The Effect of the Mode of Music on a Person's Judgement Using the Affect Heuristic
School Name
Spring Valley High School
Grade Level
10th Grade
Presentation Topic
Psychology and Sociology
Presentation Type
Non-Mentored
Abstract
The purpose of this project was to see how certain music could affect the decision making process, and how much it affected the emotional aspect of it. The music aspect was needed to show that music was able to alter a person's choices in a positive or negative way. This could be used in later studies to show how to manipulate a person’s judgments intentionally, or if it is even possible. It was hypothesized that changing the mode of the music to major and minor keys would alter the emotional judgment of the person positively or negatively, respectively. Before the test, it was planned to put the 50 terms into 8 emotional categories that best describe the terms moods, temporary states, and affect on emotion. This process was called the category-sort task, which required the participant to sort the terms into the 8 emotional categories labeled arousal, contented, depressed, distressed, excited, miserable, sleepy, and pleased. Ten participants entered a quiet room one at a time. The music selection, Handel’s Sonata in F major, was played as it was originally written. While they are taking the test, they were given 5 seconds for each question. This was repeated for each mode of music being tested. After plotting the points on the affective circumplex, the data displayed positive correlation between the mean of the levels of arousal chosen and the y value associated with it. There was a significant positive correlation, r(22) = 0.617, p < 0.05.
Recommended Citation
Lacey, Brandon A., "The Effect of the Mode of Music on a Person's Judgement Using the Affect Heuristic" (2015). South Carolina Junior Academy of Science. 261.
https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/scjas/2015/all/261
Start Date
4-11-2015 10:45 AM
End Date
4-11-2015 11:00 AM
The Effect of the Mode of Music on a Person's Judgement Using the Affect Heuristic
The purpose of this project was to see how certain music could affect the decision making process, and how much it affected the emotional aspect of it. The music aspect was needed to show that music was able to alter a person's choices in a positive or negative way. This could be used in later studies to show how to manipulate a person’s judgments intentionally, or if it is even possible. It was hypothesized that changing the mode of the music to major and minor keys would alter the emotional judgment of the person positively or negatively, respectively. Before the test, it was planned to put the 50 terms into 8 emotional categories that best describe the terms moods, temporary states, and affect on emotion. This process was called the category-sort task, which required the participant to sort the terms into the 8 emotional categories labeled arousal, contented, depressed, distressed, excited, miserable, sleepy, and pleased. Ten participants entered a quiet room one at a time. The music selection, Handel’s Sonata in F major, was played as it was originally written. While they are taking the test, they were given 5 seconds for each question. This was repeated for each mode of music being tested. After plotting the points on the affective circumplex, the data displayed positive correlation between the mean of the levels of arousal chosen and the y value associated with it. There was a significant positive correlation, r(22) = 0.617, p < 0.05.
