Publication year: 2011
Source: The Arts in Psychotherapy, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 25 June 2011
Dawn Michele, Boothby , Steven J., Robbins
A large literature now exists to examine the effects of music listening on negative mood. However, few studies both isolate music as the active ingredient in mood improvement and compare music to a placebo condition designed to reduce demand effects. In the present study, 60 adult participants recruited from the local community were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: music listening+art production (drawing), music listening+art sorting, no music+art production, or no music+art sorting. By giving participants in all four groups an “arts” task, we intended to equate expectations of improvement and thereby better rule out demand effects as a…