The Development of a Multidimensional Instrument for the Measurement of Affective Responses to Music

Abstract

A measurement device for the assessment of the feelingful, emotional state developed by listeners in response to musical stimuli was developed. Ninety-nine affect terms were rated by 2,057 subjects in response to three musical excerpts. Principal component factor analytic techniques identified nine dimensions of affect to occur in 75 per cent or more of the analyses. These were named: Evil, Sensual, Potency, Humour, Pastoral, Longing, Depression, Sedative, and Activity dimensions. Forty-one terms loading highly on these factors were organised into a device for measuring affective response, the 9-Affective Dimensions (9-AD). Results of factor comparison techniques and reliability analyses indicated the viability of the instrument for researchers who require the measurement of feelingful, emotional responses on homogeneous yet discrete dimensions of musical affect.