Prestige Effects and Aesthetic Experiences: Adolescents' Reactions to Music

Abstract

The first part of this study demonstrates that music is an important means of social identification. Adolescents, aged 14 and 15 ( n = 201), rated 10 classes of music, and their preferences were shown to relate to sex and educational groupings within their school. The second part of the study is an experimental investigation of Asch's (1948) previously untested argument that prestige effects in aesthetic evaluations are not simply changes of public response to complex stimuli but are mediated by perceptual re‐organizations and altered understandings of stimuli. Subjects disliked ‘serious music’ and were ‘progressive pop’ enthusiasts. They were selected on the basis of data collected in the first part of the study. They were divided into 3 independent groups ( n = 36), balanced for sex. Each group was played the same short piece of music which, although bearing a strong resemblance to some forms of ‘progressive pop’, is the work of a contemporary ‘serious' composer. The status of the music was varied for the 3 groups by ascribing it to a ‘progressive pop’ composer (High Status Music), its true composer (Low Status Music), and by giving no information about its source (Control). Subjects provided evaluations and descriptions of the music in a questionnaire which included a set of 12 rating scales. Factor analysis of ratings revealed one evaluative and three descriptive factors. Significant differences on descriptive as well as evaluative scales were corroborated by qualitative responses. Changes in subjective experiences accompanying changes in judgements support Asch's view.

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