Sweet Anticipation : Music and the Psychology of Expectation (Bradford Books)
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
The psychological theory of expectation that David Huron proposes in Sweet Anticipation grew out of experimental efforts to understand how music evokes emotions. These efforts evolved into a general theory of expectation that will prove informative to readers interested in cognitive science and evolutionary psychology as well as those interested in music. The book describes a set of psychological mechanisms and illustrates how these mechanisms work in the case of music. All examples of notated music can be heard on the Web.
Huron proposes that emotions evoked by expectation involve five functionally distinct response systems: reactive responses (which engage defensive reflexes); tension responses (where uncertainty leads to stress); predictive responses (which reward accurate prediction); imaginative responses (which facilitate deferred gratification); and appraisal responses (which occur after conscious thought is engaged). For real-world events, these five response systems typically produce a complex mixture of feelings. The book identifies some of the aesthetic possibilities afforded by expectation, and shows how common musical devices (such as syncopation, cadence, meter, tonality, and climax) exploit the psychological opportunities. The theory also provides new insights into the physiological psychology of awe, laughter, and "spine-tingling chills." Huron traces the psychology of expectations from the patterns of the physical/cultural world through imperfectly learned heuristics used to predict that world to the phenomenal qualia experienced by those who apprehend the world.
About the Author
David Huron is Professor of Music and Head of the Cognitive and Systematic Musicology Laboratory in the School of Music at Ohio State University and is affiliated with OSU's Center for Cognitive Science.
Sweet Anticipation : Music and the Psychology of Expectation (Bradford Books),David Huron,The MIT Press,0262083450,Cognitive Psychology,Emotions,Expectation (Psychology),General,Music,Psychological aspects,Psychology,Psychology & Psychiatry / Cognitive Psychology
Sweet Anticipation : Music and the Psychology of Expectation (Bradford Books)
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