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PSIHOLOGIJA, 2011, Vol. 44 (1), 71–91 UDC 159.942.072:78/.791
© 2011 by the Serbian Psychological Association DOI: 10.2298/PSI1101071P
The effect of music background
on the emotional appraisal of film sequences
Ivanka Pavlović and Slobodan Marković2
Laboratory for Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy,
University of Belgrade, Serbia
In this study the effects of musical background on the emotional appraisal of film
sequences was investigated. Four pairs of polar emotions defined in Plutchik’s model were
used as basic emotional qualities: joy-sadness, anticipation-surprise, fear-anger, and trust-
disgust. In the preliminary study eight film sequences and eight music themes were selected as
the best representatives of all eight Plutchik’s emotions. In the main experiment the participant
judged the emotional qualities of film-music combinations on eight seven-point scales. Half of
the combinations were congruent (e.g. joyful film - joyful music), and half were incongruent
(e.g. joyful film - sad music). Results have shown that visual information (film) had greater
effects on the emotion appraisal than auditory information (music). The modulation effects
of music background depend on emotional qualities. In some incongruent combinations (joy-
sadness) the modulations in the expected directions were obtained (e.g. joyful music reduces
the sadness of a sad film), in some cases (anger-fear) no modulation effects were obtained,
and in some cases (trust-disgust, anticipation-surprise) the modulation effects were in an
unexpected direction (e.g. trustful music increased the appraisal of disgust of a disgusting
film). These results suggest that the appraisals of conjoint effects of emotions depend on the
medium (film masks the music) and emotional quality (three types of modulation effects).
Key words: film, music, emotions, appraisal, congruency
Different objects and events have different potential to induce particular
emotional experience and response. For instance, it is very likely that the fighting
between two groups of football hooligans will induce a higher affective disturbance
than the butterflies flying over colorful flowers. However, some authors hold
that emotional experience is not directly induced by objective characteristics
of external stimulus itself (e.g. fighting vs. butterflies scene), but it is rather
subjectively constructed through the cognitive process of interpretation and
Corresponding author: smarkovi@f.bg.ac.rs
* This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technological Development of
Serbia, grant number 179033.
EFFECT OF MUSIC ON THE EMOTIONAL APPRAISAL OF FILM72
appraisal of external stimuli (Lazarus, 1991; Scherer, 2001; Schorr, 2001; Silvia,
2005). The dominant factor of appraisal is past experience with certain types
of objects or events: for instance, different individual experiences with fighting
will lead towards different appraisals, and consequently, different emotions. This
view implies the existence of considerable individual differences of appraisals
and corresponding emotional experiences: for example, some observers of a
fighting scene will feel anger, some will feel fear, disgust or even fun.
In this paper we will focus on the external source of appraisal variation:
the emotional appraisal of the scene will be changed if it is associated with
different additional, contextual or background information. More specifically, the
effects of music background on the emotional appraisal of visual (film) scenes
will be concerned. For example, the emotional experience of a fighting film
scene can be changed with the change of accompanying music. Appraisal model
in this case would have the following general structure. A film sequence of a
fighting scene (stimulus) refers to the violence as a dominant narrative (semantic
content); the appraisal of this violent content is that it is something dangerous
(interpretation), which leads towards the general affective disturbance and
emotion of anger (affective experience). Now, the observer’s appraisal of danger
and a corresponding emotion of anger can be increased if the fighting visual
scene is combined with the additional auditory stimulus such as, for example,
a “dead metal” music. In that case, a new auditory mediated semantic content
(violent music) is congruent with the visually mediated one (violent scene).
However, the appraisal (interpretation) of the same scene can be changed if the
music background changes. It can be experienced even as humorous and cheerful
if it is covered by a burlesque music background. In other words, an incongruent
combination of an aggressive fighting scene and a cheerful burlesque music
background can lead towards more variable appraisals and emotions, including
the feelings of bizarreness, fun, disgust, excitement, and so on.
In the following paragraphs most relevant findings of investigation of the
relationship between emotional experience, film scenes and musical backgrounds
will be shortly presented.
EMOTIONAL EFFECTS OF FILM MUSIC
Film is technically an audio-visual dynamic record. Even in the early
days of its development, so-called silent films were accompanied by the
piano music played during the show. Nowadays, there are three major classes
of auditory information used in the film: speech, environmental sounds, and
music. Sometimes all of them communicate the same message. Usually, the
verbal conversation and the environmental sounds carry the exposition of an
explicit film story (narrative function) and express different affective states,
as well (expressive function). However, film music is almost exclusively and
Ivanka Pavlović and Slobodan Marković 73
directly related to the modulation of emotional meaning of film scenes: music
has the potential to highlight the emotions, to make the mood darker or lighter,
to sublime feelings, to prolong or alter an impression, with its rhythm and
color, and so on. (cf. Bower, 1981; Cohen, 2001, 2010; Eschrich, Münte, &
Altenmüller, 2008; Porcile, 1969; Thomas, 1997). In his definition of film as an
“emotion machine” Tan (1996) pointed out that music contributes to a genuine
emotional experience of a film. Tan (1996) proposed six laws of emotion in
the music-film relationship. Lipscomb and Tolchinsky (2004) emphasized the
various roles of music communication in the film: music serves to reinforce,
alter and augment the emotional content of the film narrative, including both
a general mood (whether the film is fearful, romantic, funny and the like) and
specific internal feelings of the characters.
Some studies of relationship between music and emotions indicated that
music can facilitate the recognition of basic emotions (Bujor, 2009), and that
listeners promptly attribute emotions to the music with both ease and high
precision (e.g. the difference between sad and joyful music can be detected in
the quarter of a second, see Bharucha, Curtis, & Paroo, 2006). Bujor (2009)
suggests that music is an universal language, just as facial expressions or
emotional prosody of the speech. Other studies have shown that appraisals and
emotional reactions to musical compositions correspond to their structural and
dynamic characteristics (cf. Bharucha, Curtis, & Paroo, 2006; Gundlach, 1935;
Hacquard, 1959; Rigg, 1937; Stravinsky, 1980; for a comprehensive review of
studies of the relationship between objective musical features and emotions see
Gabrielson & Juslin, 2009). Some authors found very high between-subjects
variability in the emotional response to music, which led them to conclude that
the personal taste and individual appraisals are more important factors than the
formal structure of music composition (Bharucha, Curtis, & Paroo, 2006; Silvia,
2005). On the other hand, some authors indicated that emotional reactions are
independent of familiarity and musical education (Bujor, 2009; Rigg, 1937).
Supposing that music has a great “emotional potential” many authors
investigated the effects of music on the emotional and cognitive processing of a
film. Most of these studies have shown a significant effect of music background
on different emotionally related variables. The simplest design used in some
of these studies is a combination of one film scene with a different musical
background. For instance, using this design, Marshall and Cohen (1988) specified
the contrast effects of allegro vs. adagio music background on judgments of film
sequences on semantic differential scales.
The study of Bullerjam and Güldenring (1994) indicated that film music had
a significant effect on both higher cognitively processes, such as the identification
of genre of the film, and the basic physiological responses to emotional aspect
of films (see also Rickard, 2004). Boltz and his collaborators investigated the
effect of mood-congruency between film and background music sequences on
remembering a series of filmed episodes (Boltz, Shulkind, & Kantra, 1991). The
EFFECT OF MUSIC ON THE EMOTIONAL APPRAISAL OF FILM74
results indicated that, in conditions when music was presented simultaneously
with the key scene, mood-congruent combinations led to better memory
performances; when music foreshadowed the film scene, memory performances
were significantly better in mood-incongruent combinations. In another study Tan,
Spackman and Wakefield (2008) asked the participants to interpret the narrative
of an action sequence from Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report accompanied
with either a mood congruent (calm) or mood incongruent (dramatic) music
background. They found the differential effect of film-music congruency on the
interpretation of characters’ emotions: in congruent combinations the character’s
relationships were rated as calm, whereas in incongruent ones they were rated as
tense and antagonistic.
Parke and his associates found that ratings of stress, activity and dominance
for simultaneously presented music and film sequences are almost exactly in
between the music-alone and the film-alone ratings (Parke, Chew, & Kyriakakis,
2007). These results suggest that film and music have additive quantitative
effects on emotional responses. Sirius and Clarke (1993) found similar additive
effects for the ratings of “abstract films” (computer animated films of mobile
3-D geometric figures) which were combined with different background music.
In their study Thompson, Russo and Sinclair (1994) investigated the effects
of music background on the perception of closure in filmed events. Results have
shown a significant effect of background music. However, when asked to explain
their judgments of closure, subjects reported that in closure perception they
relied more on visual, than on auditory information. Bottin and Arcuri (2002)
found a significant effect of background music in the understanding of a film
narrative. This result suggests that a coherent combination of auditory and visual
stimuli is more likely to be interpreted in a unique way. Similarly, there is less
agreement between subjects when they are appraising a scene accompanied by
an incongruent soundtrack.
In order to account for the influence of music on the interpretation of
a film narrative Cohen (2001, 2010) proposed the Congruence-Associationist
Model (see also Cohen, MacMillan, & Drew, 2006). This model is based on
an information processing framework with bottom-up and top-down processing.
Bottom-up processes includes the perceptual grouping in visual, auditory and
cross-modal (audiovisual) domains. When music and film have the congruent
temporal accent patterns, then the music directs an attention on congruent
visual information and contributes to figure-ground segregation. Top-down
direction refers to the inferences based on long term memory. Long term
memory encompasses past experience with a visual scene (e.g. fighting) and a
corresponding emotion (e.g. fear and anger), whereas the music is represented
as a background of a visual scene (i.e. music has sense only in the context of the
narrative). Finally, both processing directions converge in the working memory
domain. In this domain phenomenal experience of film-music scenes becomes a
Ivanka Pavlović and Slobodan Marković 75
narrative which can itself be stored in long term memory (e.g. remembering of
an integral film-music event).
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
Summarizing the general findings of the above-mentioned studies we
can identify two phenomena which are in line with Cohen’s Congruence-
Associationist Model (2005): (a) music modulates the emotional appraisal of a
film scene, but (b) the visual information is more important than the music for the
interpretation of a film narrative. Most of these studies used the polar emotional
qualities as a tool for investigating the differential effects of contextual music
(e.g. how pleasant and unpleasant music themes modulate the interpretation of
a film narrative). The main shortcoming of these studies is that polar emotions
were usually reduced to the basic hedonic tone or affective valence (e.g.
pleasant or unpleasant feelings, positive or negative moods, and the like), which
significantly restricts the generalizability of the findings. Some authors extended
the range of emotional dimensions on pleasure and arousal (Bruner, 1990) or
pleasure, arousal and dominance (Mehrabian & Russell, 1974). However, if
the range of emotional qualities would be greater, then the conclusions would
not be biased and limited to the hedonic tone domain. Also, the more complex
interactions between particular emotions and film-music combinations could
be specified. For example, as previous studies suggested, hedonically opposite
musical backgrounds such as joyful and sad music would clearly modulate the
appraisal of a film scene: sad music will reduce the appraisal of joy of a joyful
film sequence, while joyful music will reduce the sadness of a sad film scene.
However, there are no available data about other polar emotions, such as, for
example, fear and anger. Those two emotions are hedonically similar (both have
a negative valence), but they are polar on the behavioral level (fear-defense
vs. anger-attack). We could expect the smaller modulation effect in the case of
fear and anger: while sad music reduces the appraisal of joy of a joyful film
sequence, the angry music most likely will not reduce the appraisal of fear of a
fearful film sequence.
In the present study we tried to investigate the effects of musical
background on the emotional appraisal of film sequences using the wider
spectrum of different emotional qualities. For the purpose of the study
we adopted Plutchik’s classification of eight primary emotional qualities
organized by polarity into four pairs: joy-sadness, trust-disgust, fear-anger and
anticipation-surprise (Plutchik, 1994). We used only Plutchik’s classification,
but not the theoretical model of emotions. Trough Plutchik’s classification
we tried to specify the effects of emotional congruency-incongruence of film-
music combinations on the emotional appraisal of film sequences. Congruent
combinations referred to the identical emotional qualities of film and music
EFFECT OF MUSIC ON THE EMOTIONAL APPRAISAL OF FILM76
(e.g. a joyful film accompanied by joyful music or a sad film accompanied by
sad music), whereas incongruent combinations included the opposite emotions
(e.g. a joyful film sequence accompanied by sad music or a sad film sequence
accompanied by joyful music).
PRELIMINARY STUDY
The purpose of preliminary study is the selection of film sequences and
music themes which will serve as the stimuli in the main experiment. Selected
film sequences and music themes should express eight Plutchik’s emotions.
Method
Participants: Thirty five undergraduate students of the Department of Psychology, University
of Belgrade participated in the experiment.
Stimuli: Five persons, including the authors, selected 32 film sequences of approximately one
minute (played without sounds), and 32 music themes of approximately one minute (see the
list of 64 stimuli in Appendix 1).
The stimuli were selected according to the following criteria:
1. In order to attain a clear emotional specification, each stimulus (film sequence or music
sequence) were saturated with a single dominant emotion. Emotions were defined
by Plutchik’s model of eight basic emotions. For the purpose of this study four film
excerpts and four film themes for each emotion were specified (8 emotions x 4 film
sequences = 32 film stimuli; 8 emotions x 4 music sequences = 32 music stimuli).
2. In order to attain stylistic variability, stimuli were diverse in genre.
3. In order to reduce the ability of words to induce emotions instead of the visual or
auditory materials, film sequences with dialogues and monologues and songs with
lyrics were excluded from the stimulus samples.
3. In order to reduce the possibility that prior knowledge would have an impact on the
emotional experience, stimuli were less known.
Procedure: Sixty four stimuli were presented to two groups of participants. Each group judged
one half of the stimulus samples (16 film sequences and 16 music themes). Film sequences
were presented by LCD projector on the screen, creating 1 x 1 m image. Music themes were
presented by stereo speakers. Participants were sitting approximately 3–4 m from the screen
or the stereo speakers.
Participants’ task was to judge each stimulus immediately after the presentation using
the checklist. Checklist contained eight Plutchik’s emotions – joy, sadness, anticipation,
surprise, fear, anger, trust and disgust, and the additional ninth item – “does not cause
emotions”. Participants were asked to specify single dominant emotion induced by the
stimulus by marking an appropriate item on the checklist. The judgment time was not limited.
The experiment lasted approximately 60 minutes.
Results
Distributions of the frequencies for sixty four stimuli (32 film and 32 music
stimuli) were obtained. Only the results for the highest ranked stimuli of each
emotional category are shown here (see Table 1). In other words, selected stimuli
Ivanka Pavlović and Slobodan Marković 77
(film and music sequences) are specified as the best representatives of eight
emotions. The percents of participants who associated stimuli with dominant
emotions ranged from 100% (all 32 participants matched stimulus with a single
emotion) to 50% (16 participants associated stimulus with a single emotion,
while the rest of participants were scattered among other seven emotions).
Table 1: Selected stimuli (film excerpts and music themes) with corresponding
dominant emotions and percents of participants who matched emotions with stimuli.
Emotions Film excerpts Matching
percents
Joy Breaking the Waves (15min32s – 16min23s) 83.3%
Sadness Stellet Licht (1h 27min05s – 1h 29 min35s) 83.3%
Fear The Ring (1h 41min24s – 1h42min32s) 61.1%
Anger Romper Stomper (27min28s – 28min25s) 72.2%
Anticipation Braveheart (1h22min51s – 1h23min51s) 61.1%
Surprise Law Abiding Citizen (1h2min18s – 1h2min48s) 83.3%
Trust The Deer Hunter (1h40min40s – 1h41min32s) 50.0%
Disgust Henry:Portrait of the Serial Killer (4min17s – 4min54s) 100%
Emotions Music themes Matching
percents
Joy Dorothy Collins – Singing in the Rain (0min00s – 0min40s) 77.8%
Sadness Memoirs of a Geisha – Sayuri’s Theme (0min00s – 1min09s) 100%
Fear Dead Silence – Theme by Charlie Clouser (1min22s – 1min53s) 66.7%
Anger Dream Theater – Panic Attack (0min00 s– 0min47s) 50.0%
Anticipation The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – Il Triello (0min23s – 1min
43s) 50.0%
Surprise Laco Tayfa – Surmat (0min00s – 0min53s) 94.4%
Trust Vangelis – Chariots of Fire (0min31s – 1min33s) 48.9%
Disgust Gutted with Broken Glass – Ramrod (0min10s – 1min10s) 61.1%
EXPERIMENT
The purpose of this experiment was to investigate the effects of musical
background on the emotional appraisal of film sequences. Participants judged
the emotional quality of film sequences which were accompanied with either
emotionally congruent or incongruent music background (e.g. congruent: joyful
film accompanied with joyful music; incongruent: joyful music accompanied
with sad music).
EFFECT OF MUSIC ON THE EMOTIONAL APPRAISAL OF FILM78
Method
Participants: Two groups of twenty five undergraduate and PhD students of the Department
of Psychology, University of Belgrade have participated in the experiment. None of these
participants took part in Preliminary study.
Stimuli: Sixteen combinations of film sequences and music themes were used as stimuli (film
and music sequences selected in Preliminary study). Two groups of film-music combinations
were defined: eight congruent and eight incongruent (see Figure 1). Congruent combinations
were obtained by matching film and music sequences with identical emotional quality (e.g.
joyful film sequence accompanied with joyful musical background); incongruent combinations
were obtained by matching film and music sequences with opposite emotions (e.g. joyful film
sequence accompanied with sad musical background or vice versa, i.e. sad film with joyful
music). The duration of stimuli was approximately one minute.
Congruent stimuli
1aa 1bb 2aa 2bb 3aa 3bb 4aa 4bb
Film Joy Sadness Anticipation Surprise Fear Anger Trust Disgust
Music Joy Sadness Anticipation Surprise Fear Anger Trust Disgust
Incongruent stimuli
1ab 1ba 2ab 2ba 3ab 3ba 4ab 4ba
Film Joy Sadness Anticipation Surprise Fear Anger Trust Disgust
Music Sadness Joy Surprise Anticipation Anger Fear Disgust Trust
Figure 1. Emotionally congruent and incongruent film-music combinations. Within
these categories emotions are arranged into four pairs (1–4). Each pair consists of two
polar emotions (e.g. joy, denoted as a, and sadness, denoted as b). Congruent film-
music combinations are denoted as aa or bb, while incongruent combinations were
denoted as ab or ba.
Procedure: Two groups of students participated in the experiment. Each group was given
four congruent and four incongruent stimuli (eight stimuli per group). In order to avoid the
repetition of the same film sequence or same music theme within the group, the participants
in the two groups watched different film-music combinations (e.g. joyful film with joyful
music in Group 1, but joyful film with sad music in Group 2). All film-music combinations
distributed across the two groups were shown in Figure 2. Congruency, as a between subjects
factor, was defined so that the pairs of polar emotions 1 and 2 were congruent in Group 1 and
incongruent in Group 2, whereas the pairs 3 and 4 were incongruent in Group 1 and congruent
in Group 2. The result of this organization is the balance of congruent and incongruent
combination between the groups.
Stimuli were film sequences accompanied with music themes. Film sequences were
presented by LCD projector on the screen, creating 1 x 1 m image. Simultaneously with
film sequences, music themes were presented by stereo speakers. Participants were sitting
approximately 3–4 m from the screen and the speakers. Participants task was to judge the
Ivanka Pavlović and Slobodan Marković 79
intensity of the emotions perceived in the film sequences (joy, sadness, fear, anger, trust,
disgust, anticipation, and surprise) using seven-step scales (1 – lowest intensity of emotion,
7 – highest level of intensity). The judgment time was not limited. The experiment lasted
approximately 15 minutes.
Group 1 Congruent stimuli Incongruent stimuli
1aa 1bb 2aa 2bb 3ab 3ba 4ab 4ba
Film Joy Sadness Anticipation Surprise Fear Anger Trust Disgust
Music Joy Sadness Anticipation Surprise Anger Fear Disgust Trust
Group 2 Inongruent stimuli Congruent stimuli
1ab 1ba 2ab 2ba 3ab 3ba 4ab 4ba
Film Joy Sadness Anticipation Surprise Fear Anger Trust Disgust
Music Sadness Joy Surprise Anticipation Fear Anger Trust Disgust
Figure 2. The figure shows the stimulus combinations presentend to Groups 1 and 2.
Emotions in both groups of stimuli were arranged (1) first by film-music congruency
(congruent combinations aa or bb, and incongruent combinations ab or ba), than by
(2) pairs of polar (opposite) emotional qualities (four paires of emotions; e.g. joy-
sadness pair is denoted as 1, etc), and finally by (3) single emotions within pair (a or
b; e.g. joy is denoted as a, and sadness as b, etc).
Design: A two-factorial design was applied to each of four pairs of polar emotions (1) joy-
sadness, (2) anticipation-surprise, (3) fear-anger, and (4) trust-disgust. The within-subjects
factor was a pair of polar emotional quality of a film sequence (two levels, e.g. level 1: joyful
film, level 2: sad film). The between-subjects factor was an emotional congruency of film-
music combinations (two levels, e.g. level 1: congruent joyful film – joyful music or sad film
– sad music combination; level 2: incongruent joyful film – sad music or sad film – joyful
music combination).
Results
A two-way analysis of variance was performed for each pair of bipolar
emotions. In the following sections results of the analyses of variance for relevant
emotional qualities for each design are shown. For instance, analyses of the
judgment of joy and sadness are shown for joyful-joyful, sad-sad, joyful-sad and
sad-joyful film-music combinations. The judgments of irrelevant emotions (e.g.
fear, anger, etc. for joy-sadness stimulus combinations) were non-informative
for the purpose of this paper and were not further analyzed.
1. Joy-Sadness combinations
Judgment of joy: Judgments of joy are shown in Figure 3a. The main effect of
polar emotional qualities was significant, F(1,49) = 91,58, p <.001, indicating
that joyful film sequences were judged more joyful than sad ones. No main
EFFECT OF MUSIC ON THE EMOTIONAL APPRAISAL OF FILM80
effect of congruency was obtained. This indicated that the averaged congruent
film-music combinations (joyful-joyful and sad-sad) are about the same level
as the incongruent ones (joyful-sad and sad-joyful). The interaction of polar
emotions / congruency was significant, F(1,49) = 12,93, p <.001. This interaction
tells us that the difference between joyful-joyful and sad-sad combinations is
significantly greater than the difference between joyful-sad and sad-joyful
combinations. Additional partial analyses revealed that sad music background
did not reduce significantly the judgment of joy of joyful film sequence, but
joyful music significantly magnified the judgment of joy of a sad film sequence,
F(1,49) = 4,39, p <.001. Direct contrast between incongruent stimuli indicated
that the impression of joy was based more on visual information (film) than on
auditory information (music): joyful film – sad music combination was judged
as significantly more joyful than sad film – joyful music combination, F(1,49) =
3,69, p <.001.
Figure 3. Judgments of joy (a) and sadness (b). Congruent film-music combinations
are denoted as Jf-Jm (joyful film – joyful music) and Sf-Sm (sad film – sad music),
and incongruent combinations are denoted as Jf-Sm (joyful film – sad music) and Sf-
Jm (sad film – joyful music).
Judgment of sadness: Judgments of sadness are shown in Figure 3b. The main
effect of polar emotional qualities was significant, F(1,49) = 75,48, p <0.001,
indicating that sad film sequences were judged more sad than joyful ones. No
main effect of congruency was obtained. The interaction of polar emotions /
congruency was significant, F(1,49) = 43,27, p <.001. Lack of the main effect of
congruency and interaction could be explained like in the case of the judgment of
joy (see the previous paragraph). Additional partial analyses revealed that joyful
music background significantly reduced the judgment of sadness of a sad film
sequence, F(1,49) = 4,50, p <.001, while sad music background significantly
magnified the judgment of sadness of a joyful film sequence, F(1,49) = 5,09,
p <.001. Direct contrast between incongruent stimuli indicated that both visual
and auditory information (film and music) equally determined the impression
of sadness: no significant difference between sad film – joyful music and joyful
film – sad music combinations was obtained.
Joy
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Jf-Jm Jf-Sm Sf-Sm Sf-Jm
Judgment of joy
Co ngruent Incongruent
Sadness
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Jf-Jm Jf-Sm Sf-Sm Sf-Jm
Judgment of sadness
Co ngruent Incongruent
a) b)
Ivanka Pavlović and Slobodan Marković 81
2. Anticipation-Surprise combinations
Judgment of anticipation: Judgments of anticipation are shown in Figure 4a.
The main effect of polar emotional qualities was significant, as well, F(1,49)
= 87,36, p <.001, indicating that anticipating film sequences were judged more
anticipating than the surprising ones. The main effect of congruency was obtained,
F(1,49) = 5,92, p <.02, indicating that congruent film-music combinations
were judged as more anticipating than incongruent ones. Interaction was not
significant, which was not expected. Namely, as partial analysis indicated,
surprising music background did not significantly reduce the judgment of
anticipation of an anticipating film sequence. Further partial analysis revealed
that anticipating music significantly reduced the judgment of anticipation of a
surprising film sequence, F(1,49) = 2,60, p <.02. This finding suggested that a
congruent surprising film-music combination was judged as more anticipating
because the music helps us to anticipate a surprising event. On the other hand, a
surprising film scene accompanied with anticipating musical background has a
contrast effect: music does not prepare us for surprise and stimulus is judged as
less anticipating. Direct contrast between incongruent stimuli indicates that the
impression of anticipation was based more on visual information (film) than on
auditory information (music): anticipating film – surprising music combination
was judged as significantly more anticipating than surprising film – anticipating
music combination, F(1,49) = 6,94, p <.001.
Figure 4. Judgments of anticipation (a) and surprise (b). Congruent film-music
combinations are denoted as Af-Am (anticipating film – anticipating music) and
Sf-Sm (surprising film – surprising music), and incongruent combinations are
denoted as Af-Sm (anticipating film – surprising music) and Sf-Am (surprising film
– anticipating music).
Judgment of surprise: Judgments of surprise are shown in Figure 4b. The main
effect of polar emotional qualities was significant, as well, F(1,49) = 87,36, p
<.001, indicating that surprising film sequences were judged more surprising
than the anticipating ones. The main effect of congruency was obtained,
F(1,49) = 4,82, p <.04, indicating that congruent film-music combinations
were judged as more surprising than incongruent ones. Interaction was not
Anticipation
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Af-Am Af-Sm Sf-Sm Sf-Am
Judgment of anticipatio
Congruent I ncongruent
Surprise
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Af-Am Af-Sm Sf-Sm Sf-Am
Judgment of surprise
Congruent I ncongruent
a) b)
EFFECT OF MUSIC ON THE EMOTIONAL APPRAISAL OF FILM82
significant. Partial analysis indicated that an anticipating music background
did not significantly reduce the judgment of surprise of a surprising film
sequence. This suggested that visual information was stronger than auditory.
Further partial analysis revealed that surprising music significantly reduced
the judgment of surprise of an anticipating film sequence, F(1,49) = 2,60,
p <.02. This finding was paradoxical because it suggested that a congruent
anticipating film-music combination was more surprising than an anticipating
film scene accompanied with surprising musical background. Direct contrast
between incongruent stimuli indicated that the impression of surprise was based
more on visual information (film) than on auditory information (music): the
surprising film – anticipating music combination was judged as significantly
more surprising than the anticipating film – surprising music combination,
F(1,49) = 12,86, p <.001.
3. Fear-Anger combinations
Judgment of fear: Judgments of fear are shown in Figure 5a. The main effect of
polar emotional qualities was significant, F(1,49) = 4,62, p <.04, indicating that
fearful film sequences were judged more fearful than angry ones. No main effect
of congruency was obtained. The interaction of polar emotions / congruency was
significant, F(1,49) = 4,62, p <.04. The interaction indicated that the difference
between fearful-fearful and angry-angry combinations was significantly greater
than the difference between fearful-angry and angry-fearful combinations.
Direct contrast between incongruent stimuli has shown that both visual and
auditory information (film and music) equally determine the impression of fear:
no significant difference between fearful film – angry music and angry film –
fearful music combinations was obtained.
Figure 5. Judgments of fear (a) and anger (b). Congruent film-music combinations
are denoted as Ff-Fm (fearful film – fearful music) and Af-Am (angry film – angry
music), and incongruent combinations are denoted as Ff-Am (fearful film – angry
music) and Af-Fm (angry film – fearful music).
Judgment of anger: Judgments of anger are shown in Figure 5b. The main
effect of polar emotional qualities was significant, F(1,49) = 68,82, p <.001,
Fear
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Ff-Fm Ff-Am Af-Am Af-Fm
Judgment of fear
Co ngruent Incongruent
Anger
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Ff-Fm Ff-Am Af-Am Af-Fm
Judgment of ange
Co ngruent Incongruent
a) b)
Ivanka Pavlović and Slobodan Marković 83
indicating that angry film sequences were judged more angry than fearful ones.
No main effect of congruency was obtained. Interaction was not significant.
Direct contrast between incongruent stimuli indicated that the impression
of anger was based more on visual information (film) than on auditory
information (music): the angry film – fearful music combination was judged
as significantly more angry than the fearful film – angry music combination,
F(1,49) = 6.02, p <.001.
4. Trust-Disgust combinations
Judgment of trust: Judgments of trust are shown in Figure 6a. The main effect
of polar emotional qualities was significant, F(1,49) = 99,11, p <.001, indicating
that trustful film sequences were judged more trustful than the disgusting
ones. The main effect of congruency was obtained, F(1,49) = 8,42, p <.006,
indicating that congruent film-music combinations were judged as more trustful
than incongruent ones. The interaction of polar emotions / congruency was
significant, F(1,47) = 4,81, p <.04. Partial analyses revealed that a disgusting
music background significantly reduced the judgment of trust of a trustful film
sequence, F(1,49) = 2,97, p <.005, while, a trustful music background showed
no effect on the judgment of trust of a disgusting film sequence. Direct contrast
between incongruent stimuli indicated that the impression of trust was based
more on visual information (film) than on auditory information (music): the
trustful film – disgusting music combination was judged as significantly more
trustful than the disgusting film – trustful music combination, F(1,49) = 5,06,
p <.001.
Judgment of disgust: Judgments of disgust are shown in Figure 6b. The main
effect of polar emotional qualities was significant, F(1,49) = 53,35, p <.001,
indicating that disgusting film sequences were judged more disgusting than
trustful ones. The main effect of congruency was obtained, F(1,49) = 15,46,
p <.006, indicating that congruent film-music combinations were judged as
more disgusting than incongruent ones. Interaction was not significant. Partial
analyses revealed that disgusting music background significantly multiplies the
judgment of disgust of a trustful film sequence, F(1,48) = 2,97, p <.005. Trustful
music background showed a marginally significant effect on a disgusting film
sequence, F(1,48) = 1,95, p <.06, but the direction of effect was not expected:
trustful music magnified the judgment of disgust of a disgusting film sequence. In
other words, both incongruent combinations (trustful-disgusting and disgusting-
trustful) multiplied the impression of disgust comparing to the congruent
(trustful-trustful and disgusting-disgusting) combinations. It seems that trust-
disgust combinations were so bizarre that they generated more disgusting effects
than congruent ones. The direct contrast between incongruent stimuli indicated
that the impression of disgust was based more on visual information (film) than
on auditory information (music): the disgusting film – trustful music combination
EFFECT OF MUSIC ON THE EMOTIONAL APPRAISAL OF FILM84
was judged as significantly more disgusting than the trustful film – disgusting
music combination, F(1,49) = 4,64, p <.001.
Figure 6. Judgments of trust (a) and disgust (b). Congruent film-music combinations
are denoted as Tf-Tm (trustful film – trustful music) and Df-Dm (disgusting film –
disgusting music), and incongruent combinations are denoted as Tf-Dm (trustful film
– disgusting music) and Df-Tm (disgusting film – trustful music).
DISCUSSION
In this study the effect of music background on the emotional appraisal of
film scenes was investigated. In the following paragraphs two groups of findings
will be discussed. The first group refers to the question of the dominance of
visual versus auditory information in the appraisal of the emotion of the film
sequences, and the second group refers to the specific modulation effects of
music within the context of different emotional qualities.
Visual versus auditory information: The analysis of the effects of incongruent
film-music combinations directly tells us which modality, visual or auditory, is
stronger in modulating a dominant emotional appraisal of a film sequence. The
results are very clear. In all cases, except the case of fear, the emotional quality
of visual information (film) has a stronger effect than the emotional quality of
auditory information (music). In terms of Schaeffer’s (1946) theory of mask the
emotional content of a visual medium masks the content of an auditory medium.
The dominance of visual over auditory information was obtained in other studies
of emotional appraisals of film sequences as well (cf. Marshall & Cohen, 1988;
Thompson et al., 1994; for perceptual visual primacy see Bolivar, Cohen, &
Fentress, 1994; Driver, 1997; Lipscomb & Kendall, 1994).
The dominance of visual information can be explained as a simple
consequence of the experimental task: participants were asked to judge the
emotional content of the film, so they invested more attention onto the film
sequence, than on the musical context. However, as Cohen (2001, 2010) stated
in his Conruence-Associacionist Model background music is not attentionally
Trust
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Tf-Tm Tf-Dm Df-Dm Df-Tm
Judgment of trus
Co ngruent Incongruent
Disgust
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Tf-Tm Tf-Dm Df-Dm Df-Tm
Judgment
of disgust
Co ngruent Incongruent
a) b)
Ivanka Pavlović and Slobodan Marković 85
peripheral even when the focus is directed onto the visual scene. On the
contrary, one of the central roles of music and other acoustic information is just
to amplify the attention and to direct it on specific features of the visual scene.
In other words, although the visual information provides a basic perceptual
(spatio-temporal) framework, acoustic information has an important role in
the perceptual grouping of cross-modal (i.e. film-music) Gestalt. According to
Cohen, the reason for the dominance of visual over auditory information is not
on the bottom-up level (perceptual grouping), but it is rather on the top-down
processing level (long term memory domain). Namely, both visual and auditory
information are processed within long term memory, but visual representation
induces stronger and more explicit semantic and emotional associations. For
example, a film scene of a crying woman (used as a stimulus in our study) shows
a specific event which is easily matched with past experience, specific meanings
and emotional associations, and after this matching the scene is interpreted as
anambigously sad (appraisal of the explicit narrative is “woman cries because
she is sad”). On the other hand, according to Cohen, music and other acoustic
information have sense only within the broader visually represented contexts:
so-called sad or melancholic music does not refer to any particular event
stored in long term memory (exceptions are the explicit memories for concert
preformances and the like). One implication of this difference is that if the music
(or other acoustic information) is not congruent with the visual scene, the visual
information prevails as a basic framework for narrative interpretation. Having
that in mind, it is not surprising why, for instance, the scene which shows dancing
people is judged as more joyful than the scene with crying women even when
the information coming from the music background is contradictory (dancing
people with sad music and crying woman with joyful music).
Modulation effects of music: Generally, results of our study suggest that the
intensity of judged emotional qualities of congruent film-music combinations
depends on their polarity: for instance, the joyful film accompanied with joyful
music is judged as substantially more joyful and less sad than the sad film
accompanied with sad music. The high contrast between such polar congruent
combinations is clear and understandable because it is a consequence of
redundant information which is carried by both visual and auditory media (e.g.
joyful-joyful, sad-sad etc). According to Cohen’s Congruence-Associacionist
Model (2001, 2010) congruency contributes to the focus of attention and
makes the association in long term memory easier and stonger.
On the other hand, incongruent film-music combinations are
informationally more complex, ambiguous, conflicting, and too demanding for
the appraisal process. The binding of such contradictory visual and auditory
information into a unique emotional appraisal requires the complex cognitive
engagement and can lead towards more or less ambiguous solutions. Our data
reveal three types of appraisal of incongruent film-music combinations.
EFFECT OF MUSIC ON THE EMOTIONAL APPRAISAL OF FILM86
a) Modulation in expected direction: joy-sadness: In cases of joy and sadness
background music induces the “expected modulation” of the judged emotion.
Expected direction is defined as a magnification of a corresponding and a
reduction of an opposite emotion. For instance, sad music magnifies the sadness
of a joyful film: a joyful film is judged as more sad when it is accompanied
with a sad than with a joyful music background. Also, joyful music reduces the
sadness of a sad film: sad film sequence is judged as less sad if it is accompanied
with joyful music. The same was found for the judgment of joy of a sad film:
joyful music magnifies the impression of joy of a sad film sequence. However,
the reduction effect of sad music on the judgment of joy of a joyful film is not
revealed. This finding indicates that auditory information has a limited influence
on the appraisal of joy comparing to visual information. Generally speaking,
our data suggest that the appraisals of joy and sadness show expected additive
modulation effects (e.g. sad music magnifies the impression of sadness of a
joyful film).
b) Lack of modulation: fear-anger: The second type of appraisal of incongruent
film-music combinations shows no modulation effect, such as the cases of
fear and anger. The data show the similarity in emotional effects of those two
emotions: a fearful film sequence is not judged as less fearful and angrier if it
is accompanied with angry music; also, an angry film sequence is not judged
as less angry and more fearful if it is accompanied with fearful music. Even, in
absolute extents fearful and angry film sequences are judged as almost equally
fearful and angry. This similarity is understandable from the perspective of
adaptive emotional behavior in situations which are appraised as dangerous and
threatening. Namely, the violent scenes can induce two opposite appraisals and
corresponding reactions, known as fight or flight behavior. According to this, it
is not unusual that the same angry film sequence induces both high impression
of anger and high impression of fear.
c) Modulation in inverse direction: trust-disgust and anticipation-surprise:
Modulation in an inverse direction is defined as the reduction of corresponding
and the magnification of opposite emotions. Let us consider, for instance the
judgments of trust-disgust combinations. As it is expected, disgusting music
magnifies the impression of disgust and reduces the impression of trust of a
trustful film sequence. However, trustful music shows no such effects on
judgments of a disgusting film sequence. Moreover, a disgusting film is judged
as more disgusting when it is accompanied with a trustful than with a disgusting
music background. It seems that trustful music induces some strange impression,
which enlarges disgust. Similar unexpected inverse effects are found in emotions
of anticipation and surprise. Namely, the surprising scene accompanied with
surprising music is judged as more anticipating than the same surprising scene
accompanied with an anticipating music background. It seems that anticipation
is magnified in a redundant surprise-surprise combination comparing to a
surprise-anticipation combination, because the surprising music directs the
Ivanka Pavlović and Slobodan Marković 87
attention to and prepares us for a coming surprising event. On the other hand,
anticipating music reduces the attention and tension, so in this relaxing state the
surprise of a sudden film event is more effective. An unexpected modulation
effect was identified in the case of surprise, as well. However, this effect cannot
be explained by using the same logic as in the case of anticipation. Namely,
the data show that a congruent (redundant, expected) anticipation-anticipation
combination is judged as more surprising than an incongruent (conflicting,
unexpected) anticipation-surprise combination. Further studies should investigate
this paradox more systematically. They should specify whether our data reflect
regularity inherent to the emotions anticipation and surprise or are they just the
consequence of some idiosyncratic meanings hidden in our film-music stimuli.
Previous studies of modulation effects in film-music combinations are
not comparable with the present one, because we used a relatively complex
categorisation of emotional qualities (i.e. Plutchik’s model of eight emotions),
while in other studies emotional appraisals were reduced on general pleasure and
arousal (Boltz et al., 1991; Bottin & Arcuri, 2002) or on semantic differential
dimensions, such as Evaluation, Potency and Activity (Marshall & Cohen, 1988).
Our findings suggest that simple hedonic tone or arousal are not sufficient for
the specification of modulation effects. For instance, three negative (unpleasant)
emotions sadness, fear and disgust show three completely different forms of
modulation effects.
In conclusion, one can say that the effects of music background on emotional
appraisal of film sequences depend on the quality of emotions. The adaptive and
functional specificities of interacting emotions, such as hedonic tone, arousal
and behavior response, define the directions and the intensities of their conjoint
effect. For instance, the relationship between polar emotions joy (pleasant, high
arousing, proactive) and sadness (unpleasant, low arousing, passive) is quite
different from fear (unpleasant, high arousing, defensive) and anger (unpleasant,
high arousal, offensive). Having in mind that anger and fear are opposite in
only one aspect (behavior: offensive-defensive), while joy and sadness are polar
in all three aspects (hedonic tone, arousal and behavior), it is not unusual that
angry music can easily induce the feeling of fear, while joyful music will never
induce the sadness! In further studies we should establish a more comprehensive
system for quantitative definition of emotions using dimensions such as hedonic
tone, arousal, activity, and the like. In that case, the predictions of the conjoint
effects of different emotions on the appraisal of multimodal scenes (e.g. music-
film combinations) will be quantitative and more precise. It would be useful for
both affective and cognitive sciences, that is, it could give us a better insight
into both interactions of basic emotions and interactions of visual and auditory
information processing. Finally, the study of emotional appraisals of film-music
combinations could be inspirational for the psychology of art.
EFFECT OF MUSIC ON THE EMOTIONAL APPRAISAL OF FILM88
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APPENDIX 1: LIST OF STIMULI USED IN EXPERIMENT 1
Film sequences:
Trust:
1. Love Actually (Richard Curtis)
2. (500) Days of Summer (Marc Webb)
3. Carrie (Brian De Palma)
4. The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino)
Joy:
1. The African Queen (John Huston)
2. Breaking the Waves (Lars von Trier)
3. It’s All Gone Pete Tong (Michael Dowse)
4. Braveheart (Mel Gibson)
Anticipation:
1. Braveheart (Mel Gibson)
2. Fool’s Gold (Andy Tennant)
3. The Bucket List (Rob Reiner)
4. Lulu on the Bridge (Paul Auster)
Anger:
1. Braveheart (Mel Gibson)
2. Law Abiding Citizen (F. Gary Gray)
3. Romper Stomper (Geoffrey Wright)
4. The Wind that Shakes the Barley (Ken Loach)
EFFECT OF MUSIC ON THE EMOTIONAL APPRAISAL OF FILM90
Disgust:
1. Die Blechtrommel (Volker Schlondorff)
2. Dune (David Lynch)
3. Pink Flamingos (John Waters)
4. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (John McNaughton)
Sadness:
1. Stellet Licht (Carlos Reygadas)
2. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Blake Edwards)
3. L’enfant (Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne)
4. Wild Blood (Marco Julio Giordana)
Fear:
1. Ringu (Hideo Nakata)
2. The Ring (Gore Verbinski)
3. The Evil Dead (Sam Raimi)
4. Twin Peaks (David Lynch)
Surprise:
1. Stardust (Matthew Vaughn)
2. In Bruges (Martin McDonagh)
3. Law Abiding Citizen (F. Gary Gray)
4. The Addiction (Abel Ferrara)
Music themes:
Trust:
1. Vangelis – Hymne
2. Alan Silvestri – Forrest Gump (theme song)
3. Vangelis – Chariots of Fire
4. Johann Pachenbel – Canon in D Major
Joy:
1. Dorothy Collins – Singing in the Rain
2. Liquid Soul – Make Some Noise
3. Benny Hill (theme song)
4. Jaco Pastorius – The Chicken
Anticipation:
1. Memoirs of a Geisha – Snow Dance
2. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (theme song)
3. Vangelis – Islands Of The Orient
4. Dave Matthews Band – Crash – Two Step
Anger:
1. Mozart – Requiem – Dies irae
2. Resident Evil (theme song)
Ivanka Pavlović and Slobodan Marković 91
3. The Used – Sound Effects And Overdramatics
4. Dream Theater – Panic Attack
Disgust:
1. Circle of Dead Children – Destiny of the Slug
2. Gutted With Broken Glass – Elysian Fields
3. Gutted With Broken Glass – Ramrod
4. Dark Autopsy – Corpse lands
Sadness:
1. Beethoven – Moonlight Sonata
2. Memoirs of a Geisha (theme song)
3. Black Hawk Down (theme song) – Danez Prigent & Lisa Gerrard
4. Carlos Valera – Una palabra
Fear:
1. One Missed Call (theme song)
2. Dead Silence (theme song)
3. Halloween (theme song)
4. Saw (theme song)
Surprise:
1. Laco Tayfa – Surmat
2. Bach – Solfeggietto
3. Pink Floyd – Atom Heart Mother
4. Ništa ali logopedi – Oi sa
