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Music evoked emotions are different–more often aesthetic than utilitarian

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2008

Klaus Scherer
Affiliation:
Centre Interfacultaire des Sciences Affectives (CISA), University of Geneva, CH-1205 Geneva, [email protected]://www.affective-sciences.org
Marcel Zentner
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of York, YO10 5DD York, United [email protected]://www.unige.ch/fapse/emotion/members/zentner/zentner.html

Abstract

We disagree with Juslin & Västfjäll's (J&V's) thesis that music-evoked emotions are indistinguishable from other emotions in both their nature and underlying mechanisms and that music just induces some emotions more frequently than others. Empirical evidence suggests that frequency differences reflect the specific nature of music-evoked emotions: aesthetic and reactive rather than utilitarian and proactive. Additional mechanisms and determinants are suggested as predictors of emotions triggered by music.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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