Changing positive and negative affects through music experiences: a study with university students

Abstract

Background Currently, there are few empirical studies that demonstrate the effects of music on specific emotions, especially in the educational context. For this reason, this study was carried out to examine the impact of music to identify affective changes after exposure to three musical stimuli. Methods The participants were 71 university students engaged in a music education course and none of them were musicians. Changes in the affective state of non-musical student teachers were studied after listening to three pieces of music. An inter-subject repeated measures ANOVA test was carried out using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) to measure their affective state. Results The results revealed that: (i) the three musical experiences were beneficial in increasing positive affects and reducing negative affects, with significant differences between the interaction of Music Experiences × Moment (pre-post); (ii) listening to Mahler’s sad fifth symphony reduced more negative affects than the other experimental conditions; (iii) performing the blues had the highest positive effects. Conclusions These findings provide applied keys aspects for music education and research, as they show empirical evidence on how music can modify specific affects of personal experience.

Decoding Musical Valence And Arousal: Exploring The Neural Correlates Of Music Evoked Emotions And The Role Of Expressivity Features

“…Several personal and stimulus elements may contribute to variability, such as physiological arousal, personality, and age, as well as musical features. Additionally, the existence of a positive emotional bias, also interpreted as the paradox of tragedy and extensively described in music literature, may also contribute to the shift of the ratings from negative to positive valence quadrants [38]- [40]. All the analyses presented in this study considered the labels provided by each participant at the cost of stimuli imbalance between classes.…”

“…Several personal and stimulus elements may contribute to variability, such as physiological arousal, personality, and age, as well as musical features. Additionally, the existence of a positive emotional bias, extensively described in music literature and interpreted as a paradox of tragedy (deriving pleasure from something that is tragic), may also contribute to the shift of the ratings from negative to positive valence quadrants [48]- [50].…”

The Mediating Role of Positive and Negative Affect in the Relationship between Death Anxiety and Italian Students’ Perceptions of Distance Learning Quality during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Such activities may focus on remarking on positive events, identifying personal strengths, facilitating behavioral activation and positive reappraisal to reach personal goals, activating feelings of gratitude, and encouraging acts of kindness [92]. Recent literature also demonstrated the positive impact of music on positive affect: exposure to musical pieces reduces negative affect and enhances positive affect [93]. Therefore, incorporating the practice of listening to music at the beginning of online lessons may enhance students' affective states, thereby positively influencing their perceptions of distance learning.…”

“…To enhance students' perceived quality of distance learning, particularly their cognitive-emotive reactions to distance learning, it could be beneficial to reduce death anxiety and promote positive affect. This can be achieved through various approaches, such as implementing psychoeducational protocols and engaging students in musical exposure activities [92,93].…”