Research Note: Affective Responses to Everyday Life Events and Music Listening

1997 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas C. Lehmann
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 205920432110225
Author(s):  
Amanda E Krause ◽  
Solange Glasser ◽  
Margaret Osborne

Investigations of music in everyday life are dominated by a functional perspective, drawn from work using the theory of Uses and Gratifications. In so doing, we may have neglected to fully appreciate the value people place on music listening. Therefore, the present study considered if, and why, people value music listening and probed instances when they may not want to listen to music in everyday life. A sample of 319 university students residing in Australia (76.50% female, M age = 20.64) completed an online questionnaire, on which they were asked to provide short responses to open-ended questions directly addressing two research questions. Inductive thematic analysis yielded 13 themes synthesizing how participants valued listening to music, such as appreciation, emotion, time and engagement, cognitive factors, and mood regulation. Reasons for not listening to music were summarized by eight themes dominated by interference with activities that required focus or concentration, followed by environmental context, affective responses, music engagement and inversely, a preference for silence or other auditory stimuli. Fifteen percent of participants stated there was never a time they did not want to listen to music. The findings provide a novel perspective on the value of music listening beyond that considered by uses and gratifications with regard to the function of listening to music in everyday life.


2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 479-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katelyn Koehler ◽  
Mary C. Broughton

Previous research suggests that music listening influences individual affective responses. However, there is scant research examining how social factors might interact to influence subjective affective responses to music. This study investigates the effects of social feedback and social context on subjective affective responses to music. In a between-subjects experiment, participants (N = 120) listened to unfamiliar music from various genres either alone or with another participant. For each musical example, participants received positive and negative social feedback, derived from a pilot study, or factual album information. After listening to each musical example and reading the provided social feedback or album information, participants reported their subjective valence, arousal, subjective affective intensity, concentration, music liking and familiarity. There was no effect of social feedback on subjective valence responses. Positive and negative social feedback influenced subjective arousal responses positively and negatively, respectively. Subjective affective intensity was not influenced by social feedback. Social context did not influence subjective affective responses to the musical examples. Lower concentration was reported in social listening conditions compared to solitary conditions. Greater familiarity with the musical examples was reported when social feedback was provided. The findings of the present study suggest that social feedback can influence particular affective responses to, and familiarity with, music. However, social listening might reduce concentration, especially in the absence of social feedback. These findings highlight issues warranting consideration for how music is affectively experienced in everyday life, as well as purposely used in varied contexts.


2020 ◽  
Vol 02 (01) ◽  
pp. 2050005
Author(s):  
Shen Yong Ho

It is well known among educators that carefully planned Physics demonstrations incorporated into lessons can enhance the teaching and learning of Physics. However, there are also everyday life events, such as car crashes and lightning strikes that also aptly demonstrate concepts in Physics but cannot be easily recreated in class. Today, many of these events are captured on video and are easily available on the internet. To facilitate teachers to find what they need, we classify online videos useful for Physics teaching into six broad categories. Some of these videos can be more useful than traditional lecture demonstrations in providing relevant contexts for introducing Physics concepts. We will also discuss some principles for designing class activities to help students make sense of the underlying Physics in the videos.


2021 ◽  
pp. 240-264
Author(s):  
Robert H. Woody

Practically speaking, listening is the primary reason music exists at all. Providing a meaningful sonic experience for others is largely the reason that composers work so hard on their creations and performers enter the stage or recording studio. Human beings’ love of music can be seen in common music listening is in everyday life today. In this respect, it may seem strange to consider “the listener” as a musical role, let alone to regard music listening as a skill that people develop, even to specialized expert levels. Be that as it may, listening is an extremely important topic in the psychology of music. Many people would never consider themselves “musicians” still enthusiastically fill the role of serious listeners. This chapter offers in depth consideration of music listening, beginning with an examination of the processes of human hearing. It addresses the multiple types of listening in which people engage, from hearing music in the background while doing other things to focused listening for the purpose analyzing or evaluating the music heard. Special emphasis is given to music’s capacity to evoke strong emotions in music, sometimes to the point of physiological responses such as tears, shivers, and a racing heart.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 8-22
Author(s):  
V.Ye. Danylova

In recent decades, within the boundaries of postclassical culture, the concept of “event”, which has long been actively used both in everyday life and in scientific discourse, acquires new meanings and is realized in innovative forms. In this regard, it becomes necessary to highlight an “artistic event” as a cultural creative technology, which is becoming widespread in the development of postclassical culture, and study the role of “special artistic event” in the modern process of functioning of global and local cultures. Objectives. The aim of the article is to conceptualize events in the artistic and empirical reality and identify the conditions of their convergence. Research methodology. The author applies the method of terminological analysis for the insight into the concept of “event” in the empirical and artistic reality. The article provides a detailed application of philosophical and culturological method whereby the event is seen as sociocultural phenomenon; psychoanalytical method for the analysis of the impact of life events on the emotional state of a man; the methods of analysis and synthesis to determine the existence conditions of the events in the empirical and artistic reality; structural and comparative method that has permitted to reveal the basic elements in the structure of an artistic event and its difference from an empirical event. Results. The development trends of artistic practices in the post-classical culture convey the blending of the mundane and the social, cultural plan, the destruction of boundaries between the life and the artistic, the ability to create the events that can be classified both as empirical evidence and as an artistic act. All these properties are included in actionism as a form of modern art. The events that are created within this trend have the character of artistic events: the organization of action, the presence of the author, ideological content, focus on the target audience, publicity. At the same time such an event occurs in the empirical reality of an object (objects) that it is designed to. Such an event affects a human being (society) very seriously, introducing new concepts (ideas, images) into the outlook. These effects can be both positive and negative, aesthetic as well as anti-aesthetic. A classification of events according to the level of subjectivity has been developed, which includes such concepts as “micro-event”, “event”, “special event” and “special artistic event”. In any case, a person that perceives a creative product of actionism experiences life events that affect and sometimes change his mental nature, behaviour, emotional state. The author of such event can be any person who needs and has a desire to introduce the idea into the socio-cultural environment. “Micro-event” is a familiar action to an individual. It develops the course of everyday life and does not require the analysis and the search for interpretations. Micro-events occur as a result of natural changes that are logical in the given circumstances of human actions, which are part of the framework of everyday existence. “Event” is an act, as the result of which a person experiences changes in his/ her internal and external environment. The result of the event is always a change in the internal state, the break up, forming new views, gaining new knowledge. “Special event” is an action organized for the purpose of achieving certain goals through direct influence on the subject’s consciousness. A “special event” always has a specific initiator and a certain level of organization, that is, it cannot happen by chance, even if the subject perceives it in such a way. An individual can be both the author of a “special event” and the subject on which it is directed. In the latter case, it can be said that a “special event” has occurred if there has been an internal process of comprehension and certain indoctrination, characteristic of the “event” in general. That is, the mechanism of human perception of a random natural “event” or deterministic by another individual remains unchanged. “Special artistic event” is an action organized for the purpose of achieving certain goals, through the direct influence on the subject’s consciousness using artistic methods. The purpose of creating a “special artistic event” is to unite groups of people, introduce new ones and maintain the conventional value paradigms during a certain action. That is, a “special artistic event” cannot be organized solely for aesthetic reasons, cannot represent value in and of itself, in the isolation from the information and emotional innate content. “Special artistic events” contain significant creative potential; they can be used as an instrument for developing a dialogue between social and cultural groups, for the creation of united global communities based on common axiological guidelines. Conclusions. The reason for the rapid spread of ideas embodied in “special artistic events” is the principle of an action, based on an emotional rather than rational piece of information. Symbolic, nonverbal elucidation of the ideological component is the most productive tool for influencing and interrelating with broad audiences. Since “special artistic events” are now a powerful, effective tool for advancing ideas and forming values, it is important to use their potential for designing and introducing into the culture of socially significant values and paradigms. Their scope extends to the entire field of culture: the author confirms this fact by considering the most important aspects of socio-cultural life, in which “special artistic events” are realized. The dominant feature that distinguishes a “special event” from a “special artistic event” is the artistic and symbolic component, the presence of which indicates the relation of the latter to artistic reality, at the same time it has synchronous unfolding in the everyday reality. Novelty. An attempt is made at identifying the differences of events in the empirical and artistic reality and considering the aspects of their convergence in terms of the post-classical culture. The practical significance. The obtained results make it possible to establish the basis for further reflection of the concept “event”. The findings in this paper can be used in pedagogical and educational practice while preparing the general and specialized courses in cultural studies, art criticism, directing mass festivals.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Carlson ◽  
Johanna Wilson ◽  
Margarida Baltazar ◽  
Deniz Duman ◽  
Henna-Riikka Peltola ◽  
...  

Although music is known to be a part of everyday life and a resource for mood and emotion management, everyday life has changed significantly for many due to the global coronavirus pandemic, making the role of music in everyday life less certain. An online survey in which participants responded to Likert scale questions as well as providing free text responses was used to explore how participants were engaging with music during the first wave of the pandemic, whether and how they were using music for mood regulation, and how their engagement with music related to their experiences of worry and anxiety resulting from the pandemic. Results indicated that, for the majority of participants, while many felt their use of music had changed since the beginning of the pandemic, the amount of their music listening behaviors were either unaffected by the pandemic or increased. This was especially true of listening to self-selected music and watching live streamed concerts. Analysis revealed correlations between participants’ use of mood for music regulation, their musical engagement, and their levels of anxiety and worry. A small number of participants described having negative emotional responses to music, the majority of whom also reported severe levels of anxiety.


2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annelies van Goethem ◽  
John Sloboda

Musical experiences are often reported to influence emotions ( Juslin & Västfjäll, 2008 ; Sloboda, O’Neill, & Ivaldi, 2001 ): people consciously and unconsciously use music to change, create, maintain or enhance their emotions and moods (affect) on a daily basis for their personal benefit ( DeNora, 1999 ; Schramm, 2005 ). This is known as affect regulation. However, existing research has not yet answered questions of how music regulates affect, especially beyond the expressive properties of music ( Meyer, 1956 ). The aims of the studies presented here were to investigate (a) how music functions to regulate affect, (b) which affects it regulates, and (c) whether music listening can be considered a successful affect regulation device. A one-week diary study with interviews and a three-week diary study were conducted. The main findings were: (1) music helps through broader affect regulation strategies like distraction, introspection, and active coping; music can for example distract someone from the affect or situation, or help to think about the affect or situation in a rational way; (2) music plays a major role in creating happiness and relaxation; (3) music overall is a successful regulation device with a range of underlying mechanisms helping different strategies. The current paper is a valuable addition to the existing literature and provides several new insights into the function of music for affect regulation in everyday life. The insight gained into which strategies and underlying mechanisms are involved when music is used for affect regulation might be used for the benefit of people’s emotional wellbeing.


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