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2014-12
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GleasonThesis
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Prior literature has demonstrated a strong link between musical ability and trait emotional
intelligence (Juslin & Laukka, 2003; Juslin & Sloboda, 2001; Lima & Castro, 2011;
Trimmer & Cuddy, 2008).The current study seeks to expand on this by including
variability in quality of music production as a predictor variable and employing
comprehensive measures of emotional intelligence. Past literature has operationally
defined musical ability as either duration of musical training or self-reported
musicianship (Bigand, Vieillard, Madurell, Marozeau & Dacquet, 2005; Resnicow &
Salovey & Repp, 2004;Trimmer & Cuddy, 2008). Moreover, prior studies have measured
emotional intelligence by assessing participants' ability to identify inflection in speech or
valence of musical pieces (Lima & Castro, 2011; Juslin & Lukka, 2003; Juslin & Laukka,
2003; Juslin & Sloboda, 2001; Trimmer & Cuddy, 2008). This study seeks to expand on
these findings by identifying a potential mediating effect of musical ability on the
moderating effect of musical training on emotional intelligence. We propose that
although musical ability enhances emotional intelligence, this relationship is a function of
ability rather than the result of mere training. In order to examine how musical ability
informs emotional intelligence. Participants will create original compositions that will
later be appraised by knowledgeable musicians. We will utilize both text-based and an
ability-based measures to asses trait emotional intelligence. Participants’ musical
perception abilities and personality traits also be assessed. Primarily, we expect to find
that musical ability, (i.e. the quality of music produced) will mediate the effect of training
on emotional intelligence. We propose that musical ability will be a stronger predictor
than duration of training on emotional intelligence.
The study of music and emotion has been fraught with controversy. Scholars
from differing paradigms disagree about the ultimate purpose of musical expression, and
on its potential to influence the human emotional state. For instance, numerous studies
challenge whether music can induce “genuine” or “every day” emotions (Noy, 1993;
Scherer, 2003). Others maintain that music serves no obvious adaptive function in
humans (Huron, 2001; Pinker, 1997) and that this “auditory cheesecake” arose
accidentally as a byproduct of other processes that is “merely meant to tickle…our
mental faculties” (Pinker, 1997, p. 534). Although this perspective seems extreme,
postulating as to the bygone purpose of music is somewhat problematic. After all,
evolutionary traits change over time (Reeve & Sherman, 1993), making it difficult to find
convincing evidence as to the adaptive role music served. One common explanation
points to “cross-modal similarities” between music and language and indicates they
evolved from common origin (Brown, 2000). Although this explanation is controversial,
there is evidence that musical representation could generate emotive expression because
of similarities shared with vocal patterns found in speech (Thompson, Shallenberg &
Husain, 2001). Given the underlying acoustic similarities between vocal and musical
expression (Budd, 1985; Davies, 2001; Gabrielsson & Juslin, 2003; Salovey & Mayer,
1990; Juslin & Laukka, 2003) it seems justifiable to say that a key function of music is to
communicate emotion (Juslin & Sloboda, 2001; Behne, 1997). It is clear from recent
experimental work that music has an intense effect on arousal and mood (Blood &
Zattore, 2001; Thompson, Shallenberg & Husain, 2001) thereby confirming that musical
expression facilitates communication of feelings. For instance, Blood and Zattore (2001)
examined the pleasure responses experienced by participants while listening to music,
using an FMRI machine. The researchers concluded that simply listening to music
activated award centers and regions of the brain implicated in the experience of deep
emotional states. This research seeks to further examine the connection between emotions
and musical ability.
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