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Are we living in a ‘Yellow Submarine’?
The Attitude and mood creation with The Beatles’ Music
Estamos vivendo em um ‘Yellow Submarine’?
A criação de atitude e humor com a música dos Beatles
Marián Čvirik
University of Economics in Bratislava, Faculty of Commerce, Department of Marketing, Slovakia, Bratislava
marian.cvirik@euba.sk
SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE
Section Editor: Fernando Chaib
Layout Editor: Edinaldo Medina
License: "CC by 4.0"
Submitted date: 10 sep 2023
Final approval date: 25 oct 2023
Publication date: 31 oct 2023
DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.35699/2317-6377.2023.48032
ABSTRACT: The presented article deals with the aspect of attitudes towards the selected songs as well as the moods it brings with
the help of Thayer mood model. The aim of the presented article is (1) to investigate the attitudes towards the selected Beatles
album, (2) to investigate the effect of songs on mood using the Mood model, and (3) to investigate the effect of selected
demographic factors (age and gender) on the attitude towards the songs and the mood created by the songs from the album
‘Yellow Submarine’ in Slovak conditions. The results indicate that there is a significant link between the cognitive and affective
components of attitudes within the selected album. It has also been shown that, in terms of moods, the album brings considerable
variety. The results can be used both in the fields of musicology and psychology and as an introduction to the study of audio
marketing.
KEYWORDS: ‘Yellow Submarine’; Music attitudes; mood model; Thayer mood model; Cognitive and affective component.
RESUMO: O artigo apresentado trata do aspecto das atitudes em relação às músicas selecionadas, bem como dos estados de
espírito que elas trazem com a ajuda do modelo de humor de Thayer. O objetivo do artigo apresentado é (1) investigar as atitudes
em relação ao álbum dos Beatles selecionado, (2) investigar o efeito das músicas no humor usando o modelo Mood, e (3) investigar
o efeito de fatores demográficos selecionados (idade e gender) sobre a atitude em relação às músicas e o clima criado pelas
músicas do álbum 'Yellow Submarine' nas condições eslovacas. Os resultados indicam que existe uma ligação significativa entre
os componentes cognitivos e afetivos das atitudes dentro do álbum selecionado. Também foi demonstrado que, em termos de
humor, o álbum traz uma variedade considerável. Os resultados podem ser utilizados tanto nas áreas de musicologia e psicologia
quanto como introdução ao estudo do marketing de áudio.
PALAVRAS-CHAVE: ‘Yellow Submarine’; Atitudes musicais; modelo de humor; modelo de humor de Thayer; Componente cognitivo
e afetivo.
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Čvirik, Marián. “Are we living in a ‘Yellow Submarine’? Attitude and mood creation with The Beatles’ Music in Slovakia”
1. Introduction
The world has changed after the COVID-19 pandemic, and it has brought with it several challenges. One of
the challenges is the deteriorating mental health of people (Xiang et al., 2020). Ancient nations already used
music for healing (White, 2000). In a generic sense, music can be understood as ‘the science or art of ordering
tones or sounds in succession, combination, and temporal relationships to produce a composition having
unity, and continuity’ (Merriam - Webster, n.d.).
Several scientific studies talk about the health benefits of music, while music can also be a means of
expressing emotions (Jonas-Simpson, 1997; Stewart et al., 2019). Research shows that when choosing music,
we consider not only preferences (for example, the name of the artist), but also the topic (celebration,
punishment), focus or influence on mood (happy, sad) (Lee and Bownie, 2004; Bischoff et al., 2008, 2009),
which only emphasises the aspect of regulation, modification, or gradation of moods.
Many researches indicate that music on the defensive level represents an important regulator of moods and
emotions (Thayer et al., 1994), while acting on the defensive level can be a key reason for listening to music
(North et al., 2000; Juslin and Sloboda, 2001) and even an element of therapy (Deliege and Sloboda, 2004;
Ruud, 1997; Sloboda, 1992; Juslin and Sloboda, 2001), for example in mental disorders such as depression
(Parker and Brown, 1982; Rippere, 1977; Chan et al., 2011). The use of music for mood regulation
presupposes the selection of appropriate music in the context of the mood (Markov and Matsu, 2014).
In this context, music therapy can be mentioned as an important area, which represents an important area
in research and therapeutic posts, while it can help in the treatment of oncological patients (Martí-Augé et
al., 2015), in the therapy of patients with dementia (Lam et al., 2020), as a tool for therapy with autistic
children (Sharda et al., 2019), but also for stress reduction (de Witte et al., 2022). For proper use and
application in practice, it is necessary to study the impact of music in order to fulfill the goal of improving
the quality of life.
In order to be able to determine the effect on mood, it is possible to use the classification of moods based
on the music of the psychological model (Thayer, 1990; Thayer et al., 1994). The model records emotional
states with the help of two variables, which are oriented towards the energy that results from the music and
the positivity or negativity referred to as stress. The model can be recorded on the coordinate axis, creating
four dimensions of influence on mood, namely: exuberance, anxiety, frustration, contentment, and
depression (Bhat et al., 2014). Equally important is the overall perception of music and the creation of an
attitude. Within attitudes, it is appropriate to examine the conative component (a measure of knowledge)
and the affective component (a measure of emotional reaction) of attitudes (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1975), while
these components can also be used in the examination of attitudes to music (Čvirik, 2022).
In our paper, we focus on the music of the Beatles, specifically the ‘Yellow Submarine’ album (The Beatles,
2009a, 2009b). The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in England, comprising John
Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr (who replaced Pete Best). The Beatles represent
an icon in culture (Tessler and Long, 2022) and it is no exaggeration to say that they influenced the whole
world (Collins, 2020). In addition to being a world cultural icon (Lemonnier, 2016), the Beatles are an element
of cultural heritage and an important element of tourism in Liverpool (Kinsella and Peters, 2022) and even
an object of scientific and study interest (Howard, 2022).
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Čvirik, Marián. “Are we living in a ‘Yellow Submarine’? Attitude and mood creation with The Beatles’ Music in Slovakia”
Yellow Submarine is the sixth studio album released in 1969. At the same time, furthermore there is an
animated film and series that use music from the album. The album contains 13 songs with a total length of
39 minutes and 13 seconds. It is necessary to note that in the case of the influence of music on the creation
of mood as well as on attitudes towards music, demographic factors (mainly age and gender) can represent
a significant influence (Robazza et al., 1994). The reason for the effect of gender can be inferred from the
higher level of emotional expression in women than in men (Fernald, 1989). Based on neurological research
Sergeant and Himonides (2014) concluded that gender does not represent a significant factor of difference
in the perception of music. Considering the phenomenon of the Beatles, it is appropriate to examine these
possible factors of influence on both attitudes and costs.
The aim of the presented article is (1) to investigate the attitudes towards the selected Beatles album, (2) to
investigate the effect of songs on mood using the Mood model, and (3) to investigate the effect of selected
demographic factors (age and gender) on the attitude towards the songs and the mood created by the songs
from the album ‘Yellow Submarine’ in Slovak conditions.
Based on the objective and professional literature, we created the following research questions:
RQ1: How can one evaluate the attitude towards music by the Beatles from the album ‘Yellow Submarine’?
RQ2: How the effect of the Beatles’ music from the album ‘Yellow Submarine’ can be evaluated in the context
of The Thayer’s mood model?
RQ3: How do selected demographic factors (age and gender) influence consumers’ perceptions of the
chosen music?
2. Methodology
In the article, we use several methods and methodological procedures. Considering the set aim, it is
necessary to note that it is not possible to include the entire population. Therefore, we conduct primary
research on a population sample and with the help of statistical methods, try to generalize to the entire
population. For a better understanding of the investigated elements in the sample we use the elements of
descriptive statistics. The variables have the character of predominantly ordinal data with a longer
measurement scale. We use measures of position (arithmetic mean) and variability (standard deviation). The
arithmetic mean indicates the middle value. Given the nature of the data, it is suitable, as extreme values
cannot be expected. The standard deviation indicates the variability in the data. It can simply be stated that
the lower the value of the standard deviation, the more consistent the respondents’ answers were. At the
same time, we use graphic tools (usually a scatter plot). For generalizing to the population, we apply
elements of inferential statistics. Due to the nature of the data, it was necessary to use non-parametric tests.
We use the Mann-Whitney test (for two compared groups) and the Kruskal-Wallis test (for more than two
compared groups) to determine statistical significance. At the same time, we also use substantive
significance testing (Eta Squared), which helps us better understand the effect of the investigated indicators
in the population. Furthermore, we utilize Kendall’s tau-b correlation coefficient to investigate the linearity
of the relationship between two variables. It is typical for this coefficient to reach values from -1 to 1. Within
the coefficient, it is necessary to monitor whether the coefficient is negative or positive and how close the
value is to 1 (or -1). We retest the result of the correlation coefficient so that the results can be generalized
to the population.
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Čvirik, Marián. “Are we living in a ‘Yellow Submarine’? Attitude and mood creation with The Beatles’ Music in Slovakia”
2.1. Sample
The article is supported by primary research. The research lasted from February 2022 to December 2022 due
to the complexity of the research and the connection of qualitative and quantitative primary research, while
the research was carried out by the author of the article himself. The population was defined as ‘Slovak
music consumers aged 15 and over who do not suffer from hearing impairment’. The reason for this age
limit is both ethical and also that, at the age of 15, consumers acquire their own shopping habits, have their
own financial means, and enter the juvenile phase, when certain general knowledge is also expected.
Hearing impairment in the respondents would not allow the investigation of their perception of auditory
stimuli. Of course, many studies (for example Bang, 2009; Darrow, 1989; Gfeller, 2016; Haguiara-Cervellini,
2003; Rodrigues, 2017) indicate that even handicapped (deaf) people have a relationship with music and can
perceive it with other senses, therefore, from the point of view of the characteristics of the sample, it is only
necessary to understand segmentation as a criterion for ensuring the objectivity and validity of the research.
162 respondents took part in the primary survey, with 42% men and 58% women. The average age of
respondents was 33 years (age range of respondents: 15 to 89 years). The respondents took part in the
research voluntarily, while their health and all rights were protected. Respondents were not remunerated
to ensure the objectivity of the research. As part of the research, the anonymity of the respondents was
ensured.
2.2. Research design
As part of the investigation of music perception, we focus on four characteristics. The characteristics of
cheerfulness and energizing are based on Thayer’s mood model (Thayer, 1990; Bhat et al., 2014). The other
two characteristics are focused on the overall conative component (a measure of knowledge) and the
affective component (a measure of emotional reaction) of attitudes (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1975), while these
components can be used in the investigation of attitudes towards music (Čvirik, 2022). Respondents react to
the mentioned characteristics immediately after listening to the song on a seven-point bipolar scale. Within
Thayer’s mood model, it represents 0 - ‘very sad’, 6 - ‘very happy’ within the variable cheerfulness, and within
the variable energetics, it represents 0 - ‘very calm’, 6 – ‘very energetics’. Moreover, in terms of attitudes, it
is a bipolar scale in the mentioned range. For the variable focused on the cognitive aspect, the level of
knowledge is 0 - I definitely don’t know, 6 - I definitely know. The affective component is a measure of
emotional reaction, i.e., 0 - ‘I don’t like it at all’ and 6 - ‘I like it very much’.
3. Survey results
In the following part, we focus on answering the relevant research questions (RQ) for the needs of the
comprehensive fulfilment of the goal.
RQ1: How can one evaluate the attitude towards music by the Beatles from the album ‘Yellow Submarine’?
The investigation of attitudes was carried out on the basis of the cognitive and affective components of
attitudes. We recorded the generic results in Tab. 1.
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Čvirik, Marián. “Are we living in a ‘Yellow Submarine’? Attitude and mood creation with The Beatles’ Music in Slovakia”
Tab. 1 – Average values and standard deviations in measuring attitudes
Song title
Code*
Attitude
Cognitive component
Affective component
Mean
St. dev.
Mean
St. dev.
‘Yellow Submarine’
F1
3.14
1.24
2.98
1.84
‘Only a Northern Song’
F2
2.04
1.30
1.43
1.37
‘All Together Now’
F3
3.11
1.23
2.14
1.59
‘Hey Bulldog’
F4
2.86
1.22
1.88
1.47
‘It’s All Too Much’
F5
2.21
1.29
1.35
1.30
‘All You Need Is Love’
F6
3.43
1.27
3.73
1.52
‘Pepperland’’
O1
2.75
1.35
1.44
1.24
‘Sea of Time’
O2
2.18
1.28
1.08
1.00
‘Sea of Holes’
O3
1.69
1.21
0.91
0.94
‘Sea of Monsters’
O4
1.93
1.28
1.02
1.03
‘March of the Meanies’
O5
1.94
1.30
1.02
1.04
‘Pepperland Laid Waste’
O6
1.52
1.23
0.84
0.98
‘Yellow Submarine in Pepperland’
O7
3.13
1.44
2.51
1.71
Note: * F =Side one: Songs from the film, O = Side two: Orchestral film songs
Reference: own processing
In terms of attitudes, we can see (Tab. 1) that the most famous song was ‘All You Need Is Love’ and the least
famous was ‘Pepperland Laid Waste’. Besides, the results indicate that respondents on average liked ‘All You
Need Is Love’ the most and the orchestral piece ‘Pepperland Laid Waste’ the least. For clarity, we recorded
the results graphically (see Figure 1).
The quadrants in Figure 1 can be identified as follows: Quadrant A represents music that the respondents
know below average but like above average (we will refer to this quadrant as ‘Beautiful novelty’); Quadrant
B represents music that is above average known and above average liked by the respondents (we will refer
to this quadrant as ‘Love songs’); Quadrant C represents rather unknown songs that the respondents liked
Figure 1 – Attitude towards the studied songs
Reference: own processing
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Čvirik, Marián. “Are we living in a ‘Yellow Submarine’? Attitude and mood creation with The Beatles’ Music in Slovakia”
below average (we will refer to this quadrant as ‘Initial dislike’); and the last Quadrant D represents above-
average well-known songs, but below-average liking (we will refer to this quadrant as ‘Corny songs’). As from
Figure 2, there is no song in quadrant A, quadrant B contains two songs (F6 and F1), as well quadrant D
contains two songs (O7 and F3) and the other songs are in quadrant C.
From Figure 1, it is possible to visually identify a certain linear relationship between the variables. We
therefore focused on investigating the relationship between these variables. To investigate the relationship,
we used Kendall’s tau-b correlation coefficient. We recorded the results in Tab. 2.
Tab. 2 – Results of the correlation analysis of the cognitive (CC) and affective (AC) component
Code
Kendall’s tau b (AC, CC)
Correlation Coefficient
Sig. (2-tailed) *
F1
0.296
0.000
F2
0.309
0.000
F3
0.266
0.000
F4
0.323
0.000
F5
0.383
0.000
F6
0.425
0.000
O1
0.202
0.002
O2
0.176
0.008
O3
0.296
0.000
O4
0.251
0.000
O5
0.306
0.000
O6
0.372
0.000
O7
0.369
0.000
* Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)
Source: own processing
The results in Table 2 indicate a moderately strong positive correlation, which can be expected even in
populations. In other words, with a higher degree of cognition, a higher level of more emotionally positive
evaluation can be expected.
RQ2: How the effect of the Beatles’ music from the album ‘Yellow Submarine’ can be evaluated in the context
of The Thayer’s mood model?
Within the presented research design, we focus on the Thayes mood model. We recorded the generic
parameters (average values and standard deviations) in Tab. 3.
As shown in Tab.3, the song with the highest average cheerfulness was measured to be ‘All Together Now’
which achieved the highest average perceived vigour. The lowest average cheerfulness was measured for
the song ‘Pepperland Laid Waste’. The lowest energy was measured for the song ‘Sea of Time’. If we were
to evaluate the results based on the Thayes mood model, it would be appropriate to use a graphic display
(see Figure 2).
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Čvirik, Marián. “Are we living in a ‘Yellow Submarine’? Attitude and mood creation with The Beatles’ Music in Slovakia”
Tab. 3 – Average values and standard deviations in the context of Thayer’s mood model
Song title
Code*
The Thayer’s model
Cheerfulness
Energetics
Mean
St. dev.
Mean
St. dev.
‘Yellow Submarine’
F1
3.17
0.97
2.57
1.23
‘Only a Northern Song’
F2
2.46
0.86
2.14
1.04
‘All Together Now’
F3
3.94
0.77
3.70
0.89
‘Hey Bulldog’
F4
3.22
0.91
3.38
0.93
‘It’s All Too Much’
F5
2.83
1.03
2.94
1.13
‘All You Need Is Love’
F6
3.25
0.98
2.40
1.22
‘Pepperland’
O1
2.63
1.04
2.15
1.26
‘Sea of Time’
O2
2.22
0.96
1.91
1.11
‘Sea of Holes’
O3
1.80
0.90
2.03
1.01
‘Sea of Monsters’
O4
2.15
1.04
2.35
1.05
‘March of the Meanies’
O5
2.10
0.98
3.25
1.04
‘Pepperland Laid Waste’
O6
1.67
0.94
2.24
1.15
‘Yellow Submarine in Pepperland’
O7
3.54
1.21
3.40
1.31
Note: * F =Side one: Songs from the film, O = Side two: Orchestral film songs
Source: own processing
Figure 2, we noted the dimensions of the Thayes mode model, which distinguishes 4 mood categories
(recorded as quadrants). Quadrant A represents the anxious/frantic category, quadrant B represents
exuberance; quadrant C is called depression, and quadrant D can be interpreted as contentment. As we can
see, the album offers a connection between all categories of mood. Simultaneously, it is possible to identify
which songs can be classified into which category (on average). The results suggest a certain link between
energy and cheerfulness.
Again, a positive linear relationship can be observed in Figure 2. For a closer examination of this relationship,
we used Kendall’s tau b correlation coefficient and recorded the results in Tab. 4.
Figure 2 – Thayes mood model
Reference: own processing
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Čvirik, Marián. “Are we living in a ‘Yellow Submarine’? Attitude and mood creation with The Beatles’ Music in Slovakia”
Tab. 4 – Results of the correlation analysis of the cognitive (CC) and affective (AC) component
Code*
Kendall’s tau b (Cheerfulness, Energetics)
Correlation Coefficient
Sig. (2-tailed) *
F1
0.519
0.000
F2
0.427
0.000
F3
0.656
0.000
F4
0.437
0.000
F5
0.527
0.000
F6
0.418
0.000
O1
0.362
0.000
O2
0.381
0.000
O3
0.294
0.000
O4
0.256
0.000
O5
0.068
0.309
O6
0.314
0.000
O7
0.679
0.000
* Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)
Source: own processing
As shown in Tab. 4, moderately strong positive correlations were identified, which can be expected even in
populations, except for the case of O5 ‘March of the Meanies’. With this song, it is obvious that even if it is
perceived as rather energetic, it is not perceived as cheerful.
RQ3: How do selected demographic factors (age and gender) influence consumers’ perceptions of the
chosen music?
We investigated gender and age as possible factors affecting the perception of the studied songs.
Considering the characteristics of the variables, we apply the Mann-Whitney U test to investigate the
influence of gender on individual variables, and the Kruskal-Wallis H test for age. Given the thirteen songs
and the four researched factors, we verified each of the researched factors (age and gender) and created 52
tests. To clarify, we only present tests whose results were significant. Gender appeared as a significant factor
in four observations (Tab. 5).
Tab. 5 – Mann-Whitney U test results for gender
Code
Sig.
alpha
Eta Squared
cognitive component song F2
0.0412
0.05
0.035
cognitive component song F5
0.0312
0.05
0.034
cheerfulness song F6
0.0499
0.05
0.023
affective component song O1
0.0017
0.05
0.067
Source: own processing
As can be seen from Tab. 5, four variables showed significance from the point of view of gender. Of course,
this is a statistical significance, so we further verified the substantive significance on the basis of Eta Squared,
while the results point to a very low substantive significance (roughly at the level of 2–7%). In general, it can
be stated that gender does not have a significant effect from a substantive point of view. Considering the
material significance as well as the median values for individual segments, it can be concluded that the
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Čvirik, Marián. “Are we living in a ‘Yellow Submarine’? Attitude and mood creation with The Beatles’ Music in Slovakia”
selected album, ‘Yellow Submarine,’ is evaluated on the basis of the examined parameters by both sexes
roughly the same (there will be small differences in the populations).
Age appeared to be a significant factor in eighteen observations, and we recorded the key test results in Tab.
6.
Tab. 6 – Results of the Kruskal-Wallis H test for age
Code
Sig.
Alpha
Eta Squared
cognitive component song F1
0.0045
0.05
0.060
cognitive component song F2
0.0064
0.05
0.061
affective component song F3
0.0322
0.05
0.036
cognitive component song F3
0.0003
0.05
0.103
cognitive component song F4
0.0043
0.05
0.061
cognitive component song F5
0.0174
0.05
0.047
energetics song F6
0.0359
0.05
0.040
affective component song F6
0.0459
0.05
0.036
cognitive component song O1
0.0276
0.05
0.045
cheerfulness song O2
0.0225
0.05
0.051
cheerfulness song O3
0.0171
0.05
0.046
cognitive component song O3
0.0262
0.05
0.040
energetics song O5
0.0038
0.05
0.071
affective component song O5
0.0118
0.05
0.051
energetics song O6
0.0236
0.05
0.052
cheerfulness song O7
0.0322
0.05
0.058
affective component song O7
0.0005
0.05
0.088
cognitive component song O7
0.0115
0.05
0.052
Source: own processing
The results indicate statistical significance for several parameters. Interesting is that song No. 13 appears to
be the most different in the context of inter-age assessment. Furthermore, we examined the results with
the help of objective significance. It can be concluded that material significance was at a higher level (from
3.6% to 10.3%). In general, only small differences in perception based on age groups can be expected in the
population.
3.1. Limits
It is necessary to note the limits of the study. The results can only be taken as indicative. The sample does
not represent a representative sample, even if in certain aspects it is similar to the defined population. The
results represent the measurement that the respo