Can music move people? : The effects of musical complexity and silence on waiting time

Previous research has suggested that music might influence the amount of time for which people are prepared to wait in a given environment. In an attempt to investigate the mechanisms underlying such effects, this study employed three levels of musical complexity and also a “no-music” condition. Whi...

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Main Authors: North, Adrian, Hargreaves, David
Format: Journal Article
Published: Sage Publications, Inc. 1999
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/21583
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author North, Adrian
Hargreaves, David
author_facet North, Adrian
Hargreaves, David
author_sort North, Adrian
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Previous research has suggested that music might influence the amount of time for which people are prepared to wait in a given environment. In an attempt to investigate the mechanisms underlying such effects, this study employed three levels of musical complexity and also a “no-music” condition. While one of these played in the background, participants were left to wait in a laboratory for the supposed start of an experiment. The results indicated that participants waited for the least amount of time during the no-music condition, and that there were no differences between the three music conditions. Other evidence indicated that this may be attributable to the music distracting participants’ attention from an internal timing mechanism. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for consumer behavior and research on the psychology of everyday life.
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publishDate 1999
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-215832017-09-13T13:54:25Z Can music move people? : The effects of musical complexity and silence on waiting time North, Adrian Hargreaves, David Previous research has suggested that music might influence the amount of time for which people are prepared to wait in a given environment. In an attempt to investigate the mechanisms underlying such effects, this study employed three levels of musical complexity and also a “no-music” condition. While one of these played in the background, participants were left to wait in a laboratory for the supposed start of an experiment. The results indicated that participants waited for the least amount of time during the no-music condition, and that there were no differences between the three music conditions. Other evidence indicated that this may be attributable to the music distracting participants’ attention from an internal timing mechanism. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for consumer behavior and research on the psychology of everyday life. 1999 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/21583 10.1177/00139169921972038 Sage Publications, Inc. fulltext
spellingShingle North, Adrian
Hargreaves, David
Can music move people? : The effects of musical complexity and silence on waiting time
title Can music move people? : The effects of musical complexity and silence on waiting time
title_full Can music move people? : The effects of musical complexity and silence on waiting time
title_fullStr Can music move people? : The effects of musical complexity and silence on waiting time
title_full_unstemmed Can music move people? : The effects of musical complexity and silence on waiting time
title_short Can music move people? : The effects of musical complexity and silence on waiting time
title_sort can music move people? : the effects of musical complexity and silence on waiting time
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/21583