Yearbook of Music Psychology

Harmonizing With Machines: A Quantitative Exploration of AI Coverage in German Music Magazines

Nicolas Ruth — 2024-01-19

In the zeitgeist of the 21st century, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a focal point of discussions across various domains, from its applications in everyday life to its implications in creative fields. Music culture and the music industry have not remained untouched. This empirical study examines the portrayal of AI in German music-focused print magazines between 2016 and 2022, a period marked by significant advancements in AI, including its foray into artistic creation. Through a quantitative content analysis of 10,344 articles from prominent music publications, a mere 0.67% were found to engage with the topic of AI. The data reveals a noticeable uptick in such articles from 2019 onward. This study elucidates the multifaceted perceptions and evaluations of AI with the help of framing theory and the technology acceptance model. The findings indicate a predominantly neutral stance, with variations across different magazines. Most magazines treat AI as a noteworthy topic, but not a central one. Thus, only a few articles address technology acceptance or relevant factors pertaining to it. Based on these findings, this article examines the implications for musicians and experts in the music media sector, along with future research approaches.

Measuring the Auditory Bubble: How Mobile Music Listening Affects Personal Space

Eva Schurig — 2024-03-28

Research on mobile music listening (through headphones while on the move) revealed that people use music to create an imaginary space around themselves that cannot be breached by others. This concept recalls the zone around each person called personal space. Thus, the questions posed in this exploratory study were as follows: How does music listening through headphones influence personal space? Is there a difference between air-conduction and bone-conduction headphones? Thirty people (M_age = 34.6, SD_age = 15.4; 11 male, 19 female) took part in the experiment. They were each approached by either a female or male assistant while listening to self-chosen music and were instructed to ask them to stop at two points: firstly, when an ideal conversation distance had been reached, and secondly, when the assistant should not come any closer. The distances between assistant and participant were measured first without music and then randomly while listening through air-conduction or bone-conduction headphones. Results indicate that listening to music influences personal space: when music was listened to through headphones, the ideal conversation distance was smaller, whereas the second distance measurement was only affected by air-conduction headphones. Apart from music, no other factor was found to influence the size of personal space. The findings of the present study reveal that listening to music and even the kind of headphones used have a measurable influence on personal space. The smaller personal distance required when listening to music can be explained by the fact that the listener is distracted from unpleasant situations and can instead focus on something positive.

How Music Can Change Evaluations of Social Situations: Exploring the Influence of Emotional States and Perceived Group Characteristics

Mia Kuch — 2024-04-05

In everyday life, music is increasingly being listened to through headphones and mobile devices in public situations. While a large body of research has demonstrated that music may influence the emotional states of listeners and affect multimodal perceptions i.e. in films, less is known about the music’s impact on environments and the interpretation of social situations. We conducted an online experiment to investigate the influence of music on evaluations, considering individuals’ emotional states (emotion congruence) and group perception. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions (music with positive valence and high arousal, music with negative valence and low arousal, and no music) while viewing images of two different social group types that varied in perceived group characteristics (group members being familiar or unfamiliar with each other). Images were rated on four bipolar scales measuring affective quality and cognitive evaluation of social situations. Results show that individuals who listened to negative music provided lower valence ratings and also judgded social environments lower in terms of pleasantness and cheerfulness (affective) than individuals in the other experimental conditions. In contrast, ratings of crowdedness and familiarity (cognitive) did not differ between experimental conditions. The effect of music on affective evaluations was shaped by social group types, such that participants were more influenced by music when viewing intimacy groups (e.g., friends) than when viewing transitory groups (e.g., strangers). Overall, our results support the assumption of mood congruency for affective evaluations and emphasize the need to consider social information when studying the influence of music on the perception of environments.