Psychological Perspectives On Music And Emotion

Abstract

In the context of a multidisciplinary work, it may be appropriate for us to briefly set out what we consider to be the essentials of a psychological approach, so as to show its distinct orientation, alongside the other disciplines represented here.Yet, we are also mindful of the apocryphal tale of a young colleague of William James who was asked by the master to take an introductory course in psychology while James was away, and thought he would begin by defining psychology, and was still struggling to do that when James returned 12 weeks later! So as not to delay our treatment of emotion for too long, let alone its intersection with music, we shall confine our remarks on psychology to a set of rather dogmatic statements.We believe that in broad outline they describe what most psychologists do, although there is much dispute over the details, with differing schools and periods placing differing emphasis on the various subcomponents (Leahey 1987).More importantly for the present chapter, perhaps, these statements reflect our own perceptions of what it is to do psychology, of both music and emotion, and form some sort of underlying framework for the material we present here.