Title: PS3017 Psychology of Music
1PS3017 Psychology of Music
- Liking for music
- The problem music debate
- Music and commerce
- http//www.le.ac.uk/pc/acn5/acn.html
2WARNING!!!
- Course changed in 2005-6
- Ignore questions on earlier past papers set by
Mike Beauvois about auditory stream segregation
etc. - You can trust questions on past papers about
musical preference, music and commerce, and the
problem music debate - Questions this year will all be on these topics
3Examples of typical exam questions
- Questions as per past papers still very likely
- Evaluation of Berlynes theory as a complete
theory of musical preference, what are the
effects of music in shops, does problem music
pose a problem for society? - Newer, more detailed, questions now possible also
- What factors specific to the individual can
explain responses to music? - How is a listeners age and / or personality
related to his / her musical preference? - What have economics and business studies
contributed to our understanding of what music
becomes popular? - How does music affect customers in commercial
environments? - Discuss whether musical behaviour is a product of
intra- and inter-group processes - Is the idolisation of musicians a good or a bad
thing for the fans concerned? - Should pop music be subject to censorship?
- No nasty surprises
- i.e. no questions based on one or two slides only
- Only big topics lead to questions
4How to get high marks
- Lots of extra reading
- i.e. not just book chapters but LOTS of papers
(and demonstrate that youve read them) - Read up to date material (so use Psyc-info)
- Dip into other subjects (since much of the
material can be found on ASSIA, Business Source
Premier, Medline, Econlit etc.) - Think
- How do different theories relate to each other,
what are the limitations of existing areas of
research, how can the findings be applied in the
real world (e.g. policy, commerce, therapy etc.) - Demonstrate it in the exam
- Dont worry too much about names and dates of
minor studies - You should know names and dates for big theories
- Spend revision time thinking and reading and NOT
learning names and publication dates of minor
studies - Its safe to criticise my research
- But only if you must!
5Plan of the module
- Three big topics spread over the lectures
- Liking for music
- Problem music, censorship, and subculture
- Music and commerce
6Liking for music
7What music do you like?
- Who is your favourite musician and why?
- Many different reasons
8What music do you like?
- Who is your favourite musician and why?
- Many different reasons
- North and Hargreaves (2002)
- Channel 4 Television, The Guardian, and HMV
- Who are the three best pop groups / musicians?
- 12502 people responded leading to over 37,000
nominations - The Beatles (2289), Bob Dylan (1038), Oasis
(937), Radiohead (921), Pink Floyd (718), David
Bowie (571), Van Morrison (523), Stone Roses
(475), U2 (444), Nirvana (437) - Same top 10 when divided into two random piles or
by region
9What music do you like? (cont.)
- Farnsworth (1969) and classical music fashions
- Broad agreement on the greatest shows there
must be rules governing reactions to music - Massive disagreement between individuals shows
that these rules must be complicated!
10Liking for music
- The music
- Berlyne
- Preference for prototypes
- Berlyne vs. prototypes
- The situation
- Konecnis work
- Prototypicality and appropriateness
- The individual
- Age
- Non-human animals
- Gender
- Social class
- Personality
- Extra-musical information
- Conformity effects
- Informational influence
- Physical attractiveness
- Music in everyday life
11The music
12Berlynes theory
- Inverted-U between liking and arousal potential
- Three aspects of music mediate arousal
- Psychophysical (e.g. tempo), ecological (e.g.
memories), collative (e.g. familiarity,
complexity) - Why?
- On way to cortex the fibres of the RAS pass
through pleasure and displeasure centres - Pleasure centre has lower threshold and
asymptotic level - Makes adaptive sense something very arousing
could be dangerous - Try it for yourself
13Evidence for Berlynes theory
- Several lab studies support Berlynes theory
- Real world evidence
- Unfamiliar music is often derided at first
- Classical, jazz, and pop
- Erdelyi (1940)
- Sales of sheet music (i.e. liking) and radio
plugging (i.e. familiarity) - Inverted-U relationship
- Plugging (i.e. changes in familiarity) preceded
sales (i.e. changes in liking) by 13 days - Jakobovits (1966)
- Inverted-U between sales and plugging
- Frequency of plugging predicted the speed of rise
and fall in popularity - Simonton (1987)
- Inverted-U in Beethovens work between popularity
(e.g. concert performances) and two-note
transition probabilities - Simonton (1980 1986)
- String quartet music is most complex, operas are
least complex - Composers compensate for arousal from the number
of instruments by writing different types of
melody
14The relationship between liking, familiarity and
complexity
- Familiarity reduces subjective complexity
- As you know a piece better its easier to predict
what it will do next - Increasing familiarity pushes a song left-wards
on the inverted-U - Might explain
- Slower sales charts for classical than pop
- Why people hate modern classical music
- Why musically trained people like classical music
more
15Familiarity, complexity, and The Beatles
16Berlyne and emotional responses to music
17Preference for prototypes
- Prototypicality is the extent to which a given
stimulus is typical of its class - People classify things more easily if they
correspond with a prototype - Prototypical things should be preferred because
they are classified more easily - Try it for yourself
- Prototypicality explains preference better than
does Berlyne - Martindale and Moore (1989) found 4 complexity
and 51 prototypicality - Seven other studies found the same
18Berlyne versus prototypes?
- BUT just because prototypicality explains more we
shouldnt discard Berlynes theory - Importance of typicality and Berlynian factors
in preference depends on the extent to which the
music varies in these - E.g. different dance music tracks vary little in
arousal (i.e. gt90 bpm, simple melody etc.) - Prototypicality has to explain more of variance
in liking between the different tracks than does
complexity - Variations in arousal are also variations in
prototypicality - E.g. dance is usually fast tempo so any variation
in this Berlynian factor (i.e. tempo) also
influences the extent to which any given track is
typical of dance music - Variations in any factor are also variations in
prototypicality - E.g. the music you listen to has a typical level
of arousal, typical frequency of mentioning dog
in the lyrics etc. - Prototypicality is a broader-ranging variable
than arousal so it has to explain more
19The listening situation
20Konecnis theory
- Berlyne said we prefer music that causes moderate
arousal - Konecni (1982) said that we prefer music that
moderates arousal evoked by the situation - Arousing situations simple music
- Dull situations arousing music
- Insulted subjects prefer simple music
- Works in reverse also
- People played arousing (i.e. loud, complex) music
are more aggressive - They use the situation to moderate arousal caused
by the music
21Prototypicality and appropriateness
- Is arousal moderation everything?
- Appropriateness typical of music usually heard
in a given place - Positive relationship between liking and
appropriateness - Arousal goals rather than moderation in the
listening situation - North and Hargreaves (2000)
- People either ride an exercise bike or relax and
then select music - Arousal moderation strategy as per Konecni
- People either ride an exercise bike or relax
while selecting music - Arousal polarising strategy
- Situational arousal-based goal determines
preference - Explains why we like loud music in a gym but turn
down car radio in heavy traffic
22The individual
- Age
- Open-earedness
- Critical periods
- The unborn
- Non-human animals
- Animal welfare
- Musical preferences
- Gender
- Attitudes towards music
- Preferences
- Uses of music
- Social class
- Personality
- Introversion / extraversion
- Sensation-seeking
- Conservatism
- Rebelliousness
23Age
- LeBlanc and open-earedness
- Tolerance for a range of styles
- (a) younger children are more open-eared, (b)
open-earedness declines as the child enters
adolescence, (c) there is a partial rebound of
open-earedness as the listener matures from
adolescence to young adulthood, and (d)
open-earedness declines as the listener matures
to old age (LeBlanc, 1991, p.2) - LeBlanc, Sims, Siivola, and Obert (1993)
- Preference judgements from 2262 6-91 year olds
for 30-second recordings of art music, trad
jazz, and rock - Generally conformed the model for overall
responses, and within each of the three styles - There was an adolescent dip in preference,
followed by an increase towards adulthood, and a
final decrease in preference in old age
24Age
- Two problems
- Why should there be an adolescent dip?
- Is there only an adolescent dip for music
chosen by researchers? - North and Hargreaves (1999)
- Five age groups nominate and rate liking for as
many types of a) rock and pop b) classical music
and c) jazz as possible - Unsurprisingly, younger people liked rock and
pop, older people preferred classical and jazz - BUT mean liking was consistent across all age
groups - When people select their own music to respond to
the adolescent (and any other) dip disappears - Rather different age groups simply have their own
musical preferences - Leads onto the next age-related influence on
musical preference
25Age
- Here is a list of pop musicians who have all had
a British number 1 single between 1955 and 1994.
Pick a few that you like best
26Perry Como, The Dave Clarke Five, Mud, Wham,
Frankie Goes To Hollywood, The Searchers, The
Rubettes, Frankie Laine, The Bachelors, The Three
Degrees, A-Ha, Guy Mitchell, Cilla Black, David
Essex, George Michael, Peter Gordon, Status
Quo, Rosemary Clooney, U2, Bill Haley His
Comets, The Animals, Steve Harley Cockney
Rebel, Chaka Khan, Pat Boone, The Rolling Stones,
Slik, Sister Sledge, B-52s, Tommy Steele, Manfred
Mann, The Bay City Rollers, TPau, Frankie
Vaughan, Lonnie Donegan, The Kinks, David Bowie,
Eurythmics, Hermans Hermits, Elvis Presley, The
Supremes, The Four Seasons, Madonna, Jerry Lee
Lewis, The Moody Blues, Whitney Houston, Leo
Sayer, Pet Shop Boys, Paul Anka, The Righteous
Brothers, Hot Chocolate, The Everly Brothers,
Wings, The Hollies, Mel Kim, Kate Bush, Conway
Twitty, Sandie Shaw, The Commodores, M/A/R/R/S,
The Byrds, Shirley Bassey, Russ Conway, KLF,
Walker Brothers, The Spencer Davis Group, Boney
M, Dusty Springfield, Wet Wet Wet, Buddy Holly,
Georgie Fame, 2 Unlimited, Cliff Richard, The
Small Faces, Whigfield, Blondie, The Boomtown
Rats, Bobby Darin, The Troggs, Gary Numan, Adam
Faith, The Shadows, The Four Tops, Take That, Joe
Cocker, Marvin Gaye, The Police, Anthony Newley,
Creedence Clearwater Revival, Ace Of Base, Johnny
Preston, The Beach Boys, Eddie Cochran, Bryan
Adams, Mungo Jerry, The Wonder Stuff, Jimmy
Jones, Simon Garfunkel, Snap, Ricky Valance,
The Monkees, Dr. Hook, The Specials, Dr. Alban,
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick Tich, The Jam,
Seal, Roy Orbison, Smokey Robinson, Dexys
Midnight Runners, Petula Clark, Jimi Hendrix,
Aswad, Roxy Music, The Marcels, Black Box, T-Rex,
Floyd Cramer, Rod Stewart, Bros, Slade, The
Temperance Seven, Adam The Ants, Enya, Kylie
Minogue, Del Shannon, Don McLean, Donny Osmond,
Michael Jackson, Soft Cell, Simple Minds, The
Bangles, Helen Shapiro, Human League, Kraftwerk,
David Cassidy, Ray Charles, Sinead OConnor,
Madness, The Tornados, Lisa Stansfield, Frank
Ifield, Culture Club, Kajagoogoo, The Searchers,
Sweet, Vanilla Ice, The Stylistics, Gerry The
Pacemakers, Enigma, The Beatles, James, Duran
Duran, The Waterboys, 10cc, Brian Poole The
Tremeloes, Terry Jacks, Roxette, Billy Joel,
Wizzard, Danny Williams, Eden Kane, Spandau
Ballet, Paul Young, Craig Douglas, Men At Work,
Mariah Carey, Bucks Fizz, Erasure, Boyz II Men,
Peters Lee, The Platters, Shakin Stevens,
Brian Michael, Tasmin Archer, Gary Glitter,
Tommy Edwards, Chicory Tip, Brotherhood Of Man,
Gabrielle , David Soul, Vic Damone, Thunderclap
Newman, Culture Beat, Harry Belafonte, Manhattan
Transfer, Jazzy Jeff Fresh Prince, Haddaway,
John Denver, Andy Williams, Marmalade, Janet
Jackson, The Teenagers, Alvin Stardust, Dickie
Valentine, Engelbert Humperdinck, Chaka Demus
Pliers, Sonny Cher, Jason Donovan, Glenn
Medeiros, Rick Astley
27Age and critical periods
- North and Hargreaves (1995)
- 9-10 years, 14-15 years, 18-24 years, 25-49
years, and 50 years - All shown the same list of 200 pop groups and
singers who had all enjoyed a number 1 single in
the United Kingdom charts - 50 had had their first number 1 between 1955 and
1964, 50 had had their first number 1 between
1965 and 1974 etc. - Choose up to 30 from the list who in your own
personal opinion have performed music that
deserves to be called to the attention of others
2850 year olds
- 10. Petula Clarke
- 9. The Bachelors
- 8. The Shadows
- 3. Perry Como / Shirley Bassey / Cliff Richard
/ Harry Belafonte / Andy Williams - 2. Simon Garfunkel
- 1. The Beatles
2925-49 year olds
- 10. U2
- 9. The Beach Boys
- 8. Jimi Hendrix
- 7. The Police
- 5. Eurythmics / Rolling Stones
- 4. Elvis Presley
- 3. Simon Garfunkel
- 2. David Bowie
- 1. The Beatles
3018-24 year olds
- 10. Rolling Stones
- 9. George Michael
- 8. The Police
- 7. Jimi Hendrix
- 6. Madonna
- 5. Eurythmics
- 4. Elvis Presley
- 3. Madness
- 2. U2
- 1. The Beatles
3114-15 year olds
- 9. U2 / Take That
- 8. Haddaway
- 7. Whitney Houston
- 5. Bryan Adams
- 4. Elvis Presley
- 1. Madonna / Wet Wet Wet / The Beatles
329-10 year olds
- 10. Take That / Janet Jackson
- 9. Jazzy Jeff The Fresh Prince
- 8. Ace of Base
- 6. Madonna / Michael Jackson
- 5. Pet Shop Boys
- 3. The Beatles / Elvis Presley
- 2. Wet Wet Wet
- 1. 2 Unlimited
33(No Transcript)
34Age
- Golden greats always do well but late
adolescence / early adulthood critical period - Further evidence from North and Hargreaves (2002)
- 12502 people nominated the greatest musician
(from HMV, The Guardian, and Channel 4) - Calculated the mean year in which peoples
nominated musicians achieved their first top 10
UK album - Late adolescence / early adulthood critical
period - Under 19 year olds 1990, 19-34 year olds 1983,
35-54 year olds 1975, 55 year olds 1971
35Age
- Holbrook and Schindler agree
- Preferences toward popular music appear to
reflect tastes acquired during late adolescence
or early adulthood. (Holbrook and Schindler,
1989, p.119) - They find the same for preferences for movies
(Holbrook and Schindler, 1996), the appearances
of male and female movie stars (Holbrook and
Schindler, 1994), males preferences for
automobile styles (Schindler and Holbrook, 2003),
mens tastes in female fashion models personal
appearance (Schindler and Holbrook, 1993), and
among 21 other categories such as novels,
talk-show hosts, soft drinks, cereals, and
toothpastes (Holbrook, 1995). - Haacks (1988) nominations of the top 10 songs of
all time (1945-1982) showed preference for music
that was popular while participants were in their
mid-20s
36Age
- Why? At least three possibilities
- 1. Analogous to imprinting
- Young animals at a critical stage in their
development form a strong and irreversible
attachment to a parent - Late adolescence / early adulthood period
represents a time of maximal sensitivity toward
and liking for any music that we might hear - 2. Peer influences or associations with certain
rites of passage - 3. Nostalgia
- Holbrooks notion of nostalgia-proness (e.g.
Things used to be better in the old days,
Things are getting worse all the time) - Preferences for movie stars and movies both
showed an earlier age-related peak among
nostalgia-prone participants than among those
scoring lower on this variable
37Age
- Two final points about critical periods
- Peak liking may be not for music released at this
time but instead for music we first became aware
of during late adolescence / early adulthood - May explain enduring popularity of Elvis and The
Beatles - their music was present during
everyones critical period - Only way for critical periods research to explain
how we like music released before we were
adolescent (e.g. most classical music!) - Certainly explains the common observation that
todays pop music is rubbish compared with that
of insert year of your choice
38Age
- Music in the womb
- Hepper (1991)
- Experiment 1 - newborns
- Newborns exposed to the theme of a popular TV
programme (e.g. Neighbours) during gestation
exhibited changes in heart rate, number of
movements, and behavioural state two to four days
after birth (although these effects disappeared
by 21 days of age) - Experiment 2 third trimester foetuses
- Foetuses between 29 and 37 weeks of gestational
age exhibited changes in their movements when
they were played a tune they had already heard
earlier during pregnancy - Effects in both experiments were specific to the
music heard previously rather than to any music - Foetus is not simply responding to an external
stimulant, but has instead learnt the specific
music
39Age
- Shahidullah and Hepper (1993)
- foetus will first respond to acoustic stimulation
at 20 weeks of gestational age - Lecanuet, Graniere-Deferre, Jacquet, and DeCasper
(2000) - foetuses at 36-39 weeks could distinguish
different piano notes - Responses to music develop while in the womb
- Shahidullah and Hepper (1994)
- foetuses at 35 weeks could better distinguish
pure tone frequencies than could foetuses at 27
weeks - Kisilevsky, Hains, Jacquet, Granier-Deferre, and
Lecanuet (2004) - Foetuses at 28-32 weeks showed an increase in
heart rate to Brahms Lullaby played at 105 or
110 decibels - Over time the foetuses reacted to quieter music
- Older foetuses are better able to pay attention
to music
40Age
- Implications of music in the womb
- Development post-birth (Lafuente, Grifol,
Segarra, Soriano, Gorba, and Montesinos, 1998) - Pre-natal music can have a positive impact on a
childs post-natal development. - Women in the last third of their pregnancy wore a
waistband containing loudspeakers connected to a
tape recorder - After birth the mothers then noted the age at
which their babies developed a range of
behaviours (e.g. gross and fine motor activities,
linguistic development) - Those exposed to the music developed earlier
- We need a broad definition of music listening
and musical preference - Not just teenagers listening to iPods in their
bedrooms - Medical implications
- Understanding of the development of hearing and
the early detection of deafness - Hepper and Shahidullah (1992) - the rate of
habituation to a foetal auditory stimulus may
discriminate children who will from those who
will not be born with Downs syndrome - If music learning occurs mid-pregnancy then
implications for abortion law?
41Non-human animals
- Well-known ethological research on birdsong
- i.e. functions (e.g. territory marking) and
learning (e.g. regional accents) - Research aimed at understanding human perception
of music has considered how animals use and
perceive music - Growing evidence concerning specifically how
non-human animals react to music - impact of music on animal welfare
- the existence and modification of musical
preferences in non-human animals
42Non-human animals
- Animal welfare
- http//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/466525
2.stm - Consistent with Konecnis arousal moderation
- Calming music may counteract the stress of
captivity - Wells, Graham, and Hepper (2002)
- Human conversation, classical music (most
soothing), heavy metal music (least soothing),
pop music, and a control to 50 dogs in an animal
rescue shelter - Classical music led to the dogs spending more
time resting, more time quiet, and less time
standing - behaviours suggestive of relaxation
(p.385) - Heavy metal led to the dogs spending more time
barking
43Non-human animals
- North, MacKenzie, and Hargreaves (unpublished)
- http//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1408434.stm
- Fast and slow tempo music to dairy cows in
crowded winter shelters - Milk yield indicates well-being
- 3 higher yield in the slow than the fast music
condition - McCarthy, Ouimet, and Daun (1992)
- Exposing rats to stimulating rock music reduced
ability to heal wounds - Peretto and Kippschull (1991)
- Played music to mice over two weeks
- (1) classical music produced more interaction
(4) easy listening increased huddling and (5)
rock tended to increase aggression but decrease
sexual activity (p.51)
44Non-human animals
- Two other studies harder to explain in terms of
Konecni still show welfare effects - Uetakea, Hurnika, and Johnson (1997)
- 19 cows over a 69 day period
- The number of cows accessing milking compartments
of an automatic milking machine increased from
22.3 in the absence of music up to 45.0 when
music was played - Line, Markowitz, Morgan, and Strong (1991)
- Increasing the cage size of macaques was
ineffective for welfare relative to the provision
of music under their control - Many captive animals now given artistic
activities - Henley (1992) talks about captive apes,
elephants, and dolphins - BUT
- Cloutier, Weary, and Fraser (2000, p.107)
- Music did not improve condition of piglets during
handling and weaning
45Non-human animals
- Musical preferences exist in non-humans
- McDermott and Hauser (2004)
- Tamarin monkeys have sound preferences
- Different to those of humans exposed to the same
materials - King, West, and White (2003)
- Adult and juvenile female cowbirds preferences
for different types of birdsong could be modified - Okaichi and Okaichi (2001)
- Rats could discriminate the original from a
version of Yesterday performed by one of the
experimenters - Could distinguish the music of Mozart
- Could distinguish music and white noise
46Non-human animals
- Payne (2000)
- Songs of humpback whales arise through
improvisation rather than by accident or as
conveyors of information - Clear musical thematic structure
- McAdie, Foster, Temple, and Matthews (1993)
- Hens could distinguish between music, and the
sounds of a water-hose, poultry, and a train - Porter, Reed, and Neuringer (1984)
- Pigeons could discriminate between Bach flute
music and Hindemith viola music, and between
Stravinskys Rite of Spring and a Bach organ
piece amongst others - College students responded similarly
- The pigeons response to complex auditory events
may be more like the human's than is often
assumed (p.138).
47Non-human animals
- Non-humans have responses to music that are not
very dissimilar from those of humans - Implications
- For music psychology
- How and why do these apparent preferences emerge?
- Does music help welfare because of aesthetic
effects or simply by masking background noise? - For research on animals
- Are we really experimenting on inferior dumb
animals? - For the food business
- Happy animals taste better if music does help
then what music is best? - But non-vegetarians may be eating a Coldplay fan
for dinner tonight
48Gender
- Evidence on three aspects
- Attitudes, preferences, uses of music
- Females have more positive attitudes and
participate more - North, Hargreaves, and ONeill (2000)
- 2465 13-14 year olds asked do you play an
instrument - 64.7 of the musicians were female, 35.3 were
male - Eccles, Wigfield, Harold, and Blumenfeld (1993)
- Girls regard themselves as more
musically-competent than do boys - Colley, Comber, and Hargreaves (1994)
- Liking for school music lessons in 11-13 year
olds was associated with higher Femininity scores
on Boldizars Childrens Sex Role Inventory - Comber, Hargreaves, and Colley (1993)
- This pattern may be changing
- Boys are more positive than girls in their
attitudes towards music technology - More music technology in National Curriculum
49Gender
- No short-term differences in preference for
individual pieces of music - Sopchack (1955) - men and women were equally
responsive to music - Over the long-term, females prefer softer
musical styles - North and Hargreaves (2005)
- Survey of 2532 people aged 12-85 years
- Females disproportionately liked chart pop,
disco, musicals - Males disproportionately liked rock and rap
- Same results from other studies (e.g. Robinson,
Weaver, and Zillmann, 1996 Took and Weiss, 1994) - Why the long-term difference?
50Gender
- Is this a reason why you like your favourite
music? Please answer yes or no - To enjoy the music
- To help me get through difficult times
- To be trendy or cool
- To create an image for myself
- To express my feelings / emotions
- To please or impress my friends
- To reduce loneliness
51Gender
- Gender differences in uses of music
- North, Hargreaves, ONeill (2000)
- Why do you listen to music?
- Males create an impression to others (e.g. to
be cool, create an image for myself) - Females satisfy emotional needs (e.g. express
my emotions, get through difficult times,
reduce tension and stress) - Generally, gender is studied little in its own
right - Usually only in terms of interaction with other
factors - Gender is a red herring
- Other factors explain much more
- E.g. the situation even though theyre female,
women in the gym listen to loud, fast music not
slow, quiet music - E.g. age even though a male, my Dad hated heavy
rock
52Social class
- Sociologists in 1960s and 1970s argued for
massification - Homogeneity reduces financial risk to music
industry - Others (e.g. Bourdieu, 1971 1984) argued for
diversification - Upper social classes control means of cultural
production - They legitimise some art and not other art
- They preserve legitimised art for themselves
(e.g. classical music) - In practical terms
- Upper social classes should like classical music
and opera more - Musical taste in determined by your position in
society - Led to research on taste publics
- A socioeconomic sub-group of the population who
share particular tastes
53Social class
- Taste publics defined by social class (e.g.
income) are linked to musical preference - Fox and Wince (1975)
- Jazz-blues taste public related positively to
hometown size, fathers education and occupation,
and being atheist, agnostic, or Jewish - Dimaggio and Useem (1978)
- In past 12 months 18 of professionals had
attended a symphony concert versus 4 of manual
workers - North and Hargreaves (2005) lifestyle survey
found day-to-day evidence for this - e.g. access to financial resources (e.g. credit
cards), spending on food, drinking wine (rather
than beer etc.), education (e.g. PhDs), choice of
radio stations, choice of TV programmes etc.
54Social class
- Criticisms of research on taste publics
- They are poorly-defined and hypothetical
- Surely, nobody is able to stake out the actual
taste publics of heavy metal, reggae, or folk
music (Zillmann and Gan, 1997, p.172) - Patterns of legitimation are changing constantly
- e.g. jazz used to be regarded as a type of pop
music - The research therefore gets outdated very quickly
- Hard to think of acclaimed music that does not
satisfy both legitimate, high-brow aesthetic and
non-legitimate, low brow aesthetic - Great music tends to have artistic value and
also to sell by the truckload
55Personality
- Not researched much
- The role of music in personality has not been
addressed - i.e. we sometimes listen to a particular piece to
express a trait and sometimes to compensate for
that same trait (e.g. listen to aggressive music
to pump us up further or as catharsis) - Therefore some traits (e.g. extraversion) do not
always lead reliably to particular musical
preferences
56Personality
- Other factors more clear-cut and imply reflection
of personality rather than compensation - Sensation-seeking
- The need for varied, novel, and complex
experiences, and the willingness to take physical
and social risks for the sake of obtaining such
experiences - Links to liking for heavy music
- Which tends to be loud and fast, to deal with
risqué themes in its lyrics, and to be the
subject of visually dynamic live performances - e.g. Arnett, 1991, 1992 Kim, Kwak, and Chang,
1998 McNamara and Ballard, 1999 - Litle and Zuckerman (1986)
- High sensation seekers also more likely to get
emotionally involved with music
57Personality
- Conservatism
- i.e. anti-abortion, death penalty etc.
- Another instance of reflection of personality
rather than compensation for it - People low on conservatism prefer problem music
styles such as rock and rap - McLeod, Detenber, and Eveland (2001)
- Participants with conservative attitudes were
most likely to support music censorship
participants who listened to problem music
lyrics did not support their censorship - Lynxwiler and Gay (2000)
- Participants who held conservative attitudes
toward sexuality and those who attended religious
services disliked heavy metal and rap - Glasgow and Cartier (1985)
- Conservatives prefer simple, familiar, and safe
artistic objects
58Personality
- Rebelliousness and heavy metal / rap fans
- Another instance of reflection of personality
rather than compensation for it - Robinson, Weaver, and Zillmann (1996)
- Undergraduates who scored highly on measures of
psychoticism and reactive rebelliousness enjoyed
rebellious videos more than did participants who
scored low on these factors - Bleich, Zillmann, and Weaver (1991)
- Highly rebellious participants consumed less
non-defiant rock music - Dillmann-Carpentier, Knobloch, and Zillmann
(2003) - Liking for defiant music was related to forms of
rebelliousness
59Personality
- Factors indicative of rebelliousness give rise to
similar results - McCown, Keiser, Mulhearn, and Williamson (1997)
- Psychoticism related to a preference for music
with exaggerated bass - Hansen and Hansen (1991)
- Heavy metal fans were higher on
Machiavellianism and machismo, and were lower
on measures of need for cognition than were
non-fans - Hansen and Hansen (1990)
- Experimental exposure to antisocial music videos
increased participants tolerance of antisocial
behaviour (i.e. an obscene hand gesture) as
compared with exposure to non-antisocial videos. - Yee et al (1988)
- Heavy metal fans have positive attitudes to
pre-marital sex, drug and alcohol use, and
satanism - Trostle (1986)
- Heavy metal fans have greater belief in
witchcraft and the occult - Arnett (1991)
- Heavy metal fans more prone to dangerous driving,
shoplifting, and vandalism
60Extra-musical information
- Compliance effects
- Informational influence effects
61Compliance effects
- Some evidence that listeners will go along with
the musical judgements of the majority - Radocy (1975)
- Music students played a standard tone and then
three comparisons - Four confederates answer first (sometimes
incorrectly) - Conformity to incorrect confederates on 30 of
trials involving pitch judgements and 49 of
volume judgement trials - Furman and Duke (1988)
- Similar method to Radocy
- No compliance in musical preferences when judging
pop music - Non-music students complied when judging
orchestral (i.e. unfamiliar) music - Inglefield (1968)
- School pupils compliance greatest in judgement
of jazz (i.e. unfamiliar) - Crowther (1985)
- Each person chooses continually between four
channels (two liked, two disliked) - (False) feedback on what others were listening to
- When person thinks the majority are listening to
the disliked channel they tend to listen also
62Informational influence
- Occur when we have little knowledge about the
music and so base judgement on external sources - Rigg (1948)
- Six pieces (three by Wagner) rated for enjoyment
- Played again one group told Wagner was a Hitler
favourite, one told nothing, and one heard a
description of the music - Enjoyment ratings increased in all cases, but
least in the Hitler group and most in the
description group - Alpert (1982)
- Approval of classical music by a teacher and a DJ
increased liking for classical music - Fiese (1990)
- Misattributing pieces to Bach and Beethoven
influenced judgements of musical quality - Geiger (1950)
- A programme of popular gramophone music
received only half the radio audience when it was
repeated a week later as a programme of
classical music
63Informational influence evaluation of music by
females
- Lists of the greats are male-dominated
- Farnsworths all-male top 10 classical composers
- One female (Annie Lennox) among 10 favourite pop
musicians, and no female classical music composer
received more than a single nomination (North and
Hargreaves, 1996) - A special case of informational influence?
- Goldberg (1968)
- Females read articles attributed to males or
females - Articles allegedly by males were given higher
ratings on 44 of the 54 measures (e.g.
competence) - Colley, North, and Hargreaves (2003)
- Anti-female bias in new age music when people
told composers (supposed) name - North, Colley, and Hargreaves (2003)
- Specific reactions to the music (e.g. gentle or
soothing) influenced by gender stereotypes
64Informational influence evaluation of music by
attractive people
- What is beautiful is good
- North and Hargreaves (1997)
- 20 pieces of pop music and a picture of the
performer - Attractive performers more poised, sophisticated,
emotionally warm, feminine, intelligent, and
likely to be popular (rather than talentless
idiots) - Music by attractive performers liked more,
perceived as possessing more artistic merit, and
as being more sophisticated, intelligent, and
likely to be popular - Same effects for performers who were the same-sex
as participant - Wapnick, Darrow, Kovacs, and Dalrymple (1997)
- Evaluations of classical music singers higher
when audiovisual (rather than audio-only)
performance presented - Attractive females were judged to perform better
than unattractive females even when audio-only
presented - Several other studies repeat the latter
- Attractive performers must also receive better
training
65Music in everyday life
66Music in everyday life
- Responses to music involve an interaction of four
elements - The music (e.g. arousal, prototypicality)
- The listening situation (e.g. arousal-evoking
qualities, appropriateness) - The listener (e.g. age, sex, personality)
- Extra-musical information (e.g. compliance,
informational influence) - We must study music in this complete context
- Cannot just isolate the music, listener, or
listening situation - Must study musical behaviour in everyday contexts
- Particularly important because of digital
revolution - Internet music retailers, high capacity portable
music players, digital broadcasting - Can listen to whatever, whenever, wherever we
want - Music may be worth less as it is less scarce
- High control over music means we might use music
to achieve very specific ends in very specific
circumstances
67Music in everyday life
- North, Hargreaves, and Hargreaves (2004)
- 346 people sent one text per day over 14 days
- Questionnaire about who, what, when, where, and
why - Who?
- Only 26.3 of listening episodes occurred while
participants were on their own - What?
- Classical music accounted for only 3 of
listening episodes - When?
- Music more commonly experienced in the evening
(esp. 22.00-22.59), and at weekends rather than
weekdays - Where?
- Only 50.1 of music listening episodes occurred
within the home
68Music in everyday life
- Why? Three predictions based on digital
revolution - Music is common
- Could be heard on 38.6 of those occasions on
which participants received their text - Music perceived as being worth little
- Music was the main thing they were doing in only
26.4 of musical experiences - Only 11.9 of episodes occurred while
participants were deliberately listening to music
either at home or in a concert - Disinterested and passive attitude (e.g. It
helped to create the right atmosphere rather
that It aided my attempts to do what I was
trying to do) - Music used to achieve very specific goals in
specific settings - Participants thought that music had different
functions depending on who they were with, what
music they could hear, when they listened to it,
and where they were listening