Affective Circumplex In Music

Daniel Newsome

School Name

South Carolina Governor's School for Science and Mathematics

Grade Level

12th Grade

Presentation Topic

Psychology and Sociology

Presentation Type

Mentored

Mentor

Mentor: Svetlana Shinkareva, Mind and Brain Institute, University of South Carolina

Written Paper Award

1st Place

Abstract

Wilhelm Wundt’s theory of affective circumplex has been largely unexplored, despite the fact that it has been around over two hundred years. This theory suggests that affective stimuli will, when graphed on a two dimensional grid with valence and arousal as the axes, naturally fall into a circle formation. Recently, studies have been confirming this hypothesis on a number of stimuli, yet the theory has largely been unexplored. Unfortunately, no such study had been done on affective circumplex in music. Based on the theory of affective circumplex, the intensity of a piece of music would interact limit the valence of affective reactions. Likewise, it suggests that truly neutral music is rare and that music will end up being categories affectively. This means that when one affective characteristic of music is normalized, listeners focus on the other, and that when both are normalized they still rate the stimuli with the same overall magnitude. This study seeks to answer this debate by showing participants affective music stimuli and asking them to rate them. The stimuli were rated by valence and arousal and mapped onto a two dimensional grid. The results verified the model of affective circumplex in music, as the data formed clear circle. Only three of the thirty stimuli deviated from this circle. When looking back at the data, it was clear that the magnitude of the participants’ ratings was consistent. This strange cross between music theory and psychology usually involves psychology proving musical theories, yet this study does the opposite.

Start Date

4-11-2015 8:30 AM

End Date

4-11-2015 8:45 AM

COinS
 
Apr 11th, 8:30 AM Apr 11th, 8:45 AM

Affective Circumplex In Music

Wilhelm Wundt’s theory of affective circumplex has been largely unexplored, despite the fact that it has been around over two hundred years. This theory suggests that affective stimuli will, when graphed on a two dimensional grid with valence and arousal as the axes, naturally fall into a circle formation. Recently, studies have been confirming this hypothesis on a number of stimuli, yet the theory has largely been unexplored. Unfortunately, no such study had been done on affective circumplex in music. Based on the theory of affective circumplex, the intensity of a piece of music would interact limit the valence of affective reactions. Likewise, it suggests that truly neutral music is rare and that music will end up being categories affectively. This means that when one affective characteristic of music is normalized, listeners focus on the other, and that when both are normalized they still rate the stimuli with the same overall magnitude. This study seeks to answer this debate by showing participants affective music stimuli and asking them to rate them. The stimuli were rated by valence and arousal and mapped onto a two dimensional grid. The results verified the model of affective circumplex in music, as the data formed clear circle. Only three of the thirty stimuli deviated from this circle. When looking back at the data, it was clear that the magnitude of the participants’ ratings was consistent. This strange cross between music theory and psychology usually involves psychology proving musical theories, yet this study does the opposite.