Music and empathy: Influencing factors on the social perception of three interacting objects

It is well understood that we infer causes and intentions from the observed behaviour of others based on dynamics of motion, particularly combinations of movements (kinematic cues). Inferences can be affected by individual differences in cognitions and shared environmental factors, including audio and visual cues. Studies in music perception revealed that changes in pitch and tempo can alter one's interpretation of visual information (Marshall & Cohen, 1988). Few if any studies have investigated the role of empathy in social perception. The present study investigated the effect of empathic tendencies and music on the social interpretation of kinematic cues perceived in visual stimuli. Seventy-one university students were assigned to 1 of 4 levels of music accompanying the same animated film of simple moving objects (Heider & Simmel, 1944). Prior to exposure of the visual and musical stimuli, each participant completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) (Davis, 1983) as a measure of 4 types of empathic tendencies. Differences in ratings of social characteristics for each of the 3 objects in the animation were compared between groups defined by music and empathy. Consistent with findings in previous studies, objects were perceived to vary from one another on social characteristics. In support of the present hypotheses, ratings of social characteristics for each of the 3 objects varied as a function of music as well as empathic tendencies. Music showed a strong interactive effect with kinematic cues and empathy. The four subtypes of empathy showed a stronger interactive effect than object to influence the interpretation of the visual information.