Influence of music on positive and negative affect

Maleković, Hrvoje. (2013). Influence of music on positive and negative affect. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of Psychology. [mentor Knezović, Zvonimir].

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine whether the music can induce positive and/or negative affect. The participants were 126 third grade high school students. Quasi-experimental design was used. The participants were divided into three groups – two experimental and one control group. First experimental group was listening to happy music: Eine Kleine Nachtmusic by W.A. Mozart and second one was listening to sad music: Concert in c minor by Sergej Rahmaninov. The third, control group, did not listen to any music. In that group participants filled out PANAS questionnaire, which assessed the intensity of positive and negative affect. With PANAS questionnaire, data in both experimental groups was collected also. Beside that questionnaire, students in experimental groups estimated on the scale from -3 to +3 how sad or happy the music is. After it has been determined that music stimulus was sad or happy, the treatment was used as the independent variable. Happy music caused a positive affect in the experimental group, while in the group that was listening to sad music and in the control group these values did not differ statistically. Similarly to that, sad music induced negative affect that was statistically significantly different from the affect in the group which was listening to the happy music and the control group, although, judging by the results, negative affect measured by an instrument PANAS, in some cases, is not a phenomenon that has been distributed similarly to the normal distribution. Measurements of the relation between positive and negative affect, although they are orthogonal dimensions in theory, showed a small, but statistically significant negative correlation. Despite the non-representative sample for the Croatian population, lack of randomization of participants and other restrictions of quasi- experimental research, it has been proved that it is possible to cause positive and negative affect with music.

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