Bodily affect is the term used to describe this process. There is a philosophical debate over the point in time at which people can respond to stimulus, which asks is bodily affect an emotional response or a physiological one or an intellectual one? In other words, when you hear a piece of music and it makes you feel happier, what is happening there? The sound goes into your ears, and very quickly your mood changes – perhaps instantly. So, does the sound get processed by the brain, triggering certain physiological reactions, such as releasing endorphins in the brain to make you feel happier – or is it a preconditioned phenomenon that all people will repond to in more or less the same way? So a particularly upbeat song will always make people feel a little happier and so perhaps it triggers the reaction instinctively, much like the fight or flight phenomenon. Also parallels with Jungian archetypes or Aristotlian forms. Of course, there is no way to measure this conclusively either way but it does bring up the very interesting idea that the artist or creator of a painting, a piece of music or any cultural work has incredible power. The power to affect those who listen to the song or look at the painting. The power to trigger emotional responses – to change the way the viewer feels and ultimately, potentially change their psychological behavior.
CriticalRemix.com
Dr. Owen Gallagher, SFHEA
