{"id":{"repo_id":"cape-town","oai_identifier":"oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/13860"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/cape-town/oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/13860","repository":{"repo_id":"cape-town","name":"University of Cape Town","base_url":"https://open.uct.ac.za/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"The development of children's interpretation of emotion in music","abstract":"The relationship between music and emotion is complex, and has defied explanation for a great many years. The present study addressed one particular aspect of this issue: to what extent can young children interpret the emotions expressed in short musical excerpts drawn from larger works, and how do their interpretations differ from those of adults and change as they mature? Following an appraisal of current theoretical approaches and empirical research, a structural model of emotions incorporating the ideas of fuzzy, prototypically organised emotion concepts based on underlying dimensions of degree of pleasure and arousal or activation (Bullock & Russell, 1984, 1986; Russell, 1989) was used to reveal and interpret patterns and developmental trends in children's understanding of emotion in music. 5-year-old, 7-yearold and 9-year-old children and adults (n = 30 in each age group) participated in the main study. They were asked to link 18 musical excerpts to an emotion word/facial expression pair selected from the following alternatives: calm, happy, excited, scared, angry/cross and sad. These were presented to the subjects in a set of three tasks utilising different combinations of musical excerpts and emotion words.","abstract_html":"The relationship between music and emotion is complex, and has defied explanation for a great many years. The present study addressed one particular aspect of this issue: to what extent can young children interpret the emotions expressed in short musical excerpts drawn from larger works, and how do their interpretations differ from those of adults and change as they mature? Following an appraisal of current theoretical approaches and empirical research, a structural model of emotions incorporating the ideas of fuzzy, prototypically organised emotion concepts based on underlying dimensions of degree of pleasure and arousal or activation (Bullock & Russell, 1984, 1986; Russell, 1989) was used to reveal and interpret patterns and developmental trends in children's understanding of emotion in music. 5-year-old, 7-yearold and 9-year-old children and adults (n = 30 in each age group) participated in the main study. They were asked to link 18 musical excerpts to an emotion word/facial expression pair selected from the following alternatives: calm, happy, excited, scared, angry/cross and sad. These were presented to the subjects in a set of three tasks utilising different combinations of musical excerpts and emotion words.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Wild, Lauren"],"institution":"Department of Psychology","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Oxtoby, Richard"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":1996,"date_issued":"1996","date_published":"1996","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:23:04Z","subjects":[],"languages":["eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13860","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Oxtoby, Richard"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Wild, Lauren"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2015-09-14T08:11:35Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2015-09-14T08:11:35Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["1996"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["Department of Psychology"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Cape Town"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Master Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Masters"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["MA"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13860"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Bibliography: leaves 157-170."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The relationship between music and emotion is complex, and has defied explanation for a great many years. The present study addressed one particular aspect of this issue: to what extent can young children interpret the emotions expressed in short musical excerpts drawn from larger works, and how do their interpretations differ from those of adults and change as they mature? Following an appraisal of current theoretical approaches and empirical research, a structural model of emotions incorporating the ideas of fuzzy, prototypically organised emotion concepts based on underlying dimensions of degree of pleasure and arousal or activation (Bullock & Russell, 1984, 1986; Russell, 1989) was used to reveal and interpret patterns and developmental trends in children's understanding of emotion in music. 5-year-old, 7-yearold and 9-year-old children and adults (n = 30 in each age group) participated in the main study. They were asked to link 18 musical excerpts to an emotion word/facial expression pair selected from the following alternatives: calm, happy, excited, scared, angry/cross and sad. These were presented to the subjects in a set of three tasks utilising different combinations of musical excerpts and emotion words."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The development of children's interpretation of emotion in music"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Oxtoby, Richard"],"dc:creator":["Wild, Lauren"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2015-09-14T08:11:35Z"],"dc:date.available":["2015-09-14T08:11:35Z"],"dc:date.issued":["1996"],"dc:description":["Bibliography: leaves 157-170."],"dc:description.abstract":["The relationship between music and emotion is complex, and has defied explanation for a great many years. The present study addressed one particular aspect of this issue: to what extent can young children interpret the emotions expressed in short musical excerpts drawn from larger works, and how do their interpretations differ from those of adults and change as they mature? Following an appraisal of current theoretical approaches and empirical research, a structural model of emotions incorporating the ideas of fuzzy, prototypically organised emotion concepts based on underlying dimensions of degree of pleasure and arousal or activation (Bullock & Russell, 1984, 1986; Russell, 1989) was used to reveal and interpret patterns and developmental trends in children's understanding of emotion in music. 5-year-old, 7-yearold and 9-year-old children and adults (n = 30 in each age group) participated in the main study. They were asked to link 18 musical excerpts to an emotion word/facial expression pair selected from the following alternatives: calm, happy, excited, scared, angry/cross and sad. These were presented to the subjects in a set of three tasks utilising different combinations of musical excerpts and emotion words."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13860"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher.department":["Department of Psychology"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Cape Town"],"dc:title":["The development of children's interpretation of emotion in music"],"dc:type":["Master Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["Masters"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["MA"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:23:04Z"}