Redefining Music and Emotion Research Through the Adaptation of Emotional Granularity
In a survey of 300+ published papers on music and emotion research, I found that the current literature relies on only 9 emotional terms. Furthermore, when looking at the way emotion labels were operationalized across studies, I found that the terms were used inconsistently across researchers. My conclusions were that a few emotional terms, like happiness and sadness, have been used to describe an unmanageably large space of emotion, a problem called semantic underdetermination.
I propose that by using more emotionally granular terms, it is possible to minimize the problem of semantic underdetermination in music and emotion research.
My vision for the future of music and emotion research
Have researchers explicitly operationalize terms and list assumptions in papers and talks
Report which musical stimuli are used in the study with as much specificity as describing the participant body and analytic methods used to evaluate your hypothesis
Incorporate wide varieties of ways to engage with listeners
By choosing a definition and measurement, we are making assumptions about other people’s experiences
Vary the conditions in which they hear the same musical samples
Watch my Future Directions of Music Cognition talk on emotional granularity below!
