Tension affective et effets dynamogéniques dus à la musique - article ; n°2 ; vol.63, pg 293-308

L'année psychologique - Année 1963 - Volume 63 - Numéro 2 - Pages 293-308
In this research, we have tried to determine whether the motor activity which arises spontaneously in an individual engaged in listening attentively for the first time to short musical selections is proportional to the emotional tension which he reports himself as feeling while he is hearing them. We have compared the behavior of two groups of subjects : those with a, musical background (M) and those without (N-M).
a) We have reckoned the amount of motor activity by the process of integrating the amplitude of the action potentials coming from the flexor and extensor muscles of the right fore-arm during the first attentive hearing of the musical extracts.
b) The subjects evaluated on a five-point scale their estimation of the degree of affective tension which they felt after having heard anew the musical extracts.
c) The M's all had the practice of a musical instrument for at least five years and had reached a certain level of musical culture, this being controlled by means of a questionnaire. The N-M's had a lesser amount of musical culture and no instrumental practice at all.
The results show that :
1) The motor activity evidenced by M's is more important than that evidenced by N-M's. However, the hierarchy of these rates of activity as a function of the different musical extracts is the same for both groups.
2) The estimations of affective tensions experienced as concerns the musical extracts differ very much between M's and N-M's and have the same hierarchy (in relation to the different musical pieces).
3) These two hierarchies do not coindide. There exists no proportionality between the amount of motor activity evidenced and the estimation of the affective tensions felt. Several explanatory hypotheses were brought forward. b) The subjects evaluated on a five-point scale their estimation of the degree of affective tension which they felt after having heard anew the musical extracts.
c) The M's all had the practice of a musical instrument for at least five years and had reached a certain level of musical culture, this being controlled by means of a questionnaire. The N-M's had a lesser amount of musical culture and no instrumental practice at all.
The results show that :
1) The motor activity evidenced by M's is more important than that evidenced by N-M's. However, the hierarchy of these rates of activity as a function of the different musical extracts is the same for both groups.
2) The estimations of affective tensions experienced as concerns the musical extracts differ very much between M's and N-M's and have the same hierarchy (in relation to the different musical pieces).
3) These two hierarchies do not coindide. There exists no proportionality between the amount of motor activity evidenced and the estimation of the affective tensions felt. Several explanatory hypotheses were brought forward.
Nous avons recherché si l'activité motrice manifestée spontanément chez un individu au cours d'une première audition attentive d'extraits musicaux brefs est proportionnelle à l'estimation de la tension affective ressentie par lui en les écoutant. Nous avons comparé les comportements de deux groupes de sujets, musiciens (M) et non-musiciens (N-M) :
a) Nous avons estimé la quantité d'activité motrice en faisant l'intégration de l'amplitude des potentiels d'action émis par les muscles fléchisseurs et extenseurs de l'avant-bras droit au cours d'une première audition attentive des extraits musicaux ;
b) Les sujets ont estimé sur une échelle en cinq points la tension affective ressentie après avoir écouté une nouvelle fois ces extraits ;
c) Les M ont tous une pratique instrumentale d'au moins cinq ans et un certain niveau de culture musicale contrôlé par un questionnaire. Les N-M ont une culture musicale moindre et aucune pratique instrumentale.
Les résultats font apparaître que :
1° L'activité motrice manifestée par les M pour chaque morceau est plus considérable que celle manifestée par les N-M. Cependant la hiérarchie de ces taux d'activité en fonction des différents extraits musicaux est la même ;
2° Les estimations de tension affective sont très différenciées pour les M et les N-M pour les extraits musicaux et ont la même hiérarchie ;
3° Ces deux hiérarchies d'activité motrice et de tension ressentie ne coïncident pas et on ne trouve pas de proportionnalité entre les manifestations de ces deux comportements. On a présenté quelques hypothèses explicatives.
16 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.