Predictions, Implications, Complications

This previous chapters looked at eight psychological mechanisms through which music might arouse emotions. This chapter widens the perspective and considers some of the implications of this multi-mechanism framework. It explains the need to distinguish between the mechanisms in both research and applications. It also addresses some more general questions raised by the previous chapters. With such a large number of mechanisms, why does music not always arouse emotions? Why do different listeners react differently to the same piece of music? How does the context influence musical emotions? Why do ‘live’ concerts tend to arouse more intense emotions than recorded music? Are emotional reactions to music similar across different cultures?