Emotion and music: A view from the cultural psychology of music

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of current thinking in music cognition regarding the perception of emotion in music. A componential view of emotion is adopted, and a variety of routes by which music expresses emotion are presented. Two main questions for future research are identified: first, the extent to which perception and induction of emotion through music is shared cross-culturally, and second, identification of the factors that contribute to the cross-cultural perception of emotion in music. By drawing upon a biologically and ecologically informed perspective this paper aims to identify routes for future research that would enable music cognition research to shed light on the socio-historical variability of emotion perception through music.