Psychology of Music

The cyclic process of self-regulated learning has been identified as a predictor of achievement in musical skill acquisition and musical performance. Meta-cognition, intrinsic to the self-regulation process, develops as the student takes greater responsibility for their own learning. From this perspective we consider music students’ responses to a questionnaire exploring the value and purpose of master classes. Overall, students valued the opportunity to perform in master classes, to receive relevant expert advice and to engage with ideas about interpretation and style. Students with prior experience of performing in master classes were more likely than those lacking performing experience to learn by listening to their peers, to regard master classes as motivational and as an opportunity to perform. In addition, significantly more female than male students listened to master classes, used peer-learning strategies while listening and were more likely to report negative perceptions of the content of the master class. Large effect sizes were found for level of study on the extent of experience as a performer, as a listener and for overall experience in master classes. These findings are discussed in terms of making a successful transition from conservatoire music student to young professional musician.

We examined the effect of background music on reading comprehension. Because the emotional consequences of music listening are affected by changes in tempo and intensity, we manipulated these variables to create four repeated-measures conditions: slow/low, slow/high, fast/low, fast/high. Tempo and intensity manipulations were selected to be psychologically equivalent in magnitude (pilot study 1). In each condition, 25 participants were given four minutes to read a passage, followed by three minutes to answer six multiple-choice questions. Baseline performance was established by having control participants complete the reading task in silence (pilot study 2). A significant tempo by intensity interaction was observed, with comprehension in the fast/high condition falling significantly below baseline. These findings reveal that listening to background instrumental music is most likely to disrupt reading comprehension when the music is fast and loud.

Music that ‘fits’ with the attributes of commercial products should raise the salience of those products over others, and therefore prime their selection. Participants were presented with two advertisements for two competing petrol brands, which featured music that did (not) fit with those brands. Brand preferences were not affected by the advertisements among participants who were regular users of one of the brands. However, participants who were not regular users of either brand demonstrated a preference for the brand advertised with music that ‘fitted’ the brand attributes. This demonstrates that musical ‘fit’ can influence product choice when consumers do not have a clear existing preference for one product over another, but is otherwise of limited commercial value.

While research has explored aspects of inter-arts collaboration at professional and primary level, there is little on inter-arts collaboration in the tertiary environment. This article explores aspects of the learning of tertiary music students undertaking a short-term collaborative inter-arts improvisation project with dance and theater peers, focusing on how and what learning occurs within the inter-arts collaborative improvisatory environment and the role of the individual in collaboration. Collaboration occurred most commonly through a homogeneous style within a complementary or co-equal approach. A rationale and structural elements, time, space and resources were important and learning occurred through different styles of dialogue – verbal, especially ‘cumulative’ in style, music and movement. The literature and the study’s findings noted several stages in the transformation of existing knowledge and of the individual through collaborative activities, and the majority of responses were in the first levels. This information could serve as a guide for teachers of tertiary collaborative inter-arts improvisation for the type of planning needed in relation to student levels, structure, time, project design, space and resources, and the learning likely to occur.

Background music is often used in ads as a means of persuasion. Previous research has studied the effect of music in advertising using neutral or uncontroversial products. The aim of the studies reported here was to examine the effect of music on the perception of products promoting unethical behavior. Each of the series of three studies described examined the effect of background music on recall and evaluation of a fictive radio ad promoting different types of cheating. The studies consider the effect of involvement, attitudes, priming and presentation context, and music’s valence. In all the studies, background music led to reduced recall of information. Positive-valence music reduced awareness of the unethical message, and increased acceptance of the product. The results demonstrate the power of music to manipulate and bias moral judgment.

Gordon Cox, Leon Crickmore, Charles Plummeridge, and Desmond Sergeant (2012), ‘SEMPRE: Forty years on’, Psychology of Music, 40: 523–538.

(Original DOI: 10.1177/0305735612454980)

On page 535, the listing of Chairpersons of the society and journal editors was published incorrectly. The correct listing is shown below.

The following is a listing of Chairpersons of the society and journal editors:

Chairpersons:

 • Arnold Bentley (1972–1974)

 • Leon Crickmore (1974–1978)

 • Desmond Sergeant (1979–1993)

 • Eric Clarke (1994–1999)

 • Graham Welch (2000–).

Journal editors:

 • Desmond Sergeant (1973–1978)

 • Rosamund Shuter(-Dyson) (1978–1985)

 • John Sloboda (1985–1989)

 • David Hargreaves (1989–1997)

 • Jane Davidson (1997–2001)

 • Susan Hallam (2001–2007)

 • Raymond MacDonald (2006–2013)

 • Alexandra Lamont (2012–).

SAGE apologises for this error.