Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Children's perception of the emotional content of music

Trunk, Barry

Abstract Details

1981, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Psychology.
The purpose of the present investigation was to examine children's perception and understanding of the emotional qualities of music, using the variables of sex, age, and type of emotion involved. Fifty-five children, aged five to eight years, were asked to perform three related tasks. The first task involved recognition of four facial expressions, displaying the emotions of happiness, sadness, anger, and fear. The second task consisted of identifying the proper facial expression for eight short emotional stories. The last task was the identification of emotional qualities of eight short musical excerpts, again by choosing the correct facial expression. All three tasks displayed a highly significant effect of type of emotion, with happiness being the most easily identified in each. A significant main effect for age was found only for the music task, lending support for a learning theory view of emotional perception in music. No sex differences, as well as no significant two- or three-way interactions, were found for any of the three tasks. The results are consistent with Borke's 1971 investigation, that children are able to correctly identify and attribute emotional responses to faces and stories by age four or five. Further, the present results suggest that emotional perception is a generalized ability, and can be applied to domains outside of social interactions, viz, music. Applications of the findings were discussed in terms of music therapy for emotionally and behaviorally disordered children, and suggestions for further study were advanced.
Gerald Winer (Advisor)
75 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Trunk, B. (1981). Children's perception of the emotional content of music [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1124808815

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Trunk, Barry. Children's perception of the emotional content of music. 1981. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1124808815.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Trunk, Barry. "Children's perception of the emotional content of music." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 1981. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1124808815

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)