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An Investigation of the Effects of Music on Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) Interpretations

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An Investigation of the Effects of Music on Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) Interpretations An investigation of the effects of music on thematic Apperception Test (TAT) interpretations LANA CARLTON Department of Psychology, Glasgow Caledonian University RAYMOND MACDONALD Department of Psychology, Glasgow Caledonian University Abstract This study investigated the effects of musical stimuli on Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) interpretations. 60 participants were asked to create written interpretations of 8 TAT pictures. 20 listened to music rated as positive in a pilot study, 20 listened to music rated as negative in the pilot and a further 20 participants created TAT interpretations without musical stimulation. Results indicate that music influences in a qualitative way the way in which individuals interpret pictorial information. The affective direction of participants’ interpretations was found to be significantly related to the affective direction of musical stimuli (F(2,57) = 14.683, p<0.01). Interpretations were inter-rated (r=.81, p<.001). Findings are discussed with reference to music and emotions literature highlighting the multifaceted way in which music impacts aspects of daily life. The utility of a new post hoc group scoring guide is discussed as are implications for the validity of the TAT. Introduction There exists an extensive literature highlighting the effects that music has on a wide range of physical, emotional and behavioural factors (Juslin & Sloboda, 2001; MacDonald, Hargreaves & Miell, 2002). There has been significant debate within the psychology of music literature regarding these effects with a wide range of effects of music listening suggested by researchers (Overy, 1999). These include the effects of listening to music on cognitive skills (Rauscher, 2000), on heart rate and blood pressure (Aldrige, 1996), on cortisol and norepinephrine levels (Vander Ark & Mostardi, 2000) on consumer behaviour (North & Hargreaves, 1997) and on emotional responses (Radocy & Boyle, 1997). Previous research has highlighted the extent to which musical stimulation can influence the outcome of projective tests of personality (Greenberg & Fisher, 1971; Wanamaker & Reznikoff, 1989). The present study follows on from that by McFarland (1984) and investigated the effects of musical stimuli on creativity in TAT picture interpretations. Developed by Murray (1938), the Thematic Apperception Test is a projective test of personality, much like the Rorschach Inkblot Test. The test is comprised of 20 picture cards (1 blank), detailing a variety of ambiguous scenes. The individual is instructed to relate to the examiner a story explaining the event occurring within the picture. According to Kline (1993) to describe a picture with little form or obvious content, subjects’ descriptions must reflect something about themselves. The present study utilised a subset of the TAT cards as a means by which to elicit creative responses to ambiguous scenes. As such, the effects of musical stimulation on the affective direction of interpretations was gauged and conclusions drawn as to the influential effects of music in creativity. Methodology The design was between groups. Group 1 were exposed to positive music, Group 2 to negative music and Group 3 to no music (control). Participants were 60 15-69 year olds, 46 females and 14 males. Apparatus included · Subset of TAT cards (4; 8BM; 9BM; 10; 12BG; 12M; 13MF and 17BM) · Musical stimuli from pilot study Exp. 1, the pilot study, consisted of playing 20 participants 6 non-vocal songs and asking them to rate these on a 5-point scale for positivity/negativity (1=very negative – 5=very positive). Musical stimuli were selected on the basis of possible positive and negative affective properties (Mean ratings shown in parentheses) 1. Bach: ‘Badinerie’ from Suite no. 2 (3.5) 2. Berlioz: ‘Witches Sabbath’ (1.9) 3. Massenet: ‘Meditation’ (3.05) 4. Zimmer: ‘You’re so Cool’ (4.1) 5. Mussorgsky: ‘Night on Bald Mountain’ (1.85) 6. Rossini: ‘Thieving Magpie’ (3.25) Song 4 (Zimmer) was chosen as the positive musical stimuli and Song 5 (Mussorgsky) selected as the negative stimuli. In Exp. 2 participants (N=60) were randomly assigned to 3 groups (Positive Music; No Music (Control) and Negative Music) with the appropriate stimuli played as background music (on loop). They were asked to interpret TAT pictures in ‘a test of imagination’ and to write a short story on what they thought was taking place in each picture. Each TAT picture (N=8) was shown on the over-head projector for 3 minutes whilst participants provided written interpretations on answer booklets provided. Results Utilising a posthoc scoring system, the main themes emerging from creative interpretations were compared between participants and rated on a five point scale, blind of experimental condition. Participant score was derived through calculating the mean rating of all 8 individual interpretations, producing a mean score ranging from 1.00 (perfect negative score) to 5.00 (perfect positive score). Scoring was inter-rated (r=.81, p<.001). Figure 1: Musical Condition and Mean Score (F(2,57) = 14.683, p<0.01) Participants in the positive music group generated the highest scores (mean=3.5, SD=0.5), the no music control group tended to have more neutral scores (mean=3.0, SD=0.4) and the negative music group had the lowest scores (mean=2.7, SD=0.5). Discussion Results indicate support for the hypothesis that TAT interpretations can be influenced by musical stimuli. Furthermore, the direction of these creative interpretations have been shown to be predictable on the basis of the emotional valence of such music. Participants exposed to positive background music whilst creating TAT interpretations produced significantly more positive stories than those in the no music and negative music groups. Those participants exposed to negative music, similarly, created more negative interpretations. The lack of musical stimulation in the no music control group produced more neutral interpretations. Explanation for these effects may derive from validity problems with the TAT as a tool for measuring personality. It could be argued that external factors play too major a role in interpretation and that it is these that are being expressed in interpretations rather than the personality of the individual. Alternately, the way in which music has been shown to direct TAT interpretations may best be explained in terms of the physiological and mood altering effects of music overall. It seems that music can have a significant effect on how we perceive and interpret pictorial information. The present study, therefore, has provided support for the related findings of McFarland (1984). Musical stimulation has been shown to qualitatively affect the way in which individuals understand ambiguous information, such that the affective direction of creative interpretations follows the affective direction of the music. These results are in keeping with a range of recent research that highlights the multifaceted way in which music communicates emotion, ideas, attitudes etc. The results also have significant implications for the way in which we interpret music in everyday situations. A key point to note here is that when participants were asked to respond to pictorial stimuli and no reference was made to the presence or absence of music, the music has been shown to affect how participants respond to the pictures. Future research should seek to further develop our knowledge about the complex nature of musical communication. Address for corresphondence: Department of Psychology Glasgow Caledonian University Cowcaddens Road Glasgow, G4 0BA Scotland, UK [email protected] [email protected] References Aldridge, D. (1996) Music Therapy Research and Practice in medicine: From out of the Silence. London: Jessica Kingsley. Greenberg, R. & Fisher, S. (1971) Some differential effects of music on projective and structured psychological tests. Psychological Reports. Vol28(3), Jun 1971, pp817-818. Hargreaves, D. J. & North A. C. (Eds) (1997). The Social Psychology of Music. New York: Oxford University Press. Juslin, P. N. & Sloboda, J. A. (Eds) (2001). Music & Emotion: Theory and Research. New York: Oxford University Press. Kline, P. (1993) The Handbook of Psychological Testing. London: Routledge. MacDonald, R., Hargreaves, D. J. & Miell, D. (Eds) (2002) Musical Identities. UK: Oxford University Press. McFarland, R. Effects of music upon emotional content of TAT stories. Journal of Psychology. Vol.116(2), Mar 1984, pp.227-234. Murray, H. A. (1938) Thematic Apperception Test. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. Overy, K. (1999) Can music really Improve the mind. Psychology of Music, Vol.26, pp97-103. Radocy, R.E. and Boyle, J.D. (1997) Psychological Foundations of Musical Behaviour, 3rd edition, Springfield, Illinois: C.C. Thomas Rauscher, F. (2000) Musical influences on spatial reasoning: experimental evidence of the Mozart Effect. Paper presented at the biannual conference of Society for Research in Psychology of Music and Music Education, Leicester UK. Vander Ark, S.D. & Mostardi R. (2000) Physiological effects of music on the human organism. Paper presented at the biannual conference of Society for Research in Psychology of Music and Music Education, Leicester UK. Wanamaker, C. & Reznikoff, M. (1989) Effects of aggressive and non-aggressive rock music on projective and structured tests. Journal of Psychology. Vol.123(6), Nov 1989, pp561- 570..
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