Sweet anticipation : music and the psychology of expectation / David Huron.
2006
ML3838 .H87 2006eb
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Details
Title
Sweet anticipation : music and the psychology of expectation / David Huron.
Author
Huron, David Brian.
ISBN
9780262275965 (electronic bk.)
0262275961 (electronic bk.)
1423774469 (electronic bk.)
9781423774464 (electronic bk.)
0262083450
9780262083454
0262275961 (electronic bk.)
1423774469 (electronic bk.)
9781423774464 (electronic bk.)
0262083450
9780262083454
Publication Details
Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, ©2006.
Language
English
Description
1 online resource (xii, 462 pages) : illustrations, music
Call Number
ML3838 .H87 2006eb
Dewey Decimal Classification
781/.11
Summary
The psychological theory of expectation that David Huron proposes in Sweet Anticipation grew out of the author's 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: reaction responses (which engage defensive reflexes); tension responses (where uncertainty leads to stress); prediction responses (which reward accurate prediction); imagination 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 we experienced as we apprehend the world.
Note
"A Bradford book."
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
Source of Description
OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.
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