- Title Pages
- Contributors
- Introduction
- Chapter 1Section introduction
- Chapter 2Sad flowers
- Chapter 3Composing the expressive qualities of music
- Chapter 4The emotional power of musical performance
- Chapter 5The singer’s paradox
- Chapter 6On the resistance of the instrument
- Chapter 7Gender ambivalence and the expression of passions in the performances of early Roman cantatas by castrati and female singers
- Chapter 8The ethos of modes during the Renaissance<sup>i</sup>
- Chapter 9Section introduction
- Chapter 10How music creates emotion
- Chapter 11“Mors stupebit”
- Chapter 12Three theories of emotion—three routes for musical arousal
- Chapter 13Music-to-listener emotional contagion
- Chapter 14Empathy, enaction, and shared musical experience
- Chapter 15Music, action, and affect
- Chapter 16Rhythmic entrainment as a mechanism for emotion induction by music
- Chapter 17Striking a chord in the brain
- Chapter 18Section introduction
- Chapter 19Forms of thought between music and science
- Chapter 20Control and the science of affect
- Chapter 21The psychotropic power of music during the Renaissance
- Chapter 22Music as a means of social control
- Chapter 23The tradition of ancient music therapy in the 18th century
- Chapter 24On nostalgia
- Chapter 25Emotions, identity, and copyright control
- Appendix to “Gender ambivalence and the expression of passions” by Christine Jeanneret
- Index
Music-to-listener emotional contagion
Music-to-listener emotional contagion
- Chapter:
- (p.169) Chapter 13Music-to-listener emotional contagion
- Source:
- The Emotional Power of Music
- Author(s):
Stephen Davies
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
The author advocates the notion that music elicits emotion through a process of emotional contagion, defined as a ‘mirroring’ response in which the listener is moved to feel the emotion that the music expresses. In this chapter the author develops this notion and contrasts it with various psychological theories of imitation or mimicry. In particular, the crucial idea concerning what is intentional object of a musically induced emotion must be examined. It is argued that the music is not the emotional object of the response because the listener does not believe anything of the music that would make it the intentional object of a sad response, namely, that the music is unfortunate, suffering, or regrettable.
Keywords: Music, emotion, contagion, mirroring, imitation, intentional object, cognitive theories
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- Title Pages
- Contributors
- Introduction
- Chapter 1Section introduction
- Chapter 2Sad flowers
- Chapter 3Composing the expressive qualities of music
- Chapter 4The emotional power of musical performance
- Chapter 5The singer’s paradox
- Chapter 6On the resistance of the instrument
- Chapter 7Gender ambivalence and the expression of passions in the performances of early Roman cantatas by castrati and female singers
- Chapter 8The ethos of modes during the Renaissance<sup>i</sup>
- Chapter 9Section introduction
- Chapter 10How music creates emotion
- Chapter 11“Mors stupebit”
- Chapter 12Three theories of emotion—three routes for musical arousal
- Chapter 13Music-to-listener emotional contagion
- Chapter 14Empathy, enaction, and shared musical experience
- Chapter 15Music, action, and affect
- Chapter 16Rhythmic entrainment as a mechanism for emotion induction by music
- Chapter 17Striking a chord in the brain
- Chapter 18Section introduction
- Chapter 19Forms of thought between music and science
- Chapter 20Control and the science of affect
- Chapter 21The psychotropic power of music during the Renaissance
- Chapter 22Music as a means of social control
- Chapter 23The tradition of ancient music therapy in the 18th century
- Chapter 24On nostalgia
- Chapter 25Emotions, identity, and copyright control
- Appendix to “Gender ambivalence and the expression of passions” by Christine Jeanneret
- Index