Adrian C North
Biographic Data
| ID | 2747412 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Adrian C North |
| GIVEN NAMES | Adrian C |
| FAMILY NAME | North |
| SIGNATURE | NORTH A C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Curtin University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0046-1299 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 32 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 57 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 32 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1995 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Secure adult attachment to fathers’ and students’ perceptions of shared reasons for musical engagement
Music can be used as a tool for exploring, learning, and coping with our environment. Moreover, research suggests that parent–child shared participation in music may promote enduring secure attachments. Consequently, we tested whether there is a relationship between secure adult attachment to fathers and perceptions of shared reasons for musical engagement (identity, coping, learning, relationships, time, and relaxation). University students comp…
Music consumption and uses in Japan
This research investigates the relationship between music consumption and cultural dimensions within a Japanese context. Since Japan is the second largest music market globally, it is surprising that there is little focus on those factors often examined in cross-cultural research that might mean Western findings do not extrapolate well. A questionnaire using established measures of tightness–looseness, relational mobility, and ideal affect was us…
Are The Beatles Different? A Computerized Psychological Analysis of Their Music
There has been little quantitative research by psychologists concerning the music of The Beatles. The present research compared their music against a database of 169,909 songs for which data was obtained via the Spotify application programming interface concerning acousticness, danceability, duration, energy, key, loudness, mode, popularity, tempo, and valence. The Beatles' music differed from the overall dataset by being more positively-valenced…
Song popularity and processing fluency of lyrics
Several studies show that a concept or object is more popular when it is easier to process. The present research applies this notion of processing fluency to the lyrics of all 271 top 5 songs on the United Kingdom chart for each week from 1999 to 2014. The processing fluency of the lyrics was computer scored for readability, presence of rhyme, and complexity, and popularity was assessed in terms of peak chart position and duration of tenure on th…
Culture, personal values, personality, uses of music, and musical taste
Popular music lyrics and the Covid-19 pandemic
A limited amount of previous research suggests that deteriorating socioeconomic conditions may be associated with greater popularity of music lyrics featuring negative emotional content and references to relationships. The present research considered this in charting popular music before and during the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. A dataset based on the song lyrics of the top-5 charting weekly songs in the United Kingdom and the Unite…
Attribute accessibility, normative influence, and the effect of classical and country music on willingness to pay for social identity and utilitarian products
Previous studies indicate that background classical music is associated with customers in retail and leisure premises being prepared to pay more for various products and services. This online experiment tests whether these effects are due to music increasing the salience of valued product attributes (attribute accessibility hypothesis) or to a demand characteristic wherein music implies a norm to purchase expensive items (normative behavior hypot…
The relationship between pop music and lyrics
The majority of research on music aesthetics treats music and lyrics as discrete entities, despite the artistic imperative that they should relate to one another in some way. This research computer analyzed both the music and lyrics of the songs to have reached the weekly UK top five singles chart from January 1999 to December 2013 ( N = 1,414). The findings indicate that the typicality of a given set of lyrics relative to the corpus as a whole w…
The relationship between uses of music, musical taste, age, and life goals
Musical taste and uses of music correlate with age, although there has been little theoretical explanation of these relationships. The present research argues that musical behavior may be explained by chronological age and variations in life goals across the lifespan, and investigated the relationship between life goals, age, musical taste, and uses of music using an exploratory mixed-methods approach. In Phase 1, thematic analysis of responses f…
Collaboration, cognitive effort, and self-reference in United Kingdom top 5 pop music lyrics 1960–2015
This research investigated associations between the lyrics of every song to have reached\nthe weekly United Kingdom top 5 singles chart from 1960-2015 and the number of people responsible for recording each song. Following computerised content analysis of the lyrics of the 4,534 unique songs, the results showed that the number of musicians involved was related negatively to use of cognitive terms, consistent with previous research on social loafi…
Pop music lyrics are related to the proportion of female recording artists
Previous content analyses of pop music have considered the prevalence of misogynistic portrayals of interpersonal relationships, but have employed relatively small samples of music, and often neglected musician gender. Since cultural depictions create individuals’ musical identity, we expect the musical norms identified by previous content analyses to be reflected by lyrics produced by males and females. The lyrics of all 4,534 songs to have reac…
The role of location in everyday experiences of music
Mehrabian and Russell’s (1974) Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance model states that a propensity to approach/avoid an environment can be conceptualized in terms of the pleasure and arousal it elicits and one’s degree of dominance therein. Using the Experience Sampling Method, 177 individuals provided responses concerning Mehrabian and Russell’s model throughout one week regarding music experiences that occurred in their daily life (including how the musi…
The effect of background music on the taste of wine
Research concerning cross-modal influences on perception has neglected auditory influences on perceptions of non-auditory objects, although a small number of studies indicate that auditory stimuli can influence perceptions of the freshness of foodstuffs. Consistent with this, the results reported here indicate that independent groups' ratings of the taste of the wine reflected the emotional connotations of the background music played while they d…
Why do we listen to music? A uses and gratifications analysis
Four 'uses and gratifications' studies investigated peoples' reasons for listening to music (Study 1); and whether these reasons differ significantly from those associated with other leisure activities (Study 2). In Study 3, an open-ended, qualitative research design was used to investigate why people listen to music. In Study 4, a cross-sectional design was used to investigate the possibility that people of different ages might listen to music f…
The effects of musical fit on choice between two competing foods
Two experiments investigated the impact of musical “fit” on consumer choice. In Experiment 1, Malaysian participants of Malay, Indian, or Chinese ethnicity chose between Malay and Western food while either Malay or Western music played in the background. Participants tended to choose Malay food, irrespective of the type of music played. Experiment 2 repeated the same basic methodology but presented a more ambiguous choice scenario of Malay versus…
Death, Attractiveness, Moral Conduct, and Attitudes to Public Figures
In this study, 2,894 participants rated attitudes toward their favorite public figure on the Celebrity Attitude Scale. It was noted whether each figure was alive or dead, and a panel of four independent judges assessed each in terms of their moral conduct and physical attractiveness. Dead figures appealed less and were subject to lower "intense personal" celebrity worship, and death was unrelated to "borderline pathological" and "deleterious imit…
Musical Taste and Ingroup Favouritism
Musical taste is thought to function as a social `badge' of group membership, contributing to an individual's sense of social identity. Following from this, social identity theory predicts that individuals should perceive and behave more favourably towards those perceived to share their musical taste than towards those who do not. The findings of two studies supported these predictions. The first showed that stereotypes of the fans of different m…
The Social and Applied Psychology of Music
"Music is so ubiquitous that it can be easy to overlook the powerful influence it exerts in so many areas of our lives - from birth, through childhood, to old age. The Social and Applied Psychology of Music considers the value of music in everyday life, answering some of the perennial questions about music."--Jacket.
Distinguishing heroes from celebrities
Although numerous studies have concerned both 'greatness' and 'celebrity worship,' little previous research has overtly investigated the psychological bases for distinguishing 'heroes' from 'celebrities'. Study 1 indicated that, in response to 13 attitudinal measures, participants' responses to heroes could be summarized in terms of emotional attachment, drive for affiliation, and ordinariness, whereas the corresponding factors for celebrities we…
Uses of Music in Everyday Life
The value of music in people's everyday lives depends on the uses they make of it and the degree to which they engage with it, which are in turn dependent on the contexts in which they hear it. Very few studies have investigated people's experiences of music in naturalistic, everyday circumstances, and this exploratory study provides some initial normative data on who people listen with, what they listen to (and what their emotional responses to …
Perspective
A review was conducted of 1,354 abstracts in the PsycINFO database containing the terms Islam, Muslim and/or Moslem. These were analyzed in terms of article type (e.g., empirical works), publication type (e.g., book), topic (e.g., health, education), tone toward Islam (i.e., positive, negative, balanced), place of publication (e.g., United States), and religious background of author (assessed on the basis of 1st author name). It was concluded tha…
Adolescents' Intergroup Attributions
Age variations in judgments of ‘great’ art works
This paper reports the results of two large‐scale surveys concerning nominations of ‘greatness’ in the arts. In Study 1, 1088 respondents to a national newspaper survey nominated the greatest art works of the past 1000 years. Analyses indicated that there was some, albeit limited, evidence that older respondents nominated older art works, but no evidence of a tendency to nominate works produced during the participants' adolescence/early adulthood…
Psychology of music
The importance of music to adolescents
Aims. The study aims to determine the importance of music to adolescents in England, and investigates why they listen to and perform music. Sample. A total of 2465 adolescents (1149 males; 1266 females; 50 participants did not state their sex) between 13 and 14 years of age who were attending Year 9 at one of 22 secondary schools in the North Staffordshire region of England. Method. A questionnaire asked participants (a) about their degree of inv…
The importance of music to adolescents
Aims. The study aims to determine the importance of music to adolescents in England, and investigates why they listen to and perform music. Sample. A total of 2465 adolescents (1149 males; 1266 females; 50 participants did not state their sex) between 13 and 14 years of age who were attending Year 9 at one of 22 secondary schools in the North Staffordshire region of England. Method. A questionnaire asked participants (a) about their degree of inv…
Why do we listen to music? A uses and gratifications analysis
Four 'uses and gratifications' studies investigated peoples' reasons for listening to music (Study 1); and whether these reasons differ significantly from those associated with other leisure activities (Study 2). In Study 3, an open-ended, qualitative research design was used to investigate why people listen to music. In Study 4, a cross-sectional design was used to investigate the possibility that people of different ages might listen to music f…
Musical Taste and Ingroup Favouritism
Musical taste is thought to function as a social `badge' of group membership, contributing to an individual's sense of social identity. Following from this, social identity theory predicts that individuals should perceive and behave more favourably towards those perceived to share their musical taste than towards those who do not. The findings of two studies supported these predictions. The first showed that stereotypes of the fans of different m…
Perspective
A review was conducted of 1,354 abstracts in the PsycINFO database containing the terms Islam, Muslim and/or Moslem. These were analyzed in terms of article type (e.g., empirical works), publication type (e.g., book), topic (e.g., health, education), tone toward Islam (i.e., positive, negative, balanced), place of publication (e.g., United States), and religious background of author (assessed on the basis of 1st author name). It was concluded tha…
The effect of background music on the taste of wine
Research concerning cross-modal influences on perception has neglected auditory influences on perceptions of non-auditory objects, although a small number of studies indicate that auditory stimuli can influence perceptions of the freshness of foodstuffs. Consistent with this, the results reported here indicate that independent groups' ratings of the taste of the wine reflected the emotional connotations of the background music played while they d…
Adolescents' Intergroup Attributions
Eminence in pop music
Age variations in judgments of ‘great’ art works
This paper reports the results of two large‐scale surveys concerning nominations of ‘greatness’ in the arts. In Study 1, 1088 respondents to a national newspaper survey nominated the greatest art works of the past 1000 years. Analyses indicated that there was some, albeit limited, evidence that older respondents nominated older art works, but no evidence of a tendency to nominate works produced during the participants' adolescence/early adulthood…
Eminence in pop music
Responses to music in aerobic exercise and yogic relaxation classes
Berlyne's theory of aesthetic response was investigated in two naturalistic music listening situations. Fifty participants in an aerobic exercise class, and 50 participants in a yogic relaxation class were presented with five three‐minute musical excerpts representing a range of complexity. Participants rated these excerpts on scales of either liking or complexity and appropriateness. The relationship between ratings of liking and complexity was …
Liking for Musical Styles
This paper reports two experiments on liking for musical styles. The first study investigated the relative extent to which liking for musical excerpts is associated with liking for the styles in which they are performed and for the pieces on which they are based. Fifty subjects were presented with 24 short musical excerpts comprising 5 original pop music pieces and 19 ‘cover’ versions of them in different musical styles. The results indicated tha…
The Functions of Music in Everyday Life
What psychological functions does music serve in everyday life? In this paper we argue that the answer to this question is changing as a result of current social and technological changes in music itself, and that these changes force us to re-evaluate the role of the social context in music psychology. After describing the changes we go on to outline the psychological functions of music in everyday life in terms of the cognitive, emotional and so…
Music and Adolescent Identity
This paper reports four studies which investigated the function of musical preference as an identifying ‘badge’ by which adolescents express their own self‐concepts and make judgements of others. Studies 1 and 2 indicated that older and younger adolescents, respectively, hold normative expectations about the values and characteristics of fans of particular musical styles. Study 3 showed that 13‐14‐ and 18‐19‐year‐olds hold normative expectations …
Developing Concepts of Musical Style
This paper describes three studies which investigate age changes in different aspects of listeners' responses to musical styles. In the first study, 105 children between the ages of 8 and 14 years were asked make “odd one out” discriminations amongst triads of classical and popular excerpts drawn from four stylistic groups in each case. There were no consistent age differences, and there was a much higher proportion of correct identifications of …
Music and on‐hold waiting time
Members of the general public called a special telephone number in response to a newspaper advertisement asking for research volunteers. They were placed on hold, and the nature of the on‐hold stimuli was manipulated. The principal measures were actual waiting time, estimated waiting time and adjectival ratings of the on‐hold stimuli. These indicated that on‐hold waiting time is influenced positively by stimuli that are liked and those which ‘fit…
The importance of music to adolescents
Aims. The study aims to determine the importance of music to adolescents in England, and investigates why they listen to and perform music. Sample. A total of 2465 adolescents (1149 males; 1266 females; 50 participants did not state their sex) between 13 and 14 years of age who were attending Year 9 at one of 22 secondary schools in the North Staffordshire region of England. Method. A questionnaire asked participants (a) about their degree of inv…
Psychology of music
Age variations in judgments of ‘great’ art works
This paper reports the results of two large‐scale surveys concerning nominations of ‘greatness’ in the arts. In Study 1, 1088 respondents to a national newspaper survey nominated the greatest art works of the past 1000 years. Analyses indicated that there was some, albeit limited, evidence that older respondents nominated older art works, but no evidence of a tendency to nominate works produced during the participants' adolescence/early adulthood…
Uses of Music in Everyday Life
The value of music in people's everyday lives depends on the uses they make of it and the degree to which they engage with it, which are in turn dependent on the contexts in which they hear it. Very few studies have investigated people's experiences of music in naturalistic, everyday circumstances, and this exploratory study provides some initial normative data on who people listen with, what they listen to (and what their emotional responses to …
Perspective
A review was conducted of 1,354 abstracts in the PsycINFO database containing the terms Islam, Muslim and/or Moslem. These were analyzed in terms of article type (e.g., empirical works), publication type (e.g., book), topic (e.g., health, education), tone toward Islam (i.e., positive, negative, balanced), place of publication (e.g., United States), and religious background of author (assessed on the basis of 1st author name). It was concluded tha…
Adolescents' Intergroup Attributions
Distinguishing heroes from celebrities
Although numerous studies have concerned both 'greatness' and 'celebrity worship,' little previous research has overtly investigated the psychological bases for distinguishing 'heroes' from 'celebrities'. Study 1 indicated that, in response to 13 attitudinal measures, participants' responses to heroes could be summarized in terms of emotional attachment, drive for affiliation, and ordinariness, whereas the corresponding factors for celebrities we…
The Social and Applied Psychology of Music
"Music is so ubiquitous that it can be easy to overlook the powerful influence it exerts in so many areas of our lives - from birth, through childhood, to old age. The Social and Applied Psychology of Music considers the value of music in everyday life, answering some of the perennial questions about music."--Jacket.
Musical Taste and Ingroup Favouritism
Musical taste is thought to function as a social `badge' of group membership, contributing to an individual's sense of social identity. Following from this, social identity theory predicts that individuals should perceive and behave more favourably towards those perceived to share their musical taste than towards those who do not. The findings of two studies supported these predictions. The first showed that stereotypes of the fans of different m…
The effects of musical fit on choice between two competing foods
Two experiments investigated the impact of musical “fit” on consumer choice. In Experiment 1, Malaysian participants of Malay, Indian, or Chinese ethnicity chose between Malay and Western food while either Malay or Western music played in the background. Participants tended to choose Malay food, irrespective of the type of music played. Experiment 2 repeated the same basic methodology but presented a more ambiguous choice scenario of Malay versus…
Death, Attractiveness, Moral Conduct, and Attitudes to Public Figures
In this study, 2,894 participants rated attitudes toward their favorite public figure on the Celebrity Attitude Scale. It was noted whether each figure was alive or dead, and a panel of four independent judges assessed each in terms of their moral conduct and physical attractiveness. Dead figures appealed less and were subject to lower "intense personal" celebrity worship, and death was unrelated to "borderline pathological" and "deleterious imit…
Why do we listen to music? A uses and gratifications analysis
Four 'uses and gratifications' studies investigated peoples' reasons for listening to music (Study 1); and whether these reasons differ significantly from those associated with other leisure activities (Study 2). In Study 3, an open-ended, qualitative research design was used to investigate why people listen to music. In Study 4, a cross-sectional design was used to investigate the possibility that people of different ages might listen to music f…
The effect of background music on the taste of wine
Research concerning cross-modal influences on perception has neglected auditory influences on perceptions of non-auditory objects, although a small number of studies indicate that auditory stimuli can influence perceptions of the freshness of foodstuffs. Consistent with this, the results reported here indicate that independent groups' ratings of the taste of the wine reflected the emotional connotations of the background music played while they d…
The role of location in everyday experiences of music
Mehrabian and Russell’s (1974) Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance model states that a propensity to approach/avoid an environment can be conceptualized in terms of the pleasure and arousal it elicits and one’s degree of dominance therein. Using the Experience Sampling Method, 177 individuals provided responses concerning Mehrabian and Russell’s model throughout one week regarding music experiences that occurred in their daily life (including how the musi…
Pop music lyrics are related to the proportion of female recording artists
Previous content analyses of pop music have considered the prevalence of misogynistic portrayals of interpersonal relationships, but have employed relatively small samples of music, and often neglected musician gender. Since cultural depictions create individuals’ musical identity, we expect the musical norms identified by previous content analyses to be reflected by lyrics produced by males and females. The lyrics of all 4,534 songs to have reac…
Collaboration, cognitive effort, and self-reference in United Kingdom top 5 pop music lyrics 1960–2015
This research investigated associations between the lyrics of every song to have reached\nthe weekly United Kingdom top 5 singles chart from 1960-2015 and the number of people responsible for recording each song. Following computerised content analysis of the lyrics of the 4,534 unique songs, the results showed that the number of musicians involved was related negatively to use of cognitive terms, consistent with previous research on social loafi…
The relationship between pop music and lyrics
The majority of research on music aesthetics treats music and lyrics as discrete entities, despite the artistic imperative that they should relate to one another in some way. This research computer analyzed both the music and lyrics of the songs to have reached the weekly UK top five singles chart from January 1999 to December 2013 ( N = 1,414). The findings indicate that the typicality of a given set of lyrics relative to the corpus as a whole w…
The relationship between uses of music, musical taste, age, and life goals
Musical taste and uses of music correlate with age, although there has been little theoretical explanation of these relationships. The present research argues that musical behavior may be explained by chronological age and variations in life goals across the lifespan, and investigated the relationship between life goals, age, musical taste, and uses of music using an exploratory mixed-methods approach. In Phase 1, thematic analysis of responses f…
Psychology (30 works) · Social Psychology (23 works) · Neuroscience and Music Perception (18 works) · Art (16 works) · Diverse Music Education Insights (14 works) · Musical (13 works) · Cognitive psychology (10 works) · Visual arts (10 works) · Developmental psychology (9 works) · Aesthetics (7 works)