Music and Mood: The Science Behind How Different Genres Affect Our Emotions

[fuzzyfelt]

That makes good sense to me, thanks

 

[zoobyshoe]

Not two different types of emotions, just two different paths to evoking emotions.

Personal Experience -> Emotion <-> Physiological Response
Music -> Physiological Response <-> Emotion [-> Personal Experience]

I don't get the separate mentions of emotion and physiological response. You seem to be saying there is such a thing as emotion without a feeling in your body. If I don't feel something in my body, I'm not having an emotion.

The thing is - I don't think the emotions evoked by music are really first hand. I think they conjure up a physiological response when interpretted that reminds the person of an emotion.

This is completely outside my experience, and I don't know what to make of it. The physiological responses I have to music are indistinguishable by me from the physiological responses I have to anything: a persons face, a great painting, a dead dog in the road, a cool tree, the sight of the ocean, a bad news letter, a good news letter. The emotions I experience from these things are all of the same cloth as the emotions evoked by music. I have never had the impression I am being reminded of emotions by music, but that it is eliciting emotions.

However, when you were listening to the music, did you have in your mind a specific situation to which you could relate this music to and thus the correct emotion?

No. I just felt what I felt. There was no reference to anything other than the movie in front of me.

Did perhaps the scene imply the type of emotion whereas the music multiplied its power?

IIRC the opening scene is the "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." bit. And I think the music is the grand, main theme which is mostly brass and strings. In this case the music was just about entirely responsible for the emotional ambiance. You are completely steered by the music, and not much at all by the visual. Any one watching that opening for the first time with no music at all could easily not have an inkling of music like the William's score. It could suggest entirely different music to each and every composer who watched a silent version with no knowledge of the version we know.

Or maybe hearing the music evoked a physiological response that you associated with excitement.

I would not put it this way at all. It was directly exiting in it's own right, in is own way, not associated with exitement.

Nope (Yes, I know - marvel at my forum-name-creating abilities).

How many others do you have and what are they? I came up with zoobyshoe and stopped there. I can't top genius.

I personally like octopuses more though, now that I think of it. They're much more intellegent. I also don't care much for seafood. I'm probably crazy.

Nocturnally roving herds of weird, purple jellyfish are not intelligent, nor are they edible, but they did form the inspiration for Alfred Einstein's astonishing theory: Jellitivity (both special and general).

Some of us are pretty sure you are the first actual weird, purple jellyfish to accomplish the task of signing on to PF, but that you probably couldn't yet get your tentacles to type jellyfish properly when you joined. We're keeping our eye on you.

 

[fuzzyfelt]

BTW, the collective noun for jellyfish is 'smack'.

 

[zoobyshoe]

BTW, the collective noun for jellyfish is 'smack'.

Not in Alfred Einstein's native language of Cherman. The original Cherman title of his groundbreaking work was:

On Ze Elektrodynamiks Off Nokternnally Rofink Herdz Off Veerd, Poorpul Chellyfisch

 

[honestrosewater]

We're keeping our eye on you.

Yes, our eye is enormous and sees all. But if you keep it on him, how will we use it?

 

[zoobyshoe]

Yes, our eye is enormous and sees all. But if you keep it on him, how will we use it?

I don't know. I think you'd better start a thread in the Philosophy forum and let them work it out phenomenologically.

 

[honestrosewater]

I don't know. I think you'd better start a thread in the Philosophy forum and let them work it out phenomenologically.

No, I try not to start phenomenological threads intentionally.

(Eh, there's a joke in there somewhere, honest.)

 

[Nylex]

Listening to music doesn't affect my mood, I don't think.

 

[cronxeh]

one for the joke thread
Q: what did the raver say when the drugs wore off?
A: dayum, this music sucks!



i for one listen to metal (dimmu borgir, cradle of filth, deicide, cannibal corpse, anaal nathrakh, etc) & industrial stuff (nine inch nails, ministry, etc) when working out. why metal, probably because of the screeching vocals (black metal anyway) & fast drums. the rest of the time (reading, studying, etc) it's mostly old-school baroque stuff.

Worst. Music. Ever

 

[El Hombre Invisible]

Now that I think of it, my mom did exactly the same thing with us (4-6 kids).

"4-6 kids"?!? You don't know how many siblings you have?

I always found that Mozart for babie making them 'smart' a little far fetched and overhyped..

I don't know. Music can be intellectually stimulating too. Compared to, say, Mozart's Requiem, most pop for instance is incredibly dumb. I'd buy the notion that listening to music that is intellectually as well as emotionally stimulating as a child would brain em up, if for no other reason than being raised and so being predisposed to like that kind of music and so having more stimulating music in your life from a very early age.

I listen to music less for its direct effect on my mood nowadays than to appreciate its art, be it punk, folk, rock, dance, classical, hip hop, country, whatever, which in turn creates an emotional response. I can see how.. I dunno... Blink 182 can cheer you up, Keane can chill you out, NIN can fire you up, but it's such artless rubbish it has no real effect on me. As a consequence, I cannot listen to the radio at all.

 

[honestrosewater]

"4-6 kids"?!? You don't know how many siblings you have?

What, isn't that normal?
4 stuck-with-them-forever kids, 2 stepkids for a short time.

 

[Jelfish]

This is completely outside my experience, and I don't know what to make of it. The physiological responses I have to music are indistinguishable by me from the physiological responses I have to anything: a persons face, a great painting, a dead dog in the road, a cool tree, the sight of the ocean, a bad news letter, a good news letter. The emotions I experience from these things are all of the same cloth as the emotions evoked by music. I have never had the impression I am being reminded of emotions by music, but that it is eliciting emotions.

But then the question becomes - why does a certain type of music elicit a certain type of emotion? Perhaps you're right about emotion and phisiological response being one thing, but I separated them because phisiological response implies that the physical feeling came first where as emotion implies that the conscious realization of the emotion came first. The sole reason why I split them up is that it doesn't make sense to me that a certain type of music can elicit a specific type of emotion without ever having had a direct link to that emotion. Unless perhaps, I'm over analysing and all emotional response from music is due to some sort of past association or resemblance, in which case my argument is moot.

How many others do you have and what are they? I came up with zoobyshoe and stopped there. I can't top genius.

The great thing about Jelfish is that people might think it comes from Jellyfish or Jellofish. The missing syllable adds to my obviously cool and mysterious demeanor . This is my only PF username.

Nocturnally roving herds of weird, purple jellyfish are not intelligent, nor are they edible, but they did form the inspiration for Alfred Einstein's astonishing theory: Jellitivity (both special and general).

Some of us are pretty sure you are the first actual weird, purple jellyfish to accomplish the task of signing on to PF, but that you probably couldn't yet get your tentacles to type jellyfish properly when you joined. We're keeping our eye on you.

I'll have to look into Jellitivity and incorperate it into my original intention for Jelfish. A search led me to the Ask a Stupid Question thread, but I haven't had time to go through the 150+ pages.

And not to speak for weird, purple jellyfish, but the notion for them to actually using the username - jellyfish - strikes me as odd, especially with the current identity crisis they face in society. Ask average people and they'll probably describe them as weird, purple, and unintelligent. It's quite disfranchising, really.

 

[zoobyshoe]

But then the question becomes - why does a certain type of music elicit a certain type of emotion?

I can't say in great detail. I haven't thought much about it, or tried to find any research that must have been done on this (everything's been researched), but the fact we do have emotional responses to this type of organized sound is undeniable and proven by the long history of human efforts to compose more and more music.

Perhaps you're right about emotion and phisiological response being one thing, but I separated them because phisiological response implies that the physical feeling came first where as emotion implies that the conscious realization of the emotion came first.

The actual train of events is so rapid it isn't possible to watch yourself experiencing first one thing then the other.

The sole reason why I split them up is that it doesn't make sense to me that a certain type of music can elicit a specific type of emotion without ever having had a direct link to that emotion.

Emotions aren't pre-existing things to be linked to. They are generated on the spot, brand new, in response to stimuli.

You may say, I was happy then, and I'm happy now, but the two separate happinesses aren't the same experience, with the second being a "repeat" of the first. The second may strongly resemble the first in quality, but it was created anew on the spot: you never experienced that happiness before.

Each piece of music represents a specific emotional recipe, unlike any other, and elicits a first time train of emotions, spiced in a particular, specific way, which you have actually never tasted before.

If you are reminded of previous experiences that sparked similar emotions, and concentrate only on those, you may get the impression there are "pre-existing" emotions to which one can link. In fact, though, emotions don't exist until you have them. What we think of as experiencing of the "same" emotion is actually the result of the linguistic need to name things in order to communicate with others. We name a certain range of emotions "happiness" by convention, in order to verbally communicate our emotional states. There is actually no state of "happiness" kept in storage to which we link in response to stimuli. It is generated fresh on the spot each time.
--------------

The great thing about Jelfish is that people might think it comes from Jellyfish or Jellofish. The missing syllable adds to my obviously cool and mysterious demeanor . This is my only PF username.

You say "cool and mysterious". We say "sneaky and gelatinous".

I'll have to look into Jellitivity and incorperate it into my original intention for Jelfish. A search led me to the Ask a Stupid Question thread, but I haven't had time to go through the 150+ pages.

Ask a Stupid Quetion Get a Stupid Answer - Physics Help and Math Help - Physics Forums
Address:https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=68&page=50&pp=20

And not to speak for weird, purple jellyfish, but the notion for them to actually using the username - jellyfish - strikes me as odd, especially with the current identity crisis they face in society. Ask average people and they'll probably describe them as weird, purple, and unintelligent. It's quite disfranchising, really.

Nocturnally roving herds of weird, purple jellyfish are not the benign, maligned critters you imply. They have an agenda. Although they really aren't very bright, it's true. It would be perfectly consistent with both their agenda, and intelligence, to try to infiltrate PF, but to misunderstand the concept of a "cover", and to throw a typo into the bargain.

 

[Jelfish]

It may be true that you never get the same emotion twice exactly, and it may also be true that the classification of emotions leads to perhaps, an overgeneralization of a specific emotion, but there's a reason emotions that are generally called "happiness" are classified clearly and separately from those called "sadness." When you listen to a piece of music and an emotion is elicited, how do you then clasify that emotion? I think a lot of people can say a certain musical piece is "joyous" or "angry," but what leads to that conclusion? And does this conclusion necessarily require a past association with that sort of music? If not, how does one then classify based on just the music? I guess that's what I'm ultimately trying to explain.

Nocturnally roving herds of weird, purple jellyfish are not the benign, maligned critters you imply. They have an agenda. Although they really aren't very bright, it's true. It would be perfectly separately with both their agenda, and intelligence, to try to infiltrate PF, but to misunderstand the concept of a "cover", and to throw a typo into the bargain.

Wht do you mean by "cover"?

 

[zoobyshoe]

When you listen to a piece of music and an emotion is elicited, how do you then clasify that emotion?

During the course of any piece of music a whole train of emotions is elicited. This goes back to what you were saying about tension an resolution. It is a flow or stream of emotion that depends on the creation and resolution of overall tension as well as the ebb and flow of inner sub-tensions. I've never actually heard a piece that sustained one emotion throughout. a lot of music has an overall mood or ambiance that can be verbally symbolized by words like "joyous" or "angry" but nothing so brief can really do a piece of music justice.

And does this conclusion necessarily require a past association with that sort of music?

No. Your experience of a piece of music doesn't require anything with which to associate it.

If not, how does one then classify based on just the music?

Your success in saying anything about the emotional experience you have in response to music is completely dependent on how articulate you are in describing your emotional responses in general.

Your mention of envisioning a certain scene in response to music points to what may be throwing you off. In my experience the evocation of scenes like that are secondary to the primary emotion generated by the music. The music gives you an emotion first, then the scene comes instantly to mind with that music as the "score". You are kind of playing music video editor in your mind, enhancing the whole experience by trying out visuals to go along with the music. I don't believe those scenes somehow represent a core experience of the emotion the music is evoking that you have to reference in order to have an emotional reaction to the music. People who are blind from birth love music intensely, and all they have are body feelings to go by.

Wht do you mean by "cover"?

Aha!

 

[EMO Babygirl]

honestly...metal don't make you angry and anyone who thinks that has serious problems. Metal just gives you the chance to head bang away all your problems. If a music makes you mad, it is probably my music. EMO/Punk Rock is awesome...but anyway...

Yeah...I'm pretty sure music effects your mood in some ways...like if you are depressed then you listen to depressing piano/violin music and so forth. But whatever...music is a part of everyday life. And i am just a teen blabbering on and on and now I'm going to go. PEACE!

 

[tacosareveryyum]

Now that I think of it, my mom did exactly the same thing with us (4-6 kids).

How can you have 4-6 kids? It's either 4 or 6.

 

[DaveC426913]

Yeah...I'm pretty sure music effects your mood in some ways...like if you are depressed then you listen to depressing piano/violin music and so forth.

Or slows you down so that you wait 2 years to respond to a thread...

 

[Stevedye56]

I usually listen to metal when I got to bed, early in the morning on my way to school, and even in the afternoon. I also enjoy bands like Blink 182 and Story of the Year and alternative rock and such. However I do not get mad or angry listening to either. I listen to music because its kind of a relaxing thing to do no matter what it is. Unless its country that is...

 

[EMO Babygirl]

Or slows you down so that you wait 2 years to respond to a thread...

Or someone is doing a project and happens to come across this thread
Duh!

 

[Math Jeans]

Send an email to Mythbusters. lol

 

[DaveC426913]

Or someone is doing a project and happens to come across this thread
Duh!

Geethatpossibilitycompletelyescapedme.

 

[cybernomad]

Hello. The Q is, as before stated, can music effect your mood?(affect or effect?) Anyway, my mom and I have had arguments about this more than a few times. She says that me listening to metal makes me agry. Is there any scientific proof that this happens? Examples...

Metal= angry

country= sad

classical= relaxed

and so on.

fMRI i.e. Functional magnetic resonance imaging are in the early stages of finding objective 'proof' of music's ability to effect mood.

Now the old adage "different stroke for different folks" would apply to music. Your mother may by your statement believe the aggressive nature of metal leads to your anger.

 

[BelluhNichoel]

I Dont Think Music Can Really Affect Your Mood. I Think It Can Match Your Mood. Like For Example If Your Sad And A Slow Break Up Song Comes On Its Basically Matching Your Mood. I Like All Kinds of Music Myself Except Country(It Gives Me Headaches).I've Actually Had Any Justin Bieber Song Affect My Mood By Making Me Very Agravated.No Other Music Affects My Mood.

 

[nucleargirl]

music helps me to get motivated, like right now I'm really feeling 'weightless by all time low' the melody is motivational and the lyrics evoke my inner fear of ending up a failure. all good motivators!

 

[Leshok]

I always find myself focusing on lyrics to many songs. So I tend to listen to instrumental music such as Explosions in the Sky. I have made a habit of getting a study room and practicing my Math on a chalkboard while listening to them.

 

[Danger]

I haven't taken the time to read this entire thread, because I'm very tired right now. I will do so tomorrow, and possibly modify my response thereafter.
The only music that makes me angry is country. Real country, that is, not the rock that cowboys call country because they can't admit that they like rock. If I want to hear some idiot yodeling to his horse, I can walk a couple of miles down the road and get a live performance. A very good friend of mine, who I was in fact playing pool against tonight, once told me that there were only two kinds of music: country and western. (This despite the fact that his truck radio was set to the local hard-rock station.) I'm a westerner, but my absolute favourite music is Motown and the very closely related "Philly Soul". I also love Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Abba, Metallica, the Partridge Family, Springsteen, the Archies, Frank Zappa and the Mothers...
The music does affect my mood in some ways, but more often just reflects it. I quit playing the radio in my car over 30 years ago because the beat would alter my driving habits. While listening to "Dark Side of the Moon", I would find myself cruising along at about 40 mph in a 60 zone. On that same stretch of highway, with Trooper or Sabbath playing, I'd be doing 80 or 90. I decided early that it was better to just leave the music off and pay attention to the road.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Very strongly. For instance, when I hear a band strike up "My Country, 'tis of Thee", it lifts my mood considerably. Or when they play "G-d Save the Queen", my mood sours.

 

[Danger]

Very strongly. For instance, when I hear a band strike up "My Country, 'tis of Thee", it lifts my mood considerably. Or when they play "G-d Save the Queen", my mood sours.

Same tune either way. The first version irritates me, and the second offends me. At our cenotaph ceremony on Remembrance Day, I sang along with everyone else to "*** Save the Queen", but fell silent during the title phrase because it would be extremely hypocritical of me to utter those words.
I also refuse to fully acknowledge our national anthem since some bastard changed the lyrics to include a deity. (I have no objection to the second half now being sung in French, since we are bilingual, but I don't actually know those words.)

 

[books&music!]

music does affect your mood. it has to do with memory as well. if something happened in your life with music even playing in the background, everytime you listen to that music or that song you will feel the emotion that you were feeling at that time.