[In Press] Increasing music preference through guided self-framing : a comparison of historical and imaginative approaches

While accompanying or contextualizing information ("framing") is often included alongside music, prior research on the impact of framing on music preference has produced heterogeneous results. Most of these studies have examined historical framing, although a small subset has suggested that imaginative framing may have an understudied potential to increase preference. In such studies the participants are encouraged to freely use their imagination while listening. The present work directly compared these 2 approaches to framing to examine which has greater positive impact on preference. One hundred and fifty-two participants were exposed to 5 varied music excerpts (Pop/Rock and Classical), with participants placed into 1 of 3 conditions. Those in the historical condition were supplied with initial historical framing and were encouraged to freely search online for information related to the piece while listening to it (hence guided self-framing), whereas those in the imaginative condition were encouraged to freely use their imagination while listening. Those in a third, "unrelated" control condition were encouraged to choose an online game (selected from a provided list) while listening. Bayesian modeling was used to examine preference ratings by piece and condition. Historical framing led to higher preference than the control for 4 of 5 pieces, while imaginative framing led to higher preference than the control for 2 pieces. Additionally, those receiving historical framing rated preference higher for pieces that had a greater amount of information readily available online. Thus, historical framing most benefited preference, although we discuss limitations and future directions for research on guided self-framing.