Professional Documents
Culture Documents
James J. Kellaris
Department of Marketing
University of Cincinnati
Robert J. K e n t
Department of Marketing
Drexel University
P o p u l a r utterance holds that " t i m e flies when y o u ' r e having fun." Conversely,
" a w a t c h e d p o t never boils." These expressions o f conventional w i s d o m sug-
gest that the subjective d u r a t i o n o f a time period d e p e n d s in p a r t on w h a t fills
that period. Stated as a psychological principle, these sayings suggest that a
Requests for reprints should be sent to James J. Kellaris, Department of Marketing, 433
Carl H. Lindner Hall, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0145.
366 KELLARISAND KENT
CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND
Consumer research has begun to recognize and explore the role of time as a
consequential aspect of the consumptive experience (Bergadaa, 1990; Kauf-
man et al., 1991). Time is an important and increasingly scarce resource for
many consumers. These consumers may consider time to be a significant
component of the total cost of a transaction. Sellers and service providers thus
have an incentive to minimize consumers' perceptions of time passage during
unavoidable waiting situations (e.g., check-out lines, physicians' waiting
rooms). Conversely, sellers might benefit from increasing the perceived dura-
tion of ad exposure or entertainment events.
The experience of time pervades every aspect of consumers' lives (Bergadaa,
1990). Duration is an important, basic aspect of the temporal experience
(Ornstein, 1969). The perceived duration of a time interval can seem shorter
or longer relative to real time (i.e., clock time) depending on what fills that time
interval.
Several cognitive models of time perception relate properties of the stimulus
environment to the subjective experience of duration (e.g., Block, 1990;
Fraisse, 1984; Levin & Zakay, 1989; Ornstein, 1969; Zakay, 1989). For exam-
ple, Ornstein's (1969) storage size model suggested that perceived duration is
a function of the amount of memory dedicated to storing stimulus information
encountered during a given interval. Larger allocations of memory space are
associated with longer perceived durations. Zakay's (1989) model of psycho-
logical time is based on attentional processes. Attending to (nontemporal)
stimulus information creates distraction from the internal clock or cognitive
timer responsible for the perception of time passage. Fraisse's (1984) model
emphasized the contribution of environmental change to time perception. The
greater the number of changes in the state of the stimulus environment during
a time period, the greater the perceived duration of that period.
Although these models offer slightly different explanations, they generally
predict that when more stimulus information is encountered/processed/stored
during a time interval, that interval will be perceived as longer in duration. The
process underlying this prediction involves using the amount of information
retained and/or the number of events that transpired to formulate inferences
about the duration of a time period.
Parties wishing to influence consumers' perceptions of duration may be able
to do so by manipulating features of the stimulus environment. Music is a
feature of many consumer environments in which sellers and service providers
would like to influence time perception (Bruner, 1990; Yalch & Spangenberg
1990). Cognitive models of subjective time suggest that the duration of a time
interval filled with music should be perceived differently than an empty time
interval; however, not every piece of music should produce the same effect.
368 KELLARIS AND KENT
Proposition
Variations in musical modality can sculpt the stimulus environment and in-
duce changes in listeners' feeling states. In turn, these variations should influ-
ence temporal perceptions. Based on music's ability to fill a time interval with
stimulus information, and based on the ability of music's modal property to
shape the character of the music and induce feelings in listeners, we formulated
the following general proposition: Listeners' perceptions of the duration of a
time interval filled with music will vary across musical modalities.
As for the specific nature of this variation, popular wisdom would lead us
to anticipate shorter duration estimates for the more pleasant sounding modes
due to the generation of positive affect. However, psychological theory sug-
gests that listeners may devote more intensive attention to the more pleasant
sounding modes (Eysenck, 1982). This would result in more musical informa-
tion being processed and remembered, and hence in longer duration estimates
(Block, 1990). Furthermore, preexisting cognitive structures for pleasant, fa-
miliar, conventional musical modes may facilitate their storagein and retrieval
from memory (Dowling, 1982). This processing advantage could promote an
MUSIC AND TIME PERCEPTION 369
METHOD
Overview
We conducted an experiment to test our proposition. Three levels of musical
modality (major, minor, atonal) were manipulated using original pop-style,
electronically synthesized music in a between-subjects design. Retrospective
estimates of the music's duration served as the dependent variable. The proce-
dure involved randomly assigning subjects to treatment groups, exposing them
individually to the stimulus music via headphones, and having them fill out
a questionnaire.
Subjects
Subjects were 150 upper level business students at a midwestern university.
Extra course credit was offered as an incentive. The gender distribution of the
sample was 62% male and 38% female. Ages ranged from 20 years to over
40 years, with an average age of 22.6 years. The majority (79.3%) reported
listening preferences for pop/rock music. The mean self-reported extent of
formal musical training was 3.5 on a 7-point scale ranging from very limited
(1) to very extensive (7).
Stimuli
The stimulus materials consisted of recordings of an original pop-style musical
composition written specifically for this experiment and produced in a digital
sound studio. This composition was carefully designed to imitate the type of
music commonly featured in youth-oriented ads and retail settings, so as to
represent commercial music targeted at consumers within the age group repre-
sented in our sample.
Three versions of this composition were created to represent major, minor,
and atonal modalities. This was done by entering the musical score through
an electronic keyboard and storing it as digital information in a computer. The
digital information was edited to create major, minor, and atonal versions, and
then output through a bank of synthesizers that simulated the sound of various
instruments. The synthesized musical sounds were routed through a mixer and
an effects unit to a stereo-cassette tape recorder. The result of this process was
370 KELLARIS AND KENT
a set of professional quality stimulus tapes that were identical in every respect
(e.g., tempo, loudness, melodic contour, instrumentation, etc.), except for
modality. This technology was described by Bruner (1990), and was recently
used by Kellaris and Kent (1991).
Major and minor versions were created by changing the key signature to
produce different patterns of intervals between notes of the scale (Piston,
1941). The atonal version was created by pitching each instrument's part in
a different major or minor key and randomly altering selected pitches in the
accompaniment track.
The composition was scored for soprano sax, synthesizer, brass section,
chorus of synthesized human voices (vocalizing on the syllable "ah"--there
were no distinguishable words), electric bass, and drums. The beat could be
described as a Paula Abdul-style dance beat (4/4 meter at 140 beats per
minute). The piece played for about 2.5 min, and concluded with a repeated
rhythmic pattern that faded to silence.
Procedure
Subjects were told at the time of recruitment that their participation was
sought for a study that would involve going to a lab, listening to a tape, and
filling out a brief questionnaire. The purpose of the study was not disclosed.
Subjects were processed individually in a listening lab. Each subject was
given a randomly assigned audiocassette tape, a questionnaire, and a set of
headphones. A lab assistant directed each subject to an audio carrel, and told
them to follow the instructions printed on the questionnaire. The instructions
told subjects to rewind the tape, listen to it once, then break the seals placed
around the questionnaire and complete the items. The instructions also said
"The tape you are about to hear contains a brief excerpt of instrumental music.
Please relax, and listen as you would normally listen to music.'" The entire
procedure took about 20 rain.
Measures
The dependent variable was perceived duration, measured retrospectively.
Subjects were asked to estimate the duration of the time period during which
they heard the music. Blank spaces with minutes and seconds labels were
provided for the free responses. This measure is commonly used in time
perception research in psychology and psychomusicology (Block, 1990;
Fraisse, 1984; Levin & Zakay, 1989), and recently in consumer research (Kel-
laris & Altsech, 1992). It is important to note that whereas subjects expected
questions about the music they heard, they did not anticipate the duration
estimation task.
Because popular wisdom holds that the experience of duration may be
MUSIC AND TIME PERCEPTION 371
RESULTS
Summary
These findings appear to favor the cognitive-psychological explanation of
musics influence on perceived time over conventional wisdom. Time estimates
varied significantly across musical modes. However, whereas musical modality
influenced affective evaluations, the affective character of the music did not
influence time perceptions.
The experimental findings suggest that music can influence listeners' subjective
experience of time. The data support our proposition: the perceived duration
of a time interval varied significantly across the same music played in different
modes. Music pitched in a major key produced the longest duration estimates
and the greatest disparity between actual (i.e., clock) time and perceived time.
Music pitched in a minor key produced a significantly shorter average duration
estimate. Atonal music produced the shortest, and most accurate, average
duration estimates. However, these estimates differed significantly from actual
time. Through follow-up analyses, we found the conventional major and minor
modes to produce more positive affect than the atonal mode.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, time did not fly under the condition or
conditions that produced the most positive affective evaluations. Rather, the
shortest average duration estimate was produced under the condition that
generated the least positive affective evaluation. This finding can be explained
parsimoniously in terms of cognitive models of psychological time. It is possi-
ble that the relative pleasantness of the conventional modes (relative to the
atonal condition) motivated listeners to devote more attention to the music.
The allocation of greater cognitive resources to processing the more pleasant,
conventional-sounding music (a) reduced the allocation of processing re-
sources to the internal clock used in judging the duration of events, and (b)
created the perception that more stimulus information was heard. According
to Ornstein's storage size model, remembered events seem longer when more
information is stored in memory.
Alternatively (or additionally), the music pitched in conventional major and
minor modes may have been easier for listeners to store and retrieve than the
374 KELLARISAND KENT
the first process for relatively long time intervals when the experience of
waiting is greatest. However, for shorter periods the second process may be
used more predominantly. Future research could vary levels of actual waiting
time and trace the processes used to generate duration estimates.
Third, because music in commercial environments is sometimes heard but
not listened to, it would be interesting to see if the effects we obtained under
a forced exposure condition could be replicated under a more passive exposure
condition. The influence of other musical properties and their interactions,
particularly those relating to music's temporal dimension (e.g., tempo,
rhythm), should be investigated. It is possible that the pace or pulse of environ-
mental music could alter the speed of the internal clock people are presumed
to use in making temporal judgments. Finally, inclusion of a no-music control
group in future studies would allow assessment of the extent to which subjects
overestimate time as a function of music rather than a function of the estima-
tion task itself.
In conclusion, this study found that music can influence consumers' percep-
tions of time passage. However, music's influence appears to operate in a way
that is contrary to popular wisdom. Time "flew" faster for listeners exposed
to music that produced the least positive affective evaluation. If the generality
of these findings is affirmed by future research, certain common practices--
such as playing appealing, major-key music to customers on "musical hold"
or in waiting lines--may prove counterproductive.
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