Emotion perceived and emotion felt: Same or different?

TLDR

Emotion perception refers to recognizing emotional expression in music without feeling it, whereas emotion induction is the listener’s own emotional response, a distinction that is often blurred in everyday talk and research. The study highlights methodological issues and proposes directions for future research. The authors review empirical work on emotion perception, focusing on listener agreement, and selectively examine studies on emotional response to music. The paper identifies four possible links between perception and response—positive, negative, none, or no systematic relationship—and stresses that both are shaped by musical, personal, and situational factors.

Abstract

A distinction is made between emotion perception, that is, to perceive emotional expression in music without necessarily being affected oneself, and emotion induction, that is, listeners’ emotional response to music. This distinction is not always observed, neither in everyday conversation about emotions, nor in scientific papers. Empirical studies of emotion perception are briefly reviewed with regard to listener agreement concerning expressed emotions, followed by a selective review of empirical studies on emotional response to music. Possible relationships between emotion perception and emotional response are discussed and exemplified: positive relationship, negative relationship, no systematic relationship and no relationship. It is emphasised that both emotion perception and, especially, emotional response are dependent on an interplay between musical, personal, and situational factors. Some methodological questions and suggestions for further research are discussed.