Musically Induced Emotions: Subjective Measures of Arousal and Valence

Link: http://mmd.iammonline.com.libproxy.wlu.ca/index.php/musmed/article/view/MMD-2011-3-4-3/225

Citation:: Wheeler, B.L., Sokhadze, E., Baruth, J., Behrens, G.A., & Quinn, C. F. (2011). Musically
induced emotions: Subjective measures of arousal and valence. Music and Medicine, 3(4),
224-233.

University Affiliations: University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA;
Department of Fine and Performing Arts, Elizabethtown College,
Elizabethtown, PA, USA; School of Education, University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL, USA

Abstract:
This study was designed to investigate whether US participants would experience the same emotions when listening to specific
pieces of music as were labeled by participants in a previous study done in the Netherlands. It examined whether musical excerpts
would fall into quadrants of serene, happy, agitated, and sad created by an interaction of the dimensions of arousal (calm-excited)
and valence (unpleasant-pleasant) and whether the mean scores would fall within quadrant positions similar to those in the
previous study. Participants heard 12 musical excerpts and responded by turning dials depicting different degrees of arousal
and valence. After one of the pieces of music was reallocated to a different category, they experienced 3 of the 4 emotions as
did earlier participants. Implications for the study of emotion in music and its use in music therapy and music medicine are discussed.

Keywords:
music therapy, emotion, cross-cultural, responses to music