrics can affect female rating of males on
attractiveness
 (Zillman & Bhatia, 1989)
.

3. MUSIC AND PHYSIOLOGY
 Significantly reduced systolic blood pressure ,
respiratory rate
 (Vaajoki, Kankkunen, Pietila, & Vehvilaninen-Julkunen, 2011)
 Significantly lower systolic blood pressure, heart
rate, and verbal pain scores
 (Tse, Chan, & Benzie, 2005)

4. ATTRACTION AND PHYSIOLOGY
Attraction and Physiology
 Eros love and heart rate
 (Matsumura, Yamakoshia, & Rolfe, 2011)
 Heart rate and viewing photographs of boyfriends
 (Guerra, Campagnoli, Vico, Volchan, Anllo-Vento, & Vila, 2011)

5. HYPOTHESES
H 1 : Participants in the music condition will
have higher overall ratings for the photo.
H 2 : Participants in the music condition will
experience higher overall heart rate while
viewing the photos.

6. RESEARCH DESIGN
 Participants
 6 Male Photo subjects
 48 Female Experimental participants
 Materials
 Informed Consent Form
 Experimental and Control Demographic Questionnaires
 Electrocardiogram
 Neutral Video, Beethoven’s Symphony Number 7, movement II
 Procedure
 Electrode application
 Neutral Video
 Photo rating segment
 Questionnaire and debriefing

7. RESULTS
 H1: Our hypothesis was not supported. No statistical significance
was found between photo ratings and condition,
(F(4.4,195.6)=.794, p>.05).
 H2:Our hypothesis was not supported. No statistical
significance was found between heart rate and condition,
(F(3.4,136.3)=3.71, p>.05).

8. FACIAL RATINGS X CONDITION

9. HEART RATE X CONDITION

10. MAJOR FINDINGS
 An interaction between photo subjects and condition was
found to have a significant ef fect on heart rate.
 F (3.406, 112.697) = 3.710, p < 0.05
 Heart rate varied much less during the music condition than
during the silence condition.

11. MAJOR FINDINGS, C ON T ’D.
 Photo order had a significant impact on photo subject ratings.
 Photo subject 3A/4B is rated as being less attractive when viewed before
6A/1B, but is rated as being more attractive when viewed after.
 p < 0.01. F (1.44) = 3.24, p = 0.079
 Th e da t a reve a l ed a t re n d w i t h i n P h oto Subj e c t 5 A/ 2 B . Ac c o rdi n g to t h i s t re n d,
h e a r t ra te c a n prov i de a n a c c ura te pre di c t i o n o f t h e pa r t i c i pa n t ’s ra t i n g o f t h e
ph oto s ubj e c t . F ( 1 . 4 3 ) = 2 . 5 6 , p < 0 . 1 0

12. DISCUSSION
 Failure to support hypotheses
 The effect of music on heart rate
 The effect of photo order on the rating of the photo
subject
 The trend in predictability of photo rating based on
heart rate for Photo Subject 5A/2B

13. LIMITATIONS
 Resources
 Small population size
 Gender
 Female experimental participants
 Music Selection
 Characteristic of a single genre
 Mood Evaluation
 Did not examine

14. APPLICATION
 Music therapy
 Influence of music on behavior
 Marketing
 Advertisement placement
 Consumerism
 Product placement
 Decision-Making
 Impact of stimuli on choices made

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