The Impact of Major and Minor Music on Mood

McKenna, Adam (2023) The Impact of Major and Minor Music on Mood. Undergraduate thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland.

Preview

PDF (Bachelor of Arts) Download (944kB) | Preview

Abstract

The current study’s goal is to provide insight into how music listening behaviours can affect an individual’s mood. The study specifically investigated how music in a major key can affect mood compared to music in a minor key, both psychologically and physiologically. The Brief Mood Introspection Scale (BMIS) was administered to participants (N=31) both before and after they were introduced to a music stimulus, in either a major or a minor key. As the participants listened to the music, their heartrate was measured to note any physiological changes associated with emotion, calculated by comparing the average bpm during exposure to the music stimulus to a baseline heartrate taken initially. A mixed within and between participants ANOVA was conducted to assess the impact that the music stimuli had on self-reported mood and heartrate scores, and found that statistically significant interaction effects had taken place with major music seeing a rise in heartrate and mood scores, and minor music having the opposite effect. Implications of this study and thoughts for future research on the topic are discussed.

Item Type:	Thesis (Undergraduate)
Supervisors:	Name Email Kelly, Michelle UNSPECIFIED
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > Psychology M Music and Books on Music > M Music B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > Psychology > Emotions
Divisions:	School of Business > BA (Honours) in Psychology
Depositing User:	Tamara Malone
Date Deposited:	13 Feb 2024 14:56
Last Modified:	13 Feb 2024 14:56
URI:	https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/6956

Actions (login required)

View Item