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Nature-based Leisure Events that Incorporate Playing Music
By
Chad Howard Clifford
A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts
in
Recreation and Leisure Studies
Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation
Edmonton, Alberta
Spring, 2002
University of Alberta
Library Release Form
Name of Author: Chad H. Clifford
Title of Thesis: Nature-based Leisure Events that Incorporate Playing Music
Degree: Master of Arts
Year this Degree Granted: 2002
Permission is herby granted to the University of Alberta Library to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell copies for private, scholarly or scientific purposes only.
The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis, and except as herein before provided neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material whatever without the author’s written permission.
____________________________________
R.R.#4
Lanark, Ontario
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Date: _________________________
Abstract
This phenomenological study explores the emotional experience of playing a musical instrument during a nature-based leisure event. Data was collected from ten participants through either interviews or written accounts. The instruments participants’ played included guitar, singing, fife, fiddle, harmonica, and the wooden flute. The setting varied from urban parks to remote national parks on outings ranging in duration from an hour to over a week.
My findings revealed five topic areas common to the experience of playing an musical instrument during a nature-based leisure event: escape and change as a motivation for visits to natural areas; sensing the moment; music as a means to focus sensory attention; the combined effect of playing music in a natural setting: something more than the composite parts; music as a way of connecting to nature; and contentment and appreciation. This study offers an insightful and descriptive account of these little understood topics.
Playing music during a nature-based leisure event powerfully altered/enhanced the emotions of participants’ in a positive direction. Therefore, it can be stated this activity created a positive nature experience among participants. Such experiences are valuable for the creation of emotional attachments to natural areas, which is believed to lead to pro-environmental behaviours.
Table of Contents
Nature-based
Leisure and Music
Cognitive
Emotions: The Experience of Emotion
Affect,
mood, emotion, and feeling.
Object
of emotion: The cognitive aspect of experiencing an emotion.
Bipolar,
circumplex structure of affect.
Theories
of how we listen to music.
Temporality,
Emotion and the Natural Environment
Complexity
of a Natural Environment and Consequential Affect
Descriptors
of Affect in a Natural Environment
Phenomenological
Research Methods
Locating
individuals to participate in study.
Preparatory
steps and question.
Briefing
the interviewee and gaining rapport.
During
the interview and probes.
Analysis
of Allen’s Experience
Analysis
of Mason’s Experience
Analysis
of Kiley’s Experience
Analysis
of Steve’s Experience
Analysis
of Shannon’s Experience
Analysis
of Robin’s Experience
Analysis
of Wendy’s Experience
Composite
Textural-Structural Description
Escape
and Change as Motivation for Visits to Natural Settings
Music
as a Means to Focus Sensory Attention
Focussed
on the natural surroundings.
Music
as a Way of Connecting to Nature
Summary, Implications, and Conclusions
Revisiting
My Review of the Literature
The
cathartic experience—changing a bad mood.
The
benefits of playing music.
Reflections
On My Methods and Findings
Data
analysis and presentation.
A
qualitative study in a field dominated by quantitative literature.
Practical
Implications and Future Research
Appendix A: Interview Itinerary
Appendix C: Participant Information Letter
Appendix D: Participant Informed Consent Form
List of Figures
Figure
1. Bipolar model of eight affects..
Figure
2. A circumplex of affect.
Figure
3. Model of affective response to a natural environment over time.
Figure
4. Descriptors of affective qualities of places. .
Figure
5. Participants’ located on the circumplex of affect.
List of Tables
Table
1. Distinctions Between Mood and Emotion
Table
2. Behaviours Used to Change a Bad Mood
Table
3. Behaviours Used to Raise Alertness or Energy
Table
4. Behaviours Used to Reduce Nervousness, Tension, or
Anxiety
Introduction
Personal Background
The study of the natural world beckons me. I suppose that my upbringing is the reason that I find the natural world so intriguing. Throughout my childhood and adolescence, on most weekends, my family visiting natural areas and parks. When I was old enough (eight), my parents began to take me on longer and more remote wilderness trips, via canoes, kayaks, skis, and snowshoes. As an adult, my visits to the wilderness continued with more vigour. Moreover, by this point in my life, I had become a scout troop leader, young naturalist director, camp councillor, and wilderness tripping/camp-craft director and had taken numerous wilderness survival and living skills courses; attained degrees in Natural Science and Outdoor Recreation; and eventually started a traditional wilderness skills and nature awareness camp in Ontario.
Throughout these years, I began developing a personal attachment to the wilderness and, therefore, found myself becoming more sensitive to wilderness-use issues in Canada and abroad. Additionally, my everyday behaviours began to lean more and more towards being pro-environmental. I believe that my pro-environmental behaviours stemmed from an attachment I felt towards the wilderness, developed from the time I spent there. Moreover, because of the worsening state of our natural environment, I’ve come to believe that people need to become more pro-environmentally active.
For instance, exploitation of
our natural resources has been a controversial issue in recent decades,
and the problem is more pertinent today than ever. Since Rachel Carson’s book Silent
Spring was published in 1962, people have become more sensitive to the
degrading effects that our actions have had upon the environment. Even prior to
Carson’s book and its warnings about the use of chemicals in the environment
were the warnings of wilderness philosophers such as John Muir, Henry Thoreau,
Grey Owl, Sigurd Olson, Aldo Leopold, and Bob Marshall. They all warned society
of the senseless destruction of the natural world at the same time romanticized
the benefits of the wilderness experience.
More recently, advocates and organizations fighting to save the
environment have included Elizabeth May, David Suzuki, Paul Watson, Dave
Foreman, Greenpeace, the Sea Shepard Society, the Sierra Club, the Sierra Legal
Defense Fund, Environment Voters, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and
an ever-growing host of other organizations and individuals.
The evidence that supports the notion of a diminishing environment is
not without credibility. A recent collaborative effort on behalf of the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme,
the World Bank, and the World Resources Institute (2000) published an analysis
of the state of the world’s ecosystems. The aforementioned analysis shows
alarming, albeit not surprising, statistics. For instance, human activities
were found to cause the following:
75 percent of the major marine fish stocks are either depleted from
overfishing or are being fished at their biological limit…Logging and
conversion have shrunk the world’s forest cover by as much as half, and roads,
farms, and residences are rapidly fragmenting what remains…58 percent of coral
reefs are potentially threatened…65 percent of roughly 1.5 billion ha of
cropland worldwide have experienced some degree of soil degradation…Overpumping
of groundwater by the world’s farmers exceeds natural recharge rates by at
least 160 billion m3 per year… and the pressures
responsible for these declines continue to increase…(UNDP et al., 2000,
pp. 16-17)
The warnings within the report
continue with references to overpopulation, ozone depletion, mass species
extinction, and the general degradation of the Earth’s finite ecosystems.
Similar analyses have been offered by a host of prominent scientists, Nobel
Prize winners, and environmentalists.
Environmental Behaviours
It
is puzzling why more citizens are not actively engaged in the amelioration of
environmental problems, especially those in wealthy northern nations. They are
responsible for most of the environmental crises the world now faces. Moreover,
Canada and the United States, which are amongst the worst of the environmental
polluters, are actually softening already inadequate environmental
policies.
Liz White, the founding director of the newly formed Environment Voters,
offers one answer to why citizens do not seek change. White (2000) believes that the people’s power is thwarted because
they do not understand how to make politicians heed their concerns; hence,
multinational corporations and wealthy lobby groups are able to continue to
exploit ecosystems. To combat the problem, White and her colleagues began a
non-partisan political group in Canada which works for or against the election
of politicians based on their environment records. Past provincial and federal
government environmental commissionaires, ministers and scientific advisors
endorse the ideals of Environment Voters.
Besides L. White’s (2000) conviction that politicians in Canada are not
heeding the concern of the voters to govern pro-environmentally is the fact
that the people themselves do little in their daily routines to be pro-active.
For instance, at a time when more and more cities are having “bad air warning”
days, many people choose to drive large automobiles to work, avoiding the use
of public transportation and non-consumptive means like walking or bicycling.
Beyond transportation issues are the use of dangerous lawn care products,
excessive consumption, recycling instead of reusing, and a host of other
behaviours that are well within the capability of ordinary citizens to change.
Among people who
practice proactive environmental behaviours, Grob (1995) found that, within his
model of environmental behaviour, the most effective components stemmed from
people’s philosophical values (i.e., post-materialism and open-mindedness) and
emotions (i.e., emotional response to environmental issues). Interestingly,
environmental awareness (i.e., knowledge and recognition of the issues) was not
vital for pro-environmental behaviours.
Grob’s (1995) findings are echoed by others. For
example, Ken Deacon, active environmentalist and biologist, believes: “People
do not need to know more, they need to care more… people have been exposed to
the issues” (personal communication, March, 1997). Similarly, Stephen J. Gould
(1991) also believes that people will not destroy what they love arguing that
emotional bonds to species and the natural environment are needed for their
survival. Finally, Tom Brown Jr.,
outdoor skills instructor and author of numerous wilderness philosophy and
wilderness field guides, also believes that people need to experience the
wilderness to develop attachments and behaviours that act to create
“environmental warriors” (personal communication, 1992).
If people with emotional attachments to the natural
environment tend to possess pro-environmental behaviours, knowing how their
emotional attachment is formed and maintained is of fundamental importance. As
well, creating opportunities for more people to develop such attachments would
help to curb the rapid degradation of natural ecosystems. The obvious place to
develop and study emotional connections to the natural environment is in the
natural environment. Studies in the area of nature-based leisure, for example, look
at a mixture of activities and contexts in which a diverse assortment of
participants engage with natural settings. Activities as diverse as hiking the
busy trails in Banff National Park with friends or taking a solo canoe trip on
a remote lake in Ontario fall under the category of nature-based leisure.
Nature-based Leisure and Music
Nature-based leisure activities are beneficial in numerous ways (Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989; Easley, Passineau & Driver, 1990). Researchers often measure the experiences of people in post hoc analyses by measuring aspects such as relaxation/arousal, cognition, concentration, self-awareness, sense of competence, and freedom. One thing they have learned is that there are certain trigger events that tend to foster beneficial nature-based leisure experiences (Brown, 1989). Some triggers found to be effective include extended amounts of time in the wilderness and the perceived social and physical solitude (Greenway, 1990; Hummel & Donovan, 1990; Kaplan & Talbot, 1986). For example, a solo canoe trip of seven days away from urban landmarks is more effective than an afternoon canoe trip with friends near a popular beach. But this is by no means universal -- people respond differently to each situation. Thus, to allow more to attain the benefits of a nature-based leisure experience, an exploration of different experiences (or triggers) is likely to be beneficial.
One trigger yet to be explored in
nature-based leisure research is music. The effect of music in other areas of
research has been established. For instance, studies have found that music
intensifies and even dictates the felt emotion of participants viewing
paintings (Stratton & Zalanoski, 1989; Limbert & Polzella, 1998). Such
studies hint that music may also intensify and even dictate the emotions felt
in natural settings.
From a personal perspective, my first significant experience with music in the wilderness occurred during sweatlodge ceremonies. “Let’s go watch the elders assemble the little-boys (i.e., drums that are used in lodge ceromonies)” my friend exclaims. The sound of a drum in a sweatlodge is impressive, but I did not feel the power of music in a sweatlodge until a few years later. During a traditional ceremony on Manitoulin Island, I had the opportunity to participate in a sweatlodge where everyone was given a rattle. I thought that it would be impossible to have a meditative experience with all the rattles being played in our tightly filled lodge. The rattle I had was fashioned from a heavy set of horns joined by a piece of bone on a sturdy piece of wood. When the Old-One began the ceremony, various songs were sung, interspersed with periods of loud rattling. The lodge was dark, and tobacco and herbs were placed onto hot rocks, filling the steamy and dusty air with a sweet odour. The sound of the rattles had the opposite effect of what I had presupposed it would. I noticed that I was able to contemplate whatever came to my mind with great clarity. When the rattles stopped, the clarity ceased, and my mind focused on the people present in the lodge and the ceremonial procedures.
In retrospect, I have since often experienced a heightened awareness of my surroundings in the wilderness as a result of music. At one of the wilderness philosophy camps I attended during the early 1990s, I was introduced to the native flute music of Carlos Nakai. Nakai’s music was said to be good background music for nature meditations. It was, and I now own and play three wooden flutes, which I usually take with me on nature walks. Perhaps analogous to when Henry David Thoreau played his flute during his time on Walden Pond, I find the ambience of a wooden flute in a natural setting to create a powerful experience. Later, on camping trips, friends also found the music of the flute to be a powerful influence on their experience. At wilderness skills camps, I started to introduce flute music into parts of our programs such as nature sits. Yet again, the feedback was positive.
Another experience related to music in the wilderness involved a 13-day canoe trip with a group of university students I once led. The students each had to lead a lesson while on the trip. One student was having second thoughts about the lesson topic he had chosen to teach. After 10 days of procrastination, he came to me with a spur of the moment idea—to have a drumming circle. I briefly contemplated the notion that the drumming could create noise pollution for anyone nearby. However, given that there was no one close to us and that the drums were only small plastic olive barrels (used to carry food), we decided to proceed. The drumming circle had the effect of bringing the group together at the end of a long and wet week. I could tell from the facial expressions and verbal exchanges that the group was having a positive experience.
Conclusion
Creating emotional attachment to natural areas is of
paramount importance for the protection of fast-degrading ecosystems. Music may
act as a trigger for developing such emotional attachment. In light of this, the purpose of this study
is to explore the lived experience of people who have utilized music during a
nature-based leisure event. In so doing, I hope to learn more about how people
connect to the natural environment in powerful and meaningful ways.
Thus, my research question is:
What is the emotional experience of a nature-based
leisure event that incorporates (live) music?
The word “what” acts to specify aspects of the
emotional experience. “Emotional experience” relates to an interpretation by
those who have been a part of the phenomenon. The phrase “nature-based leisure
event” specifies the context in a natural setting, including the time before,
during, and after the musical interlude. The phrase “(live) music” eliminates all
other types of musical sources.[1]
In order to provide a context for the preceding research question, the next
section will describe previous research studies that have examined emotion,
emotions experienced when listening to music, and the emotional experience of
being in a natural environment.
Literature Review
In my
search of literature pertaining to music during a nature-based leisure event, I
was unable to find any study that involved nature and music. The closest I came
to finding information on this topic were studies concerned with the
interaction of music and viewing paintings. Surprisingly, I also found little
literature pertaining to emotions and the natural environment in nature-based
leisure research.
This review of relevant literature is divided into three sections. The first section explores the hard-to-define concept of emotions. The study of emotions entails numerous fields and disciplines, of which I have pursued the cognitive experience of emotion because of its relevance to the lived experiences of people. With the initial groundwork on emotion laid, in the second section I consider music and emotions. Music has potentially powerful effects on people emotionally. Thus, how people experience music is explored by considering some of the more prominent theories of how people listen to music. In the final section, I discuss the natural environment and emotion. A common theme through this literature review is the structure of an experienced emotion, which includes cognitive aspects, levels of arousal and pleasantness, along with the adjectives that people use to describe their feelings, moods, and emotions.
Emotion
People are normally confident in their
emotional response to ordinary situations (Lewis, 2000). For example, people
know that it is not appropriate to laugh upon witnessing someone being injured.
People also understand that emotions and moods somehow affect their thought
processes and decisions (Isen, 2000). However, researchers interested in
emotions find that there are numerous issues to consider, including that there
is nothing tangible about an emotion, no one area in our brain is specifically
associated with emotions, and no universal definition of emotion. Therefore,
the first step in understanding emotion is to determine what we mean by it.
The Oxford Concise English Dictionary
(Pearsall, 1999) describes an emotion as a strong feeling distinct from
reasoning (p. 466); describes a feeling as an emotional state (p. 520); and
describes being emotional as showing an intense feeling or as arousing (p.
466). Similar to the dictionary’s tautology, diverse fields of research do not
offer a concise definition of emotion either. De Rivera (1977) uses the parable
of the pink elephant when defining an emotion: it is like many blindfolded
people, independently trying to describe what a pink elephant looks like. In
other words, people try to define emotion from diverse paradigms, but are
describing something that does not exist in nature. There are dozens of
theoretical perspectives and approximately one hundred theories on emotion (De
Rivera). Moreover, these perspective theories vary by a disciplinary
background. For example, psychologists are interested in emotion as a
motivation of behaviour; anthropologists consider cultural and social
circumstances that shape an emotional response; sociologists may look for
social and societal influences on people’s emotions (Ekman & Scherer,
1984); and musicologists and people in the arts may be interested in aesthetic
views that consider how emotions are experienced.[2]
Frustratingly, there seems to have been little crossover between these diverse
traditions and this tends to fragment our understanding of emotion (Plutchik,
1984; Shcerer, 1994; Strongman, 1996). Consequently, many theories and models
describing diverse aspects of emotion have been developed.
Although the concept of emotion is indeed
complex (Averill, 1999), it may abstractly be defined as a response to an event
(Frijda, 2000), being either primary (i.e., biological) or secondary (i.e.,
cultural or cognitive) in nature (G.M. White, 2000). Hence, to fully understand
the various views of emotion would require the consideration of diverse fields
of study, each being large in scope. However, it would not be possible to
discuss the many viewpoints and perspectives of emotion here. Thus, in this
section I will first briefly mention some of the biological research
traditions, and second, focus in greater detail on the cognitive aspect and the
experience of emotion and how people manage emotions.
Biological Emotions
Innate, instinctual, or ‘basic emotions’ include sadness, anger, fear, and happiness
(Averill, 1999; Johnson-Laird & Oatley, 2000; Plutchik, 1984). Basic
emotions do not require cognitive focusing and happen automatically, often beyond
a person’s conscious control. Conversely, higher emotions like being bored or
delighted are theoretically complex (i.e., overlapping and difficult to
measure) and include the cognitive aspect of the experience.
Since studies of biological emotions focus more on
basic emotions, it is not considered a holistic approach to the study of
emotions. However, considerations of the biological aspects of emotion include
numerous areas of research, and it is commonly accepted that different bodily
processes are involved. Plutchik, (1984) outlined four major areas as follows:
neurological, evolutionary, physiological, and the dynamic tradition, wherein
Freud is credited with study of psychoanalysis and dealing with repressed emotions rooted in one’s
subconscious.
The brain has been considered by some to be a key element in understanding emotional responses and motivation. Neurological studies on emotion began with Walter Cannon, who believed the hypothalamus was responsible for our emotions (Plutchik, 1984). Since Cannon’s work, other brain researchers have continued to explore regions of the brain believed to be related to our emotions (G.M. White, 2000). As a result, we now know that there is no one area or circuit in the brain that holds our emotions; rather, different and interacting networks exist. For example, current research demonstrates that one part of the brain can only be understood in comparison to different parts and, moreover, that little is actually understood about the brain to begin with (Averill, 1996).
Physiological
research on emotions includes an interaction between emotion and physiological
processes (Frijda, 2000; Kemper, 2000; Lewis, 2000; Plutchik, 1984). For
example, a loud or sudden noise may result in the expressed emotion of fear;
however, a person may become accustomed to the loud noise, or even learn not to
fear it (Lewis, 2000). In this example, the natural response to the loud noise
is overcome with experience, a cognitive aspect. However, the cognitive aspect
would seem somewhat buried in consciousness. For example, traffic noise may go
unnoticed by people living in a traffic-busy area. For the most part,
neurological and physiological studies of emotion are strongly rooted in the
biological or primary tradition of emotion research, with little reference made
to the experience.
Cognitive
Emotions: The Experience of Emotion
The experience of emotion is
the least understood and studied aspect of emotion (Lewis, 2000); however, the
lived experience is how the average person understands the concept of emotion,
and therefore, may be the most meaningful portrayal of what emotion is. The
study of the lived experience of emotion lies within the descriptions given by
the participant. The meanings are filtered through the individual’s understanding
and capacity to express what was experienced, not the underlying biological
processes. For instance, in a study considering how people perceive the
emotions of others, Panksepp (2000) found that, (among people unexposed to the
literature in psychology) someone’s description of their own feelings is the
best indicator of that person’s emotions when compared to other clues such as
facial expressions and vocal tone, cognitive, biological, and physiological
expressions. Hence, dissecting the concept of emotion into little understood
brain functions or physiological processes, which people (outside of
psychology) may not consider to be a part of an emotion is of little value for
this study.
To understand how an emotion is experienced, I will
begin by examining the meanings of words used to describe emotions and the
confusion that exists between the terms. Subsequently, a discussion of how an
emotion is experienced in relation to cognitive processes including the object
of an emotion (i.e., the cognitive focus partially responsible for causing an
emotion and believed to strongly influence emotions). Lastly, I will consider a
commonly accepted, bipolar structure of the experience of emotion.
Affect, mood, emotion, and feeling.
To understand emotion requires
that we know how laypeople describe it in everyday language (Russell, 1997).
Both laypeople and researchers alike use the everyday language of emotion to
relay descriptions of the emotional state within themselves or the state
believed to be in someone else. Therefore, it is significant that a researcher
have a firm grasp on the different terms used by people when describing an
emotion so that he or she is familiar with the meanings of the words used.
Furthermore, a researcher should be aware of the confusion that is often
prevalent between similar terms, both in everyday language and in research as
well.
In psychological research and
in everyday language, emotion, mood, affect, and feeling are often used
interchangeably (Niedenthal, Setterlund & Jones, 1994; Russell, 1997; Russell
& Snodgrass, 1987). However, in everyday language the differences and
similarities between these terms are sometimes apparent. For example, people
may possess the ‘feeling’ or ‘emotion’ of fear when lost on a cold day in the
woods, but the acknowledgement of being lost would not be described as
producing a fearful ‘mood’. Also, a person may be in a bad ‘mood’ over the
period of a week, but it would seem to make little sense to say that the person
has been in a bad ‘emotion’ or a bad ‘feeling’ over the week. The fact that
there are differences between these terms is obvious; however, how we define
the difference is less clear.
A number of researchers have
attempted to distinguish the meanings between the aforementioned terms in order
to develop an enhanced vocabulary and understanding of each. Affect, mood,
emotion, and feeling have been distinguished from one another a hierarchy based
on time (i.e., duration), the level of analysis, and the focus of attention.
It is commonly accepted that
emotions, moods and feelings influence behaviour and that affect is a
summarizing term that includes emotions, moods (Isen, 2000) and feelings
(Parkinson, Totterdell, Briner, & Reynolds, 1996). Hence, an affective
response to a stimulus may include emotions, moods or feelings.
Mood and emotion are closely linked together, but are
commonly differentiated by the duration of time and intensity. More
specifically, emotion extended over time may be considered a mood with emotions
often being greater in intensity (Ekman & Friesen, 1982; Isen, 1984; Niedenthal, Setterlund &
Jones, 1994; Niedenthal & Showers, 1991; Parkinson, 1995; Whybrow, 1984). With respect to time, Ekman and Friesen (1982) found that the average
expression of emotion lasts between 0.5 and 4.0 seconds. Hence, if an emotion
lasted longer than four seconds, it could be considered a mood. A concern about
Ekman and Friesen’s proposition is that their study measured the expression of
emotion in terms of facial expressions’ sustained response times to a stimulus
(i.e., how long someone’s facial expression lasts in response to a given
stimulus). Facial expression has been one way to measure the expression of
emotion but it is not considered adequate alone for defining emotion.
Furthermore, the study of expressions is considered a biological reaction to a
stimulus. Facial expressions may be considered an indicator, but not a good
descriptor of an experience. Hence, the experience may last a lot longer than
the expression of the emotion.
Parkinson,
Totterdell, Briner and Reynolds (1996, p. 8) proposes distinctions between mood
and emotion (see table 1). Emotion is described in the table as a relatively
short-term episode that has a rapid and distinct beginning and end. For
example, an emotion of awe may be a result of listening to a talented musician
play a piece of music whereas a mood may be the anxiety that a performer was
feeling during the morning and afternoon prior to the playing. The intensity of
the mood during the afternoon is more like a constant background sensation
compared to the suddenness of the emotion experienced during the piece of
music. The emotion experienced in response to music may dissipate rather
quickly, perhaps ten to fifteen minutes after the music has stopped, but may alter
the person’s mood to one of happiness, which would last longer. Larson (2000) describes the differences
between emotion and mood nicely by stating that “moods nag at us, emotions
scream at us”
(p. 130). However, it is difficult to know when
the emotion ends and when the mood takes over in this situation since there is
no set level of intensity or other exact feature to distinguish the two
phenomena.
Mood Emotion
Duration Relatively long-term Relatively short-term
Time Pattern Gradual onset, continuous, tonic Rapid onset, episodic, phasic
Intensity Relatively weak Relatively
strong
Causation Not caused by specific events Caused by a specific event
Function Provides information about current Provides information about current
state of self state
of situation
Directedness Unfocussed Takes
specific object
Note. From Changing
Moods (p. 8), by B. Parkinson, P. Totterdell, R.B. Briner, & S.
Reynolds, 1996, New York: Addison, Wesley & Longman.
One key point that Parkinson
et al. (1996) define is ‘directedness’. A mood may stem from a directedness or
attention to a number of events, but an emotion will stem from a few or even a
single event. Therefore, a mood indicates a longer lasting feeling compared to
an emotion that comes and goes rather quickly with specific events. For
example, being rained on during a weekend canoe trip, for some people, may be
less than ideal and, when combined with the work of long portages and
mosquitoes, may result in people falling into an agitated mood. While in this
agitated mood, an emotion of wonder may arise suddenly from experiencing the
grand vista of a waterfall at the end of a portage. Hence, accumulative
negative or positive events may influence mood, while the directedness of
attention on fewer (often one) events influences emotion.
Furthermore, mood may be
viewed an indicator of a person’s perceived (and often real) capability of
handling the environmental circumstances. For example, a person who has been
feeling good has probably experienced positive events in the recent past as
opposed to someone who is feeling discouraged because of a build up of overly
challenging events or circumstances. Hence, a mood is also an indication of a
person’s ability to cope with environmental factors. On the other hand, an
emotion is an indicator of a person’s ability to deal with the immediate
situation, often taking priority over a mood.
Feelings are the verbal
descriptors of affect (Solomon, 2000). Hence, feelings are the adjectives used
in everyday language for describing the state or experienced affect, emotion,
or mood. For example, feelings such as being tired, sad, lonely, depressed,
happy, or elated are descriptors of affect described in everyday language.
Feelings (the adjectives of affect) will be considered more after the cognitive
aspects of emotion have been first discussed.
Object of emotion: The cognitive aspect of experiencing an emotion.
As noted earlier, to
experience an emotion, the emotion must have an object (Averill, 1996; Edwards
& Dickerson, 1987; Kenny, 1963; Mathews & Wells, 1999; Mogg &
Bradley, 1999; Parkinson, Totterdell, Briner, & Reynolds, 1996; Tallis,
1999; Tan, 2000). When considering the object of an emotion, a cognitive
component is involved. Without the cognitive aspect, there is no experience of
emotion. Furthermore, selective attention (on objects) is one of the most
central and influential aspects of psychological processes (Derryberry &
Tucker, 1994).
The process of experiencing an
emotion is as follows. A person (a) encounters an event or object and decides
if it is threatening, pleasant or other, (b) feels a resulting emotion, such as
being happy or fearful, and (c) is aware of the emotion being felt (Plutchik,
1984; Russell & Snodgrass, 1987). For example, if people on a winter-walk
in the woods come across a creek-bed to cross, they would (or should)
cognitively decide if it is safe to cross, have an accompanying emotion like
fear or caution, and lastly, be aware of the felt emotion (of fear). It is
clear from this example that emotions may have a functional aspect for safety
as well as the remembered emotional experience available for future
circumstances.
In contrast, Lewis (2000) states that biological
emotion-elicitors, like a blast of cold wind, may cause shivering, but feeling
cold is not commonly seen as an emotion or mood. Lewis’ example describes an
evolutionary (biological) response of emotion. Biological emotions are
objectless emotions, common to unconscious or instinctual reactions. The
experience of emotion does not occur with objectless emotions because the
cognitive aspect is absent, at least initially. Hence, a blast of cold wind may
make us cold and cause us to shiver, but this is a physiological response that
occurs whether or not we are aware of the cold initially. Furthermore, the cold
wind dictates how long the objectless emotion of being cold will last, not our
process of cognitively making the cold an object of emotion.
Another
example of an object of emotion is music to the interest of its listener. When
someone listens to a preferred piece of music, the music may be the object of
emotion and the resulting emotion may be one of interest. For the experience of
emotion to occur from music, the music (object) must be cognitively processed.
The question that begs to be answered now is why would background music affect
us if we were not focusing our attention on it (the object of our emotion)? If
we intermittently give our attention to the background music, the music may
become part of the ambience of the environment (to be discussed hereafter). In
this case, background music may affect us in terms of our mood with our object
of emotion focussed mostly elsewhere. Having emotion, mood, feeling and affect
defined is of value when considering the structure of an emotion, which will be
discussed next.
Bipolar, circumplex structure of affect.
To experience emotion requires a cognitive aspect,
where we first consider the circumstance (and object) and then experience an
emotion as an internal state (Russell, 1978). Although the cognitive element is
intertwined with felt emotions, the structure of the resulting emotion has been
considered independently as well. Studies using various measures (e.g.,
self-report scales) have been utilized to develop a bipolar circumplex model of
affect, which has generally been accepted among researchers (Parkinson,
Totterdell, Briner & Reynolds, 1996; Plutchik, 1984; Russell, 1980, 1997;
Russell & Bullock, 1985).
When considering a structural representation of emotion, the term emotion is usually avoided because of the confusion that may arise with the similar concept of mood. Hence, affect is used to describe the structure of an emotion, which therefore is also considered to represent mood in such models (Parkinson et al., 1996). A problem in labeling a bipolar model with the term affect is that such models have been validated in studies that often measure emotion, not mood. In other words, using an encompassing term like affect (that includes emotion, mood, and feeling) in a model that has been based on the more specific study of emotion is unsuitable. In light of this, Ekman (1994) argues that bipolar models are not strongly connected to moods; hence, affect (and mood) may not be represented in such models. However, this argument does not limit the relevance of bipolar models as far as emotions are concerned. As mentioned earlier, emotion and mood are closely related and arbitrarily defined from one another across varying measures of time, directedness, and intensity. However, Ekman’s point does highlight the need for careful consideration of methods and terms used in bipolar affect research, and in studies of emotion.
Russell (1980) and Parkinson et al. (1996) credit Schlosberg (1952) with devising the first circumplex structure of affect. Schlosberg had people view pictures of facial expressions in order to identify an expressed emotion. Schlosberg found that using a two dimensional model adequately defined the structure of emotion, utilizing the adjectives given by his participants. The dimensions used in Schlosberg’s model were a rejection-attention continuum (vertical axis) and a pleasant-unpleasant continuum (horizontal axis). Dimension has since been the term used for the continuum of opposing poles of bipolar models (Russell & Lemay, 2000). Hence, the pleasant-unpleasant continuum mentioned above would be considered one dimension and rejection-attention continuum another dimension.
Schlosberg (1952) demonstrated that some feelings were at opposite poles to one another, and yet others were not so negatively correlated. For example, happiness was found to be pleasant (and neutral on the rejection-attention axis) and anger, unpleasant (and neutral rejection-attention axis). Therefore happiness and anger were negatively correlated with one another and located at opposing poles of the pleasant-unpleasant dimension. Other terms, more positively (or negatively) related in meaning, grouped together at varying points in the model, in a circular fashion. Later on, Schlosberg (1954) added another dimension to his bipolar circumplex of affect. The third dimension to his model was entitled the degree of activation. However, because the third dimension was so similar to the dimension of rejection-attention, the original two dimensions (i.e., rejection-attention and pleasant-unpleasant) were the ones adopted by the majority of researchers.
Since Schlosberg (1952), Russell has been the most influential researcher in developing and utilizing the bipolar, circumplex structure of affect (Russell, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1997; Russel & Bullock, 1985; Russell & Snodgrass, 1987; Russell, Lewicka & Niit, 1989; Russell, Weiss & Mendelsohn, 1989).[3] Russell (1978) found that in data obtained from different methods of measuring the experience of affect, the dimensions of pleasure-displeasure and the degree of arousal were supported. In other words, the adjectives used to describe the experiences of affect fit into the bipolar structure. Russell (1980; Russell & Bullock, 1985), having found further support for bipolar dimensions, studied the circular structure that the adjectives used to describe affect formed in the circumplex. Similar to Schlosberg’s findings on the formed circular aspect of the bipolar
Figure 1.
Bipolar model of eight affects. Affects are
mapped relative to zero degrees.
Note. From “A cicumplex model of affect,” by J.A. Russell,
1980, Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, 39 (6), p. 1164.
structure of affect, Russell mapped
eight affects, structured in four dimensions as shown in Figure 1.
What has made Russell’s model lasting is probably its
flexibility and the relative lack of alternatives. However, similar mono-polar
models were at one time more broadly accepted (see Izard, 1972; McNair &
Lorr, 1964; Watson and Tellegen, 1985). But, unlike Watson and Tellegen’s
(1985) mono-polar model, affective terms in the bipolar model at ninety degrees
apart from one another may be related. Furthermore, affects that are not negatively
correlated or in opposition to any other known affect still have a place in the
bipolar model.
Russell has further developed his model by finding a total of 28 affects. Figure 2 demonstrates the circular shape of affects attained in Russell’s (1980) research. Based on the tenets of the bipolar dimensions of pleasant-unpleasantness and level of arousal, the imperfect circle locates the everyday words as offered by participants within a modeled structure of emotion. From the bipolar model given in Figure 1, Russell was able to locate similar adjectives in proximity to one another as shown in Figure 2. In this bipolar model, the adjectives rarely have an exact opposite, as in mono-polar models.
The relevance of developing such a structure of affect is that it offers the layperson and the researcher alike a model that describes the affective experience. Furthermore, in knowing the level of arousal and pleasantness associated with a given emotion, a researcher may be able to better predict the emotional possibilities of a given activity or event.
Figure
2. A
circumplex of affect.
Note. From “Emotion
and the environment” (p. 248) by J.A. Russell and J. Snodgrass, 1987, in D.
Stokols & I. Altman (Eds.), Handbook of environmental psychology, Toronto:
John Wiley & Sons.
In conclusion, the study of emotions is complex and involves diverse research traditions such as the study of biological emotions and the experience of emotion, which has a cognitive aspect. The language used to describe the experience of emotions is an important aspect in understanding the experience of others. Emotion differs from mood in that an emotion is relatively short lived and intense whereas a mood is less intense and always present. The two dimensions that can explain the structure of an experienced emotion are the level of arousal, and the level of pleasantness. A model showing the bipolar, circumplex structure of affect demonstrates where feelings (adjectives of emotion) on average are located with respect to one another as measured by levels of arousal and pleasantness. Next, I will consider the topic of changing an emotion or mood.
Managing mood.
As stated earlier, there is no one theory
of emotion or mood. Not surprisingly, then, studies on managing mood are sparse
often lacking consensus on even the most basic principles (Parkinson et al.,
1996; Thayer, 1996; Tice & Wallace, 2000).[4]
More
recently, however, some progress in the study of mood management has
occurred. For example, Parkinson and Totterdell
(1999) have considered mood management strategies and the journal, Psychological Inquiry (volume 11,
number 3), recently included a series of articles exploring the topic of mood
regulation. Arguably, however, the most comprehensive study of mood management
has been conducted by Thayer (1996).
Managing moods essentially requires being aware of a
present mood and pursuing behavioural or cognitive strategies to change or
sustain it (Parkinson & Totterdell, 1999; Thayer, 1996). Tice and
Bradtslasky (2000) believe that mood control is like a form of self-control
(e.g., like time management or dieting), which already has established theories
(see also Carver & Scheier, 1981). Hence, Tice and Bradtslasky propose that
mood control (like self-control) could entail three components: standards (or
appropriateness of a desired mood), monitoring of mood, and strength to direct
behaviour (Tice & Bradtslasky). Erber and Erber (2000a) echo the potential
value of considering the regulation of emotion (and mood) in terms of other
pre-established models of self-control.
Where people learn of attaining a desired mood varies
between the influences of societal expectancies (Erber & Erber, 2000b),
personal experience, and instinctual behaviour. Generally, people choose hedonistic
behaviours over behaviours that result in feeling bad (Erber & Erber,
2000b; Larson, 2000; Tice & Wallace, 2000). Moreover, Tice and
Bradtslasky’s (2000) review of the literature indicates that some people tend
to give priority to behaviours that affect their mood for the short-term, even
if their behaviour is self-destructive in the long-term. For example, people
may overeat for short term satisfaction, though they are aware of the long-term
consequences. Of course, hedonistic mood management could also include
behaviours with positive, long-term effects.
Thayer (1996) has outlined the basics of mood
management principles he discovered over years of investigation. Thayer’s
findings demonstrate that mood regulation is basically a function of increasing/decreasing
levels of energy while reducing levels of tension. For example, Thayer states
that a bad mood is representative of a low energy level and a high tension
level such that a reduction in the level of tension, combined with an altered
level of energy, would result in a better mood.
Potentially, Thayer’s (1996) two functions of mood
change (i.e., level of energy and reduced tension) and Russell’s (1987) two
dimensions of affect (i.e., level of arousal and level of pleasantness) overlap
one another. For example, Thayer’s ‘level of energy’ is similar in meaning to
Russell’s dimension (or level) of arousal. As well, Russell’s structure of
affect (Figure 2) uses Thayer’s term ‘tense’ as one of the descriptors at the
unpleasant end of the pleasantness dimension. This suggests, therefore, that a
level of tenseness may be comparable to the dimension of pleasantness. Thayer’s
(1996) theory of mood management is supported by his findings represented in
Tables 2, 3, and 4. These Tables specifically show behaviours that people use
to: (a) change a bad mood (see Table 2), (b) raise their energy level (see
Table 3), and (c) reduce their anxiety (see Table 4).
Table 2 demonstrates that the most common behaviours
used to change a bad mood are social interactions (54%) and thought control
(51%). Interestingly, the ranking of ‘listening to music’ (third position at
47%) and a ‘change of location’ (e.g., go outside, 44%) support the notion that
the outdoors and listening to music are commonly used to change a mood. In
support of the theory of mood change, Thayer’s (1996) analysis of
- Call, talk
to or be with someone (54%)
- Control
thoughts (e.g., think positively, concentrate on something else) (51%)
- Listen to Music (47%)
- Avoid the
thing (or person) causing the bad mood (47%)
- Try to be
alone (47%)
- Evaluate or
analyze the situation to determine mood cause (47%)
- Try to put
feelings in perspective (44%)
- Change location (e.g., go for a drive, go outside) (44%)
- Rest, take
a nap, close eyes, or sleep (42%)
- Exercise (this may include taking a walk) (37%)
Note. Behaviours ranked according to
percentage endorsing item. Table includes the top ten (of 29) ranked
behaviours. From The
Origin of Everyday Moods (p.117), by R.E. Thayer, 1996,
New York: Oxford
University Press.
these results found that 33% of behaviours were directly related to a change in energy and tension levels, 20% of behaviours were distractions to peoples attention (e.g., TV), and the remaining behaviours were related to cognitive (e.g., think positively) or social (e.g., talk to someone) processes. Thayer later questioned a panel of psychotherapists about his findings, which helped to verify his results and theory of mood change.
Table 3 (behaviours used to raise energy levels) also
shows the relevance of music and the outdoors in relation to mood change. To
‘go outside and get some fresh air’ (45%) is found to increase one’s alertness
or energy level. As well, ‘listening to music’ (41%) is found to increase one’s
alertness or energy level. As stated earlier, according to Thayer (1996),
changing a mood is basically comprised of changing one’s energy level and
reducing one’s tension level. Table 3 demonstrates that the outdoors and music
both raise energy levels. It would be interesting to study what people do to
foster a decrease in energy level, which may also change a bad mood. With the
many activities that people pursue in the outdoors, and the many types of music
that people listen to, it is foreseeable that energy levels may also drop by
participating in the aforementioned. For example, going to the outdoors to
study plants or to observe a sunrise may actually decrease ones energy to a
lower level initially. Listening to music that has a slow tempo and feels meditative
may also lower one’s initial energy level. Alternatively, listening to upbeat
music that makes one feel like dancing may increase one’s initial level of
energy.
Behaviours in Table 4 (lowering tension, nervousness,
or anxiety) are closely related to behaviours in Table 2 (i.e., changing a bad
mood), which suggests that a bad mood is more closely related to anxiety than
to the level of energy in a person. For example, the top three behaviours
in Tables 2 and 4 are the same, albeit
with slightly varying percentages.
It is confusing that a mood management theory would be
based on a decrease in tension. For instance, a person may embrace tension in
situations that are not perceived as bad or negative mood (e.g., running a set
of rapids in a canoe). Hence, it would seem to make sense that mood management
may not always include behaviours that seek to reduce tension levels.
Behaviours Used to Raise Alertness or Energy
- Rest, take
a nap, close eyes or sleep (68%)
- Take a
shower or bath or splash water on face (55%)
- Go outside and get some fresh air (45%)
- Do
something to keep busy (43%)
- Drink
coffee or other caffeinated beverage (41%)
- Listen to music (41%)
- Eat
something (37%)
- Exercise
(this may include taking a walk)(28%)
- Call, talk
to, or be with someone (28%)
- Control
thoughts (e.g., think calming thoughts, try not to think about
situation)(27%)
Note. Behaviours ranked according to percentage
endorsing item. Table includes the top ten (of 29) ranking behaviours. From The Origin of
Everyday Moods (p.126), by
R.E. Thayer, 1996, New York: Oxford University Press.
In conclusion, in this section I examined the meaning
of emotion and how listening to music and visiting the outdoors affects
people’s emotions. In the next section, I will specifically consider how
emotions are affected by listening to music and how emotions are affected by
being in natural settings.
Behaviours Used to Reduce Nervousness, Tension, or Anxiety
- Call, talk
to, or be with someone (59%)
- Control
thoughts (e.g., think calming thoughts, try not to think about
situation)(58%)
- Listen to music (53%)
- Exercise
(this may include taking a walk)(44%)
- Use
relaxation techniques (44%)
- Rest, take
a nap, close eyes or sleep (37%)
- Engage in
nervous behaviour (e.g., pacing, biting nails)(31%)
- Engage in
stress management activities (e.g., get organized, plan ahead)(31%)
- Tend to
chores (e.g., housework)(27%)
- Watch TV or
a movie (27%)
Note. Behaviours ranked according to
percentage endorsing item. Table includes the found top ten (of 22) ranking
behaviours. From The Origin of Everyday Moods (p.128), by R.E. Thayer, 1996, New York: Oxford
University Press.
Music and Emotion
Davies (1994) poses the question why do people concern themselves with listening to music even when it may make them sad? A search for the answer would explore the aesthetics of the arts and follow a trail of philosophical explanations of how, when, and why music has its greatest impact. Levinson (1990) offers eight benefits of listening to music (that express negative emotions) as follows: 1) apprehending expression, 2) emotional catharsis, 3) savoring feeling, 4) understanding feeling, 5) emotional assurance (i.e., support), 6) emotional resolution, 7) expressive potency, and 8) emotional communion (with artist). DeNora (2000) found that, when interviewed on the topic of music in daily life, people seemed to just know what they needed emotionally and, furthermore, people can self-program their music material to suit emotional needs.
Emotional response is central to understanding why we concern ourselves with music. Maybe, as DeNora (2000) found, people can consume music like a drug to attain or accompany an emotion. In an attempt to clarify how music affects us emotionally, I will consider topics important to understanding how music, emotion, and the listener are linked. Following is a discussion on aesthetics, the experience of the listener, and the object of emotion.
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a line of philosophy that is concerned with different aspects of art, including creativeness, expressiveness, art forms, and the effects of art. Discussions in aesthetics have explored why the expressed emotions in art (and music) do not seem to generate corresponding emotions in the receiver. For example, the sadness a listener encounters from a piece of music may not be genuine sadness, but rather a type of sadness unique to the arts. The effect of a piece of art, a painting for example, may be believed to reflect a certain emotion, like sadness. However, the feeling of sadness that the onlooker feels may not be a genuine emotion of sadness, even if they are highly affected by the work.
Philosophers of aesthetics use descriptive terms to express different types of emotions, as follows: anaemic emotion (Davies, 1994), emotion-like emotions (Levinson, 1990), the sadness in the St. Bernard’s face (Kivy, 1980), and the redness to the apple (Bouwsma, 1965). I have chosen the above terms because prominent music philosophers who have published works on music and aesthetics use these terms. I will next briefly consider the aforementioned terms as they relate to how music is experienced by the listener.
An anaemic emotion is a watered down version of an emotion. The emotion experienced may be the emotion of sadness, but in a form that does not tend to exhibit the behavioural characteristics of the sad emotion (Davies, 1994). For example, in the case of listening to sad music, a listener may connect with the piece of music and believe that it is sad music, and then feel anaemic sadness, but not become fully sad or as sad as the expressed emotion. Hence, anaemic emotions may offer us some insight as to why someone would listen to sad music; that is, perhaps it offers an experience of an emotion in the volume we can handle without becoming sad.
An alternative view to an anaemic emotion is an emotion-like emotions where the emotion is depersonalized, and the listener is separated from the real emotion (Levinson, 1990). In the case of listening to sad music, a listener may believe that they are hearing sad music, and may think that they are sad because of the music. However, the emotions they are feeling do not touch them in the same way, they do not become sad. What the listener experiences then is a sad emotion unique to the arts (and music). Perhaps, this is like a “virtual sadness”.
A similar proposal to the emotion-like explanation of emotions is what Kivy (1980) calls the sadness in the St. Bernard’s face, or what Bouwsma’s (1965) calls the redness to the apple. The sadness in a St. Bernard’s face suggests that the St. Bernard is sad; however, it is only a surface feature and not a true indicator of the inner reality (as is redness to the apple). For example, in music, a listener may only be capable of recognizing a common emotion expressed in a piece of music, but that emotion is not transferred to the listener. Hence, the music is understood as expressing a basic emotion, but does not result in the listener feeling the same emotion. Likewise, Bouwsma (p. 49) describes this phenomena, the sadness in music is more like the redness to the apple, than “the burp to the cider”
Whether
the emotion is anaemic, emotion-like, virtual, or the sadness in the St.
Bernard’s face, music philosophers seem at odds with one another as to how
people really experience emotion in music. However, it appears clear that the
expressed emotion in music is different, to some degree, than the emotion felt
by the listener.
Theories of how we listen to music.
In consideration of music’s expressive possibilities,
Davies (1994) relates how a
listener responds to music in his arousal theory as follows:
M
is E = M evokes E in Labc, where M is music, E is
emotion, L is listener and abc represents the relevant
circumstances of the listener (p. 187).
Potentially, Davies’ equation offers a good starting point for
considering how music and emotion relate to the listener.
If music is expressive of emotion (i.e., M is E),
then it is only true if the particular piece of music evokes an emotional
response in the listener. The listener, however, is bound to the circumstance (Labc).
The listener’s circumstance, whatever it may be, dictates whether the music is
expressive of an emotion, perhaps unique to the listener. The circumstance of
the listener forces us to consider music as not a universally, expressive
language. In all, Davies’ arousal theory questions whether music is absolutely
expressive of the same emotion for everyone and shows us that listener’s
circumstance plays an important role.
In a similar vein,
Jerrold Levinson (1990, p. 320) describes listening conditions necessary for a
powerful, emotional response to music as being: (a) the music should be in a
familiar style, but not to the extent that the familiarity evokes boredom, (b)
the listener needs to be focused on the music, and (c) the listener should
possess a receptive attitude to the music, and be willing to identify with the
music. Levinson’s first condition may be considered to involve the importance
of cultural or ethnic backgrounds, as the listener needs to be familiar with
the style and other aspects of the music. Furthermore, Levinson states that if
a listener is familiar with how an instrument is played, in what context, and
even how it feels and is made, greater appreciation of the music may result
(see also Qureshi, 2000). Studies on the preference of music in different
cultures and ethnic groups support Levinson’s claim regarding familiarity
(Brittin, 1996; McCrary, 1993).
Levinson’s second
condition separates background music from foreground music. For example, this may be the difference
between the ambient music in shopping centres to that of dance clubs, where
attention is somewhat coerced by loud music. Lastly, the third condition
relates the situational context, deciding if the listener is willing and capable
of relating to the music. For example, people who are unfamiliar with the rave
scene and prefer classical music anyway may avoid rave music.
Levinson’s (1990)
conditions of listening necessary for a powerful emotional response to music
reinforce Davies’ (1994) arousal theory by emphasizing the importance of the
individual. In addition, Kivy (1999) adds that the listener needs to like the
music if emotions are to be affected. This seems like an obvious inclusion, but
Kivy’s point emphasizes the important considerations of musical preference and
familiarity. Hence, without liking the piece of music, a listener, at most, may
become annoyed by hearing it, or may simply ignore it.
Intentional Object of
Emotion
The listener’s intentional object of emotion during
the music will highly influence the type of emotional response (Davies, 1994;
Kivy, 1999; Levinson, 1990) and therefore a person’s emotional response is
difficult to predict. For instance, as freely as thoughts come and go, so do
the potential objects of our emotion. If our thoughts have an overall theme
(e.g., sad memories) our emotion would likely be one of sadness. Conversely, if
there is a combination of happy and sad memories (objects), it becomes more
difficult to predict the resulting emotion in any realistic manner. Emotions
may be the result of various objects including memories and objects in our
surroundings.
For instance, in studies combining objects, like
listening to music and viewing paintings, Limbert and Polzella (1998) and
Stratton and Zalanowski (1989) found music to be a powerful intensifier of the
emotion believed to be exhibited in the painting. Stratton and Zalanowski found
that music actually dictated the emotion that the participants believed to be
expressed by the painting. Their findings suggest that the intentional object
of emotion for participants was more focused on the music than the paintings
with the audible senses being more influential than visual stimuli. Limbert and
Polzell’s study found that when the painting was accompanied with music that
matched the apparent expressed emotion in the painting, the emotion expressed
in the painting was intensified. Similarly, McKinney (1990), in a study on
music and imagery, found that music intensified emotions.
The source of the music may be a prominent object and
the focus of the listener’s attention. For instance, the instrument used to
create the music, as well as the performer, may be the focus of attention and
may elicit memories and meanings associated with the instrument and its
culture. For example, Qureshi (2000) found that the sarangi (an Indian musical
instrument) was considered as an “intense icon of affect” (p. 805), embedded in
religious, political, cultural and social meanings. Interestingly, Qureshi
describes musical sound as to “immediately evoke a situated experience” (p.
810) inferring, therefore, that music as an object (and the type instrument
played) may connect cognitive thoughts to specific cultures and meanings.
Stokes (as cited in Qureshi) states that music is unmatched by any other social
activity in doing this.
In the case where
people vary their focus of attention (e.g., from music to memories, to
interest, to an instrument and its culture, to their natural surroundings) the
resulting emotion is the combined effect of each of the objects focussed on.
Therefore, any feelings associated with each object will combine in some
fashion to create an experience which is almost impossible to predict by
others.
Nature
and Emotion
Aspects of the environment that affect people’s
emotions are by and large unexplored (McIntyre & Roggenbuck, 1998; Russell
& Snodgrass, 1987; Staats, Gatersleben & Hartig, 1997; Ulrich, 1983).
Moreover, the overall effect of the many would-be objects of emotion in a
natural environment makes understanding the resulting emotion rather complex
(Russell & Snodgrass, 1987). In an attempt to categorize the objects that
people focus on in an natural environment, Borrie (as cited in McIntyre &
Roggenbuck, 1998, p. 403) groups the objects as follows: (a) nature as place,
(b) self, (c) others, (d) emotions and affect, (e) task or activity.[5]
However Borrie’s groupings,
if considered together, would make my
thesis overly complex. Of particular interest for my study, then, are the
affective qualities of the natural environment.
The features of the
natural environment upon which
people appraise the affective qualities of the place (i.e., the ambience),
affect people’s relationship to the environment (McIntyre & Roggenbuck,
1998; Russell & Snodgrass, 1987; Ulrich, 1983). To further explore the
affective qualities of the natural environment, I will first consider the
temporality of emotion in the natural environment. Following will be a
discussion of the complexity of a natural area as it is related to people’s
emotional preferences. Lastly, I will discuss the descriptors used by people to
describe the affective qualities of a natural environment.
Temporality,
Emotion and the Natural Environment
The concept of time is both
objective and subjective, with the latter being more relevant to an experienced
emotion. Affective experiences attained from the natural environment (and
music) then are inherently intertwined with the subjective elements of
time. Hence, the affective response to
a natural environment changes and is changed by the experience of time. However, few studies in the area of
nature-based leisure have considered the ever-present issue of lived time as it
interacts with activities or events.
Lived time is one of four existentialisms identified by Merleau-Ponty (1962; see also Van Manen, 1997).[6] In other words, temporality is a life-world theme believed to be present in every culture and social structure. For instance, in many modern societies, people have clocks as reminders of time strapped to their wrists, in their cars, and on the walls. Moreover, the objective elements of time organize our daily routines—we live by it. But how do people experience time? Lived time is not always experienced objectively through hours and minutes; rather, time is experienced in subjective ways. For instance, when we enjoy ourselves, time “speeds-up”; when we are bored, time “slows-down” (Van Manen, 1997).
Additionally, emotions experienced during events become molded into the past, future, and present. For instance, an emotion is affected by the learned experiences of previous events and emotions; as well, an emotion is affected by the anticipation of a future emotion. Hence, the temporality of an experienced emotion is not bound objectively to time, but rather, subjectively to events, which, in hindsight, create our “emotional biographies” (Denzin, 1984, p. 79).
Although most studies in the area of nature-based leisure measure experience in a pre and/or post hoc manner (McIntyre, 1998; McIntyre & Roggenbuck, 1998), a few studies have attempted to capture the experience as it unfolds (i.e., see Hull, Michael, Walker & Roggenbuck, 1996; Hull & Michael, 1995; McIntyre & Roggenbuck, 1998; McIntyre, 1998). For example, Hull et al. (1996) found aspects of time to be as important as the activity and the type of environment participating in. Hull et al. (1996) believed peak episodes of an experience could occur at any point; hence, it was deemed important to measure the experience at different points (i.e., at four points, being the beginning and end as well as every 15-30 minutes). Likewise, Hull, Stewart, and Yi (1992) measured the recreation experience of a day hike at 12 points and found that moods and the perceived scenic beauty of the landscape changed throughout the day.
With respect to the temporality of emotion, Ulrich (1983) has modelled the affective response to the natural environment (see Figure 3). Ulrich’s model begins with people’s initial mood prior to assessment of the natural environment. Initial mood states influence how we evaluate objects and environments (Russell & Snodgrass, 1987).[7] However, an emotion may also be greatly influenced at the onset of seeing the natural environment in a like/dislike feeling that precedes cognitive processes.
Ulrich identified this pre-cognitive affective response as “preferenda” (see also Zajonc, 1980). Preferenda may occur very quickly requiring little stimuli. For example, if a person visited a forest that had a lot of broken tree limbs dangling overhead, the emotional response may be one of dislike, as a result of the potential danger.
One limitation of Ulrich’s (1983) model, as well as other studies on environment and affect, is that only visual perceptions of the environment are considered. Objects of our other senses, like olfactory and taste, hearing, and touch are mostly uncharted; although Ittelson (as cited in Taylor, 1990) advises that all environmental perception related research should include multiple senses and focuses of attention. Russell and Snodgrass (1987) concur with Ittelson, stating an environment is experienced in many ways, including the subconscious effects of chemicals breathed, natural light exposure, colours and the related symbolic meanings that affect people’s emotions. I will next discuss studies that have included visual affects of natural environments.
Figure
3. Model of
affective response to a natural environment over time.
Note. From “Aesthetic and Affective Response to
Natural Environment,” (p. 91) by R.S.
Ulrich (1983), in I. Altman & J.F.
Wohlwill (Eds.), Behaviour and the natural environment (chap. 3), New
York: Plenum Press.
Complexity
of a Natural Environment and Consequential Affect
Hull, Stewart, and Yi (1992) found that, as people hiked through various types of landscapes, their moods were affected. Other studies (Staats, Gatersleben & Hartig’s, 1997; Ulrich, 1983)[8] support Hull et al.’s findings, and furthermore, found that the complexity of natural landscapes is a factor to the affective qualities of an area. Studies involving the affective aspects of a natural environment tend to group the objects of the place together. For example, objects like the horizon or crawling insects alone are not considered apart from the overall ambience of the place. The ambience of the place is what researchers seem to equate with the complexity of the place.
Complexity in a natural environment is related to the number of independently received objects able to be seen, the relative difficulty of movement, and the difficulty of orienteering oneself (Ulrich, 1983; Staats, Gatersleben & Hartig, 1997). Complexity is also linked to the density of the area (Staats et al., 1997). For example, an open field on a hillside would be considered low in complexity (and density) because of the ease of navigating over obstacles and orienteering, thereby requiring fewer objects to be necessarily focused on. In contrast, a narrow trail through dense brush with a lot of obstructions would be considered highly complex because of the difficulty of navigation and orienteering, thereby requiring close attention to objects (e.g., fallen trees and brush to walk through and other landscape features for orienteering direction).
The complexity of an environment has also been considered in terms of the consequential emotional response, and therefore, also by dimensions of arousal and pleasantness. For instance, Staats, Gatersleben and Hartig (1997) found that, when a natural landscape is complex, the levels of arousal increase and a lack of orientation decreases the pleasantness of the area. Moreover, Ulrich (1983) states that the qualities of complexity and pleasantness, together, form an inverted-U, where environments that are either high or low in complexity are unpleasant. Ulrich also found natural areas that appear to be low in complexity (e.g., a field that is easy to navigate and orientate) might even lead to boredom. Ulrich (1983) concludes that a mixed forest with some views is the most pleasing. Conversely, Rosegrant (1976) found that types of religious experiences occur when the setting is communal (e.g., a vista or area where the works of nature are visible on a large scale, like a mountaintop or dessert). In other words, areas of low complexity may evoke emotional responses as well.
In all,
the complexity of an area appears to affect people emotionally when traveling
over the landscape (i.e., going from point A to point B) is of issue. However,
as Rosegrant (1976) found, people who are not traveling over the landscape may
well find pleasure in the simplicity of a field of wildflowers, or in the
vastness of deserts, oceans, and lakes. Furthermore, dense brush may also be of
interest and of pleasure for those who enjoy bird watching or looking for
animal signs and tracks. Hence, depending on the activity involved and the
interests of the individuals, various aspects of the natural environment may
affect people’s emotions.
Descriptors
of Affect in a Natural Environment
Regardless of the activity, the terms that people use to describe the affective qualities of a natural environment may be the best indicator of their experience. Russell and Lanius’s (1984) model (see Figure 4) illustrates the various natural environment adjectives of affect as related to one another on a circumplex (along the dimensions of pleasantness and arousal). The terms included in the model are the affective appraisals of a natural environment; hence, some of the words, like “repulsive”, “pretty”, and “monotonous” may not sound like adjectives of emotion.
Because an affective appraisal of a natural environment is closely linked to the experienced emotion, some confusion may arise (Russell & Snodgrass, 1987). The confusion stems from not knowing the difference between someone stating an opinion of how an environment would probably make them feel, and the feeling someone acquires from actually experiencing the affective properties of the place. For instance, a person may look at an image (picture) of a natural environment and state that the place is affectively pretty or serene without ever having been to that place. But descriptors like pretty (or serene) take on affective meaning by the relative position of the term on the circumplex. Hence, pretty is closely related in meaning to the terms pleasing and nice. The emotion the natural environment conjures in this case then has a neutral level of arousal and is highly pleasing. This confusion of the real or appraised emotion of a natural environment is analogous to the real or appraised emotion heard in music. For instance, when people describe a song as being pretty or beautiful, are they saying that they can identify that the song has pretty aspects to it, or are they feeling that emotion?
Figure
4. Descriptors
of affective qualities of places. The
star represents area of interest.
Note. From “Adaption level and the affective appraisal of
environments” by J.A. Russell
and U.F. Lanius, 1984, Journal of Environmental Psychology, 4, 119-135.
Conclusion
Interestingly, when people were asked, during Thayer’s
(1996) study, which activity that they found to be the most ‘successful’
behaviour for reducing anxiety, religious or spiritual activity prevailed,
followed by music. Change in affect by spiritual aspects or music listening
behaviours was also supported in an earlier study by Greeley (1975) that
considered trigger behaviours for ‘religious experiences’. The most effective
trigger was ‘listening to music’, followed closely by experiencing the
‘beauties of nature’. Once again, it is apparent that listening to music and
the outdoors (natural environments) are high on the list of behaviours that
affect people emotionally.
Listening to music was acknowledged by Thayer (1996)
to be a surprising result that revealed music–related activities as effective
mood regulators. However, in consideration of Thayer’s data, I would suggest
that ‘listening to music’ was one of the more impressive behaviours of mood
change. For instance, if we consider all three of Thayer’s tables (i.e., Tables
2, 3 & 4), ‘listening to music’ is the most consistent behaviour used by
people to alter aspects of their mood, followed by ‘call or talk to someone’
and ‘control thoughts’.
Thayer (1996) points out that when people were asked
which activities were the most effective, ‘exercise’ was the dominant behaviour
for changing bad moods, energy levels, and reducing anxiety. But, ‘exercise’
was consistently ranked lower than ‘listening to music’ by people in their
actual behaviours used to alter moods (in Tables 2, 3 & 4). However, Thayer
points out that listening to music, talking with someone, and cognitive
approaches were effective overall as well.
Behaviours related to
the outdoors ranked well if we consider that going outside and getting fresh
air, as well as getting exercise (including a walk) are related to most
activities that occur during nature-based leisure. For example, nature-based
leisure activities may include being out in the fresh air while walking,
backpacking, portaging, climbing, or paddling.
The object of emotion (i.e.,
the cognitive aspect) is central to the experience of emotion. The experience
of an emotion includes three steps as previously mentioned, there being: (a) an
encounter and a decision about a present event or circumstance (object) as
being pleasant or otherwise, (b) a resulting emotion, and (c) being aware of
the emotion felt. Basically the structure of this resulting emotion can be
described in terms of its dimensions of pleasure-displeasure and
arousal-sleepiness continuums. Russell’s (1987) circumplex of affect, shown in
Figure 2, shows various examples of different affects and the resulting
placement on the aforementioned dimensions.
Managing
an emotion or a mood requires that people are aware of their mood and pursue
behaviours to alter or sustain it. Similar in part to the structure of affect,
mood
change is conceptualised as follows: a
change in the level of energy and a reducing of tension. Basically, the emotion
is experienced, and then acted upon. This may be done through the use of music
(a particularly powerful behaviour for changing affect) and various other
behaviours.
Lastly,
the experience of emotion has been considered structurally along the dimensions
of pleasure-displeasure and arousal-sleepiness. The adjectives commonly used by
people to describe their emotions have been located on these dimensions.
Methods
In my review of the literature, I considered the relationship between emotion to both the experience of the natural environment and to the experience of listening to music. Similarly, Denzin (1984) believes the study of emotionality should reside fundamentally in all human disciplines. The phenomenological method is particularly suitable for studies involving the experience of emotion because uncovered meanings of the phenomenon remain closely linked to the lived experience, which is recounted through thick descriptions (Denzin). Hence, after reading the phenomenological account, a person should better understand how the phenomenon is experienced. Because the phenomenological method is not commonly used in the area of nature-based leisure, I will briefly introduce some aspects of phenomenological research methods followed by a detailed approach to my methods including: the data collection process, data analysis and synthesis, and discussion of findings sections.
To explore my
research question (i.e., what is the experience and meaning of a nature-based
leisure event that incorporates (live) music), I sought the experiences of
those who have utilized music during a nature-based leisure event. In so doing, valuable insights were gained
into another way people experience the natural environment. Emotional connections to the natural
environment are valuable in that such connections may lead to behaviours that protect
natural ecosystems. Hence, this type of research would be of interest for
others involved with music, environmental, and nature-based leisure research,
as well as outdoor recreational leaders and individuals interested in as much.
Phenomenological
Research Methods
Edmond Husserl is generally credited as being the
person who developed phenomenology (Macann, 1993). The term phenomenology stems
from the Greek word “phainomenon” which means an “appearance” (Stewart &
Mickunas, 1990, p. 3). Appearance of objects in our consciousness is how we experience
the lived world and our consciousness is always directed toward an object
(commonly referred to as intentionality). Thus, the phenomenological method
differs from the natural scientific approach in that it focuses directly on the
lived experience as it “appears” in the consciousness.
Denzin (1984) further clarifies the differences between natural scientific methods and phenomenological methods that consider emotions as follows: (a) emotion must be researched as a lived experience (qualitative method), (b) the natural scientific approach concerning emotions must be set aside and variables and factors are not sought, (c) the essence of emotion should be sought and vigilantly described, with universal features interpreted, and (d) the research process is neither completely inductive (i.e., create a theory from the facts) nor deductive (i.e., from theory consider the facts and create hypotheses) but rather it involves intuition, investigation and understanding (p. 11-12). In addition, imposing experimental designs or prefabricated surveys is considered to alter and impose upon the actual experience as it would otherwise be lived and expressed (Van Manen, 1997; Moustakas, 1994). Hence, the phenomenological method has the researcher consider everyday situations in the context lived, thereby remaining closely grounded in the “lived experience”.
Van Manen (1997) and Moustakas (1994) claim that a phenomenological method is most clearly indicated through its data analysis procedures. Although there are no fixed or standard methods employed in phenomenological investigations, I will next discuss some of the general processes, and then describe the specifics of my data analysis approach.
Phenomenological
Processes
Moustakas (1994) describes the general processes of phenomenological methods as including epoche, reduction, imaginative variation, and synthesis.
The epoche is a state-of-mind where the researcher remains open to the possible meanings that may arise from the research. In other words, the challenge of epoche is to break free from our prejudgments (and theories) about an experience or phenomena so that we may experience it freshly, and with an open mind (also referred to as “bracketing”). However, it is impossible to break free from one’s orientation to a phenomenon completely—even words in our consciousness have the interpretations of language and meaning.
Reduction begins when remembered feelings, thoughts, and images of an experience are expressed, a process where the original meanings are blurred or reduced through the medium of language. Hence, the ability of a person to describe an event along with the researcher’s ability to capture and present the meanings is critical. This process begins as a purely descriptive project, where the original language and meanings are preserved (Giorgi, 1985; Ashworth, 1996). This initial reduction is sometimes called horizonalization, where all meanings are considered equally important (Moustakas, 1994).
Next, is the interpretive process of imaginative variation where the horizon of meaning units is considered from different perspectives. Then, upon critical reflection, themes and structures of the experience are developed from the meaning units (Husserl, 1970). Lastly, the synthesis of all the data is combined and presented to expose the essence(s) of the phenomena.
Taken as a whole, Van Manen (1997) describes a good phenomenological representation as being composed of lived experience, recollects lived experience, is validated by lived experience, and validates lived experience (sometimes called the validating circle of enquiry). In what follows, I outline my data collection process, data analysis, and summary sections.
Data Collection Process
This section
includes my sampling frame, gaining consent and rapport, data collection,
recording and storing data.
Sampling
Frame
Participants were
purposely selected to include adults with at least one experience in bringing
and playing a musical instrument (including song) during a nature-based leisure
outing. One example of an acceptable participant would be a person who has
taken and played a harmonica on a short walk in a natural area. Another example
may be a person who engages in song on an extended camping trip. People who
bring artificially produced music (e.g., recordings of music) were not included
in this study.
Once it was established that an
individual met the above criteria, preference was given to someone who had
experienced the phenomenon within the last year (in order to improve his or her
ability to recollect experiences). Finally, if the individual met the criteria
stated above, preference was given to achieving a diverse group (e.g.,
diversity may be achieved through different types of instruments and
nature-based leisure contexts utilized). In an attempt to attain the essence of
the experience, eight to ten participants (Creswell, 1998) were sought for this
study.
Locating individuals to participate in study.
Finding individuals
to participate in this study was accomplished by looking in suitable locations.
In light of the fact that the research was performed in Edmonton, it was
appropriate to search for people who lived there (i.e., were geographically
feasible). Places that would find people involved in nature-based leisure
activities were various popular “trailheads” to natural areas, stores that sell
outdoor equipment, outing clubs, and “email groups” on the Internet. Likewise,
a search for participants at music stores and clubs were appropriate for
finding individuals who may favoured music in conjunction with nature-based
leisure. A brief description of the study, basic participant requirements, and
a contact phone number and e-mail address were provided (see Appendix B).
Consent
and Rapport
Once an individual made contact and demonstrated interest in
becoming a participant, a more detailed explanation of the study was offered.
Upon being chosen, the participant was informed of his or her rights with
respect to participating in the study and was required to give their written
consent, outlining their willingness
to participate in the study (see Appendix C and D). Consent forms approved by
the University of Alberta Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation Ethics
Committee were used.
Data
Collection
As is common in a
phenomenological study, interviews (and possible follow-up interviews) with
open-ended questions were used (Henderson 1990; Kvale 1996; McPhail 1995).
Open-ended questions allow adequate freedom for people to recount their
experience through stories. Moreover, Chase (1995) states that people often
relate meanings through stories even when given close-ended questions. This may
be the result of close-ended questions that do not adhere to the experiences of
the participants and, consequently, are answered in a way that is relevant to them.
Hence, asking participants overly specific questions may not be sensitive to
their unique perspective.
When the situation
arose where interviews were not possible, then the data was collected through a
written account. In a similar manner, Fischer
(1985), in a phenomenological study on self-deception, asked participants to
make a journal-like entry of a time when they tried to deceive themselves.
After the journal entry was handed back to the researcher, it was looked over
and (if deemed necessary) there was a follow-up entry. The follow-up entry
asked for elaboration on points that the participant had initially written. Van
Manen (1997) states that the process of writing acts to stimulate memories of
events, but cautions that this method also stimulates unrelated topics.
In what follows, I
will outline the interview process in three chronological steps: preparatory
steps and questions, briefing the interviewee and gaining rapport, and during
the interview process itself.
Preparatory
steps and question.
In
preparation for the interaction, it is essential that issues like the meeting
place and the question be thought through and organized.
The meeting place (and time) for the interview was determined through e-mails or phone calls arranged well in advance of the interview date. I favoured holding the interview in a natural environment (e.g., an urban park). The benefits of holding interviews in natural area’s is that it may prompt memories of the experience that they are to relate. Moreover, the natural environment is less formal for an interview that may work to attaining a better set of data on sensitive or personal stories.
I asked the interviewee to bring their favoured instrument (i.e., one previously used in an nature-based leisure event—including voice). The reasoning for this is to evoke memories and feelings of past experiences (i.e., a nature-based leisure events combined with music), and as a prop to help break-the-ice. As well, I brought an instrument to the meeting.
As stated earlier, my research question is:
What is the emotional experience of a nature-based leisure event, which
incorporates (live) music? The primary
question put forth to the interviewee then, was as follows: Please tell me
about an experience that you have had in which you brought and played a musical
instrument (or song) during a nature outing.
Briefing the
interviewee and gaining rapport.
At
the earliest stages of the interview (prior to asking questions), it is
appropriate to gain rapport, inform the interviewee of the interview process
(Moustakas, 1994). Henderson 1990; Kvale 1996; McCracken 1988), and ensure the
consent form is reviewed and signed. Aspects of the interview process
emphasized included: the reasons for recording the interview, the length of the
interview, how the study will be put to use, asking if there are any questions,
explaining the meanings of words that may be difficult to interpret (such as
nature-based leisure), and the reasons why they were chosen for the study.
The interview process was organized by an itinerary, which acted as the framework for the interview. It contained the structure of the interview, the interview question, and probes. Appendix A, the Interview Itinerary, illustrates this. The interview itinerary begins with objective features like the meeting place, date, and time that helped with organizing the data after the interviewing process has been completed.
Furthermore, if necessary, the participant
was offered guidance towards the type of information that is sought from them. The guidance offered was similar to the
advice that Van Manen (p. 54-65) offers to researchers as follows: (a) describe the
experience as it was lived, (b) include feelings, moods, emotions, and
cognitive aspects, (c) choose a specific event that is still vivid, and (d)
include multiple sensory descriptions. In conclusion, once a desirable level of
comfort had been established, the interview began.
If
the participant did not describe the experience in sufficient depth or detail,
probes were used. Moustakas (1994) outlines a series of probing questions that
can help attain a richer data set during a phenomenological study interview.
Adapted from Moustakas’ aforementioned outline, I used the following probes if
needed:
(a) What about this
experience stands out for you?
(b) How did this experience
affect you at the time?
a. Did you find the music
arousing in any way?
b. Was the music creating
feelings of pleasantness in some way?
(c) What were you feeling
during the experience?
a. How were you feeling
before, during, and after the music was played?
(d) What were you
concentrating on throughout the experience?
a. How did concentrating
on ______ make you feel?
(e) Can you describe any details as experienced by your other senses?
(f) What made you decide to play the music when you did?
a. Were you trying to attain a particular mood?
(g) Describe the area that you were in.
a. Was there anything about the place that encouraged you to play the music?
(h) How did the area affect the music?
(i) Approximately how long did the music last?
a. Did any part of the surroundings appear different after the music stopped?
i. Did the way you experienced your surroundings change at all?
(j) How did this experience
affect the people who were with you?
(k) Overall, what words best describe your feelings before, during, and after playing the music?
(l) Is there any part of the experience that you have left out?
During the interview
and probes.
During
the interview, aspects that required attention were engaging in epoche and the
interviewer’s mannerisms. As stated
earlier, the challenge of epoche is to remain open-minded, bracketing
prejudgments about the questions discussed. Chase (1990) suggests that the
interviewer should demonstrate thoughtfulness and interest in the participant’s
responses during the interview, as these characteristics may lead the
interviewee to offer rich responses. Lastly, an interviewer should be a good
listener, as opposed to taking up too much time speaking.
When it appears that the interview has come to an end, Kvale (1996) proposes that closing remarks may include: a description of what has been covered during the interview and an offer of one last chance to add to what has been said. As well, the interviewee may be reminded that she/he is welcome to view the completed study and should also be reminded of the possibility of another interview in the future. Finally, interviewees should be thanked for their time.
Recording
Information
Typical
of interviewing procedures, the interview process was audio taped with a
recorder capable of recording in the interview environment. If the interview
setting was noisy, individual microphones for both the interviewer and
interviewee were supplied. The microphone was tested prior to the commencement
of the interview in the interview environment to ensure that the quality of the
recording was adequate. Other considerations included ensuring that the
recording device had a good power source, be it from battery power or
electricity. Another consideration was be to ensure that the tapes were labeled
with dates and names prior to use.
Besides
the recording of the interview, notes were taken after the interview. This
aspect of data collection is of considerable worth, as it records various
aspects not picked-up by the recording device (Kvale, 1996). The aspects
included body language or the uneasiness of the interviewee. It was useful for
recording the impressions of the interviewer and to describe the context of the
particular interview.
Organizing
the Data
Organizing
the data that has been collected during the research process is imperative.
Loss of data may result in frustration or, worse, the termination of the study.
All data, then, was organized efficiently so as to be easy to retrieve.
Furthermore, backup copies of the data safeguarded against a loss of original
data. The original data collected in this study included audiotapes and text.
Organizing
the data in an efficient manner was also accomplished by creating a chart that
tracked the data. The chart aided to quickly acquire a visual representation of
the research process, including dates, activities as well as where to find any
of the data collected. In so doing, a better understanding of the overall study
was achieved. All identifying information was removed to protect the anonymity
of participants. Finally, the primary data materials (i.e., field notes,
interview taped recordings, and written accounts) were locked separate from
secondary materials (i.e., analysis and subsequent drafts).
After
each interview was completed, the tape was transcribed verbatim. All hand
written texts taken during the research process was also typed. The complete interview itinerary, including
the notes taken during and after the interview were transcribed. All original
notes, including the interview itinerary was saved and duplicated as an added safeguard.
Furthermore, all data, both audio-recorded and hand written, that had been
converted into digital format were copied onto a computer disk. Two copies of
the digital data were produced, one of which was stored at a place other than
the researcher’s residence to further protect against an unforeseen
calamity.
Data
Analysis and Synthesis
Amongst various
possible approaches, I have chosen to base my data analysis procedure on
Moustakas’ (1994). Although Moustakas offers little direction on how to synthesize
the data, Van Manen (1997) offers alternative synthesizing approaches. After
briefly describing Moustakas’ methods, I will tentatively discuss how the
synthesis of data may occur, with the final decision presented in a later
section.
One aspect of
Moustakas’ (1994) data analysis approach is the inclusion of the researcher’s
experience. A phenomenological study is often strongly connected to the
interests and experiences of the researcher (Van Manen, 1997; Moustakas);
hence, if the researcher first considers her/his own account, the researcher
may perceive the account of others on the same topic more easily. In addition, the researcher may develop more
insight into the phenomenon.
Moustakas’ (1994,
p. 121-122) approach to data analysis is as follows: (a) researcher first
offers her/his own experience, (b) from verbatim transcript, consider each
statement and its relevance to the experience, (c) list all relevant
statements, (d) delete any repetitive statements, thereby leaving the invariant
horizons or meaning units, (e) cluster the meaning units into themes, (f)
describe the textural experience by synthesizing meaning units and themes
(including verbatim examples), (g) develop structures of the experience through
imaginative variation, (h) construct a textural-structural description of the
essences and meanings of the experience, (i) repeat steps b through h for each
participant in the study, and lastly, (j) synthesize all textural-structural
descriptions of the essences and meanings (i.e., step h) of the individual
experience’s into a universal or composite description.
The presentation of
the synthesized analysis (i.e., step i) may be presented in alternative ways.
For example, the synthesis may be presented by overall themes and sub themes,
by a fictionalised account of the experience that is based in the textural and
structural findings or, by utilizing existential themes of lived time, lived
space, lived body and lived social experiences (Van Manen, 1997). The above
variations may also be altered or combined, depending on the situation.
Discussion
of Findings
In this last section, I go over the main points of the study. The main points are contrasted with the literature review and methods employed. I also discuss the relevance of incorporating music during a nature-based leisure event with respect to emotions and attachment to the wilderness through experiences had there. The above was further considered with reference to changing environmental behaviours through emotional attachments to the wilderness. Lastly, I reflect on what has been accomplished and the relevance of it to myself and to the area of nature-based leisure.
Concluding Remarks
Phenomenological methods remain closely
grounded in the lived experiences of the phenomenon being studied. Consequently,
this phenomenological study described what it is like to experience making
music during a nature-based leisure event by utilizing the meanings set forth
by those who have shared their experiences.
As well, different accounts of the experience were synthesized and
presented in a manner that validates the lived experience. Such insights are of
value for understanding the potential of music as a trigger activity that
enhances the wilderness experience.
Presentation of Data
In this section, the results of five stages of data
analysis are presented. In so doing, I
examine the individual and universal experience of playing a musical instrument
during a nature-based leisure event. The first stage of analysis involves
developing lists of unrepeated and non-overlapping statements (invariant
meaning units) that are relevant to this study. The invariant meaning units are
listed in an order that sequentially represent the experienced phenomenon—as
told by the participant. The second stage of analysis involves developing
themes, each with a list of supporting meaning units or quotes. The third stage
of analysis includes a textural description of the experience that incorporates
themes and meaning units to demonstrate ‘what’ the experience was like. The
fourth stage of analysis includes a structural description of the experience
that gives an account of the underlying essences and meanings to demonstrate
‘how’ the experience occurred. The
fifth stage of analysis, a composite textural-structural description, describes
the meanings and essences of the emotional experience of playing a musical
instrument (or singing) during a nature-based leisure event as found applicable
across participant experiences. For the sake of clarity and parsimony, only the
third, fourth, and fifth stages are presented in the thesis.
In what follows, in no
particular order, are the presentations of ten participant accounts. Each
account includes a brief introduction and the third and fourth stages of
analysis. After all ten participant accounts have been presented, the fifth
stage (i.e., the composite textural-structural description) of analysis
follows.
Analysis of Allen’s
Experience
Allen’s experience
consisted of playing a wooden flute after work (in the evening)—near a reservoir.
I interviewed Allen at his country acreage. After a day of talking and hiking
through the woods we sat outside by the fire he had started. Although the
temperature was approximately –230 Celsius, we were warm. We played
instruments for a couple of hours and then conducted the interview. Allen
seemed at ease with the whole process and played his instrument during parts of
the interview. I attained 16 pages of text from the recorded interview and 90
minutes of music.
Textural
Description
This textural description
describes what the experience was like for Allen. It remains closely linked to
how Allen originally described the experience, and therefore, retains numerous
examples in his own words. Moreover, themes are introduced in the textural
description.
The experience of music during a nature-based leisure
event, for Allen, acted as a coping mechanism that gave him comfort while
separated from his family because of a job placement. This separation made him
“pretty upset.” The long hours that Allen worked left some time during the
evening when he “would usually go for a walk” with his flute. Allen sought a
place where “not many people would go.” The area he chose was by a city
“reservoir…surrounded by…woods.” In this area, he noticed the presence of “deer… coyotes …snowshoe hares and…birds.”
For Allen this was a refuge where he could “go and just be.” Moreover, it was a
place where he “didn’t feel…too distracted” to face his inner turmoil.
Conversely, in the city, he “couldn’t seem to bring that feeling up.”
To confront his
feelings, Allen found that “the biggest thing was to…sit and to calm down and
to quiet” himself. For instance, he would “take a big breath and think: alright
I am in nature here and gaze out over the water (which was pretty)…and then inspiration
would kind of well up…. and…the deeper creative stuff could come out.” Upon
feeling “peaceful” he would begin to play his flute. Allen wanted to play “something out of” his “own heart.” For “the
first time…ever” his “flute…described how” he “felt.” Allen then played these
expressive notes “over and over cause it could describe what” he “felt.” The phrasing in Allen’s song would remind
him of certain objects of his emotion. For example, while playing the “higher
notes” he “would see” his “wife’s face,” which made him feel energized. During
the “lower notes” he was reminded of his job and his locality (i.e., away from
his family), which made Allen distressed. Confronting the objects of his
emotion through playing music “meant everything in the World” to Allen. He
found a “peace” that helped to carry him through “the middle of a storm….It
allowed the deeper part of me that kept buried under all the pressure to come
to life and just kind of open up and come out.”
The opportunity to express his emotions “rejuvenated”
and “empowered” Allen—making it seem possible for him to “face the next day.”
The “depth and magnitude that it had during that time…was…really necessary.”
In essence…I found…that that song…really described
what my heart wanted to say and what it wanted to profess to everybody and I
guess what I wanted to tell my wife and how much I missed her and I could never
tell her that in words or nothing but the song seemed to ease it all…and…make
it worth while.
The type of instrument and the natural environment
that Allen utilized “had a lot to do with” the emotional expression he
experienced. For instance, he stated: “It was kind of neat…nature would provide
the setting for the song and the song would make the nature experience
better….The two fit together so well…it just seems like that’s the kind of
instrument that should only be played in the woods…. It worked together to
bring me to a place of comfort.”
Structural
Description
This structural description demonstrates how Allen
experienced the phenomenon and describes the underlying structure of the
phenomenon. Hence, the meanings of certain events and feelings were analyzed
and considered in their relation to one another.
The structures that saturate Allen’s experience of
playing music during a nature-based leisure event created a cathartic episode.
This experience was created by his relationship to natural settings, his effort
to be in the moment, and his newfound ability to express emotions while playing
music.
Allen was living and working away from his family,
which caused considerable emotional stress. He needed to find ways to vent or
to deal with these emotions. Moreover, he needed to re-create himself in order
to proceed with the next day. He found
that visiting a natural area in conjunction with playing his flute to be both
needed and cathartic.
Allen had always enjoyed spending time in nature;
hence, it made sense for him to visit a natural area when needing to feel more
at peace. These feelings occurred most easily for Allen in natural areas where
he found solitude from others and the city environment. He found such a place
near a body of water surrounded by trees. This area allowed him to calm down,
to confront built-up emotions, and to experience feelings of “peace” and
“purity.”
Allen meditated in this area by sitting down, taking
deep breaths, and gazing out into his natural surroundings. Nature meditation
helped Allen to relax and experience nature more fully. This process allowed
him to become “inspired” and have “deeper creative” feelings emerge.
Once inspired by his natural surroundings, Allen
proceeded to play his flute. He was not satisfied by playing music that he
usually did in nature (i.e., the music of other artists). He needed to vent his
emotions and deal with the built up feelings caused by the time spent away from
his family. Hence, for the first time, Allen played original music from his
“heart.” Moreover, he expressed how he was feeling about the objects of his
emotions.
The process of being in nature and expressing his emotions
through music offered Allen great relief. It was just what he “had been
striving for.” That is, expressing feelings that he could in “no way….tell
anybody.” Allen played these notes (i.e., expressing his feelings) “over and
over and over” again until he was re-created.