The relative utility of 'pleasantness' and 'liking' dimensions in predicting the emotions expressed by music

Abstract

The relative utility of the 'pleasantness' and 'liking' dimensions in predicting emotions expressed by music was investigated. The sample of 121 undergraduates (79 female, 42 male) listened to four songs representing each of the four quadrants of the circumplex model of emotion and rated each song on pleasantness, liking, arousal, familiarity, and the expression of eight emotions. The findings indicated that the emotions expressed in these diverse pieces of music were quite reliably predicted by a combination of the arousal, pleasantness, and familiarity variables, although the amount of variance accounted for by these equations was moderate at best. Pleasantness also represented a more usef..