{"title":"Comparing effects of sad melody versus sad lyrics on mood","authors":"Nathan Pond, David Leavens","doi":"10.1177/03057356231189680","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"While researchers have consistently found that music can evoke discrete emotions in people cross-culturally, there is little consensus regarding the mechanisms underpinning this effect. The present study aimed to gain further insight into how music influences emotions, investigating whether the lyrics or the melody of a sad piece of non-classical music had a greater influence on mood. The researchers presented a sample of 251 participants with isolated melody, isolated lyrics, and the original version of a sad pop-ballad in turn, measuring the influence of each on mood using the Brief Mood Introspection Scale (BMIS). A one-way repeated measures ANOVA revealed that all versions of the song significantly reduced mood scores from baseline, with the isolated lyrics and original version of the song reducing mood to a greater magnitude than the melody. The results suggested that both the lyrics and melody of the music influenced mood, though the lyrics appeared to do so to a greater extent. Furthermore, a thematic analysis of open-response questions provided preliminary evidence that the semantic content of lyrics was more influential on mood than the vocal expression of lyrics. Future research should aim to replicate these findings, using both positively and negatively emotionally valenced musical stimuli.","PeriodicalId":47977,"journal":{"name":"Psychology of Music","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6000,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Psychology of Music","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/03057356231189680","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"MUSIC","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
While researchers have consistently found that music can evoke discrete emotions in people cross-culturally, there is little consensus regarding the mechanisms underpinning this effect. The present study aimed to gain further insight into how music influences emotions, investigating whether the lyrics or the melody of a sad piece of non-classical music had a greater influence on mood. The researchers presented a sample of 251 participants with isolated melody, isolated lyrics, and the original version of a sad pop-ballad in turn, measuring the influence of each on mood using the Brief Mood Introspection Scale (BMIS). A one-way repeated measures ANOVA revealed that all versions of the song significantly reduced mood scores from baseline, with the isolated lyrics and original version of the song reducing mood to a greater magnitude than the melody. The results suggested that both the lyrics and melody of the music influenced mood, though the lyrics appeared to do so to a greater extent. Furthermore, a thematic analysis of open-response questions provided preliminary evidence that the semantic content of lyrics was more influential on mood than the vocal expression of lyrics. Future research should aim to replicate these findings, using both positively and negatively emotionally valenced musical stimuli.
期刊介绍:
Psychology of Music and SEMPRE provide an international forum for researchers working in the fields of psychology of music and music education, to encourage the exchange of ideas and to disseminate research findings. Psychology of Music publishes peer-reviewed papers directed at increasing the scientific understanding of any psychological aspect of music. These include studies on listening, performing, creating, memorising, analysing, describing, learning, and teaching, as well as applied social, developmental, attitudinal and therapeutic studies. Special emphasis is placed on studies carried out in naturalistic settings, especially those which address the interface between music psychology and music education.