The Effect of Classical and Dance Music on EmotionJames Fulks

We consider emotions to be short term and high in intensity, as compared to mood which we

consider to be long term and lower in intensity (Lamont & Eerola 2011).

In 2008 Delsing showed through a study that those who preferred intense music with a fast

beat (high arousal music) had lower moral thought and high openness to experience, this was

characterized by dance music in this study.

In 2011 Gardikiotis discoverd that those who like classical and jazz music (low arousal music)

tended to have more conservative values, this was characterized by classical music in this study.

Through this study we were exploring how different types of music may affect behavior

through emotion.

If types of music have a direct effect on how we feel it can also affect how we behave.

A one-way ANOVA and Post Hoc test were used to test the difference between groups.

There was a Statistical difference between the Negative Affect (Emotion) of the Dance and Control groups.

Although not quite statistically significant at the .05 level the classical group did have less negative emotions than the control group.

The P-value is low 0.004, showing a significant difference between Dance and Control groups

The control group had on average a 4.30 higher rating of negative emotions, than the dance

group.

4.30 on a scale of 50 is not a huge difference, but the maximum score given for any NA is 30.

None of our groups were statistically significant on Positive Affect

Instead of having more negative emotions as expected, the dance music group had less negative

emotions than the control group. Music seems to reduce negative emotions.

Participants were BYU-Idaho Students, Caucasians 18-25.

There were 57 participants.

Three groups, the Control group (n=17), Classical music group (n=18), and the Dance

Music group (n=22).

Participants worked on simple addition and subtraction problems for 15 minutes.

The dance group listened to Dance music and the Classical group listened to Classical music

while doing the math problems. The Control group listened to no music.

After the 15 minutes of math problems the participants completed the PANAS-X

questionnaire, which measures positive and negative emotions.

Dance music was defined by taking instrumental versions of songs that were in the top 30 in

the “dance/party” genre on each of two websites: dancetop40.com and billboard.com.

Classical music was defined as songs from well-known composers from the years 1750-1830

AD, such as Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn.

Participants were separated into classrooms and the music for the two groups was played over

the speakers in the room.

 Delsing, M. (2008), Adolescents’ music preferences and personality characteristics. European

Journal of Personality, 22(2), 109-130. doi:10.1002/per.665.  Gardikiotis, A; Baltiz, A. (2011), ‘Rock music for myself and justice to the world!: Musical

identity, values and musical preferences. Psychology of Music, 2012, 40, 143.

doi:10.1177/0305735610386836 Lamont,A. and Eerola, T. (2011) Music and emotion: Themes and development.Musicae Scientiae, July 2011 vol. 15 no. 2 139-145; doi:10.1177/1029864911403366 Watson, D; Clark, L.A (1994). The PANAS-X: Manual for the Positive and Negative Affect

Schedule- Expanded Form. University of Iowa.

Thank you to Devin Marrott, Kelly Sutton, Taylor Ririe, Ben Duncan, Devin Malone, Kevin

Murphy, Nikole Alyes for helping conducting the study, To Brett Jenkins for help with poster

design, and thank you to Professor Eric Gee for all his help and direction!

Dance music reduced negative emotions, showing that upbeat music could actually cause

people to feel better than listening to nothing while performing tedious or repetitive tasks.

Overall music listening may reduce negative emotions when doing repetitive tasks, although

more testing would need to be conducted. There was little difference between the negative emotions of the two groups that did listen to music.

Limitations:It is difficult to define the music genres. The setting in which the participants listened to music was somewhat artificial.We played music at the same volume and without lyrics. Many times Dance music is listened to at a louder volume, which may influence emotion.Small n sizes, Control group (n=17), Classical music group (n=18), & Dance Music group

(n=22).

Further Research: Does listening to upbeat music improve emotion when performing tedious tasks.Effects on emotions of other genres of musicEffects of lyrics on emotions (we excluded lyrics in this study).Effects of music volume on emotions.Effects of music tempo and beat on emotions.

Results Discussion

References

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Methods

Department of Psychology

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LSDComparison Mean Difference P-value

NA Classical-Control -2.72 0.076Dance- Control -4.30 0.004Classical-Dance 1.59 0.267

PA Classical-Control 3.11 0.270Dance - Control 2.29 0.395Classical-Dance 0.83 0.754

Multiple Comparisons

ANOVA

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n M SD Lower Bound Upper Bound Minimum Maximum

NA Classical 18 14.22 3.83 12.32 16.13 10 24Dance 22 12.64 2.13 11.69 13.58 10 18Control 17 16.94 6.72 13.49 20.40 10 30

PA Classical 18 31.06 7.47 27.34 34.77 19 44Dance 22 30.23 9.04 26.22 34.24 14 55Control 17 27.94 7.90 23.83 32.05 15 41

Descriptive Statistics

95% Confidence Level