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axes, valence, energetic arousal, and tension arousal (Schimmack and Grob 2000 ;
Schimmack and Rainer 2002 ).
Recently, Eerola and Vuoskoski ( 2011 ) systematically compared discrete and
dimensional models by evaluating perceived musical emotions. The results showed
that the overall ratings between discrete and dimensional models did not reveal
substantial differences when using large music collections. The discrete models,
however, exhibited lower resolution ef
ciency in rating ambiguous emotion com-
pared to dimensional models. Moreover, the comparison between different
dimensional models revealed that two dimensions are suf
cient to describe emo-
tions in music. This
finding is in contrast to existing studies supporting the need for
three-dimensional models (Schimmack and Reisenzein 2002 ).
The discrete and dimensional models coexist for a long time in music and
emotion research. Discrete models are closer to listener
s experience because the
labels used (happiness, anger, sadness, etc.) are familiar from everyday life. On the
other hand, dimensional models appear to be related to the underlying mechanisms
of emotion generation and therefore exhibit higher resolution in cases of ambiguous
emotions.
'
6.3
How Does Music Evoke Emotions?
Although the dominant view in the
field of music and emotion is that music is able
to induce real emotions, there were music philosophers who challenged the exis-
tence of music-evoked emotions (Kivy 1990 ; Konenci 2008 ). The so-called
cognitivists argued that listeners refer to a music piece as happy or sad because the
music piece expresses happiness or sadness and not because music actually makes
them feel happy or sad. In contrast,
argue that music evokes real
emotions to the listeners (Davies 2001 ). There is growing experimental evidence
that musical emotions can be re
emotivists
ected in physiological measures, supporting the
emotivist position that musical emotions are felt emotions (Krumhansl 1997 ;
Nyklicek et al. 1997 ; Witvliet and Vrana 2007 ; Lundqvist et al. 2009 ). Even if it is
accepted that music induces emotions, the fascinating question of how music evoke
emotions is still a matter of controversy. The answer to this question is a key issue
with implications for future research on the
field of music and emotion.
6.3.1 Appraisal Theory
The most common discussed mechanism of music emotion elicitation is cognitive
appraisal (Ekman 1992a , b ; Scherer 1999 ). Appraisal theory suggests that emotions
result on the basis of a person
'
s subjective evaluation or appraisal of an event. One
person feels sad, for example, by hearing the news of death of a beloved person or
feels happy by hearing the news of a great success. The result of the appraisal is an
emotion, which is expressed or externalized in physiological response symptoms.
 
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