Mimi O'Neill
Associate Lecturer

Profile

Biography

Mimi's research interest is music psychology; more specifically, music and emotion, empathy, the social experience of music listening, intra-audience effects, quantitative data collection and analysis, and the systematic study of music. 

Mimi completed her PhD in 2022, looking at the social or collective experience of live, western art music concerts. The presence of other people is typical in live music performances; however, the social schemata prohibit verbal communication. Therefore, the project explored this phenomenon using theories of parasocial interaction and in-group theory. This research was funded by the Volkswagon Foundation and supervised by Dr Hauke Egermann.

This research formed part of the Experimental Concert Research and Digital Concert Experience projects. Under the leadership of Zeppelin University (Martin Tröndle, WÜRTH Chair of Cultural Production), the interdisciplinary project’s team is made up of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt am Main (Melanie Wald-Fuhrmann), the University of Bern in Switzerland (Wolfgang Tschacher), the University of York (Hauke Egermann). The researchers focused on the format of the concert, and current developments in the music business in a series of scientific experiments. 

Mimi is the director of the York Music Psychology Group, the MA: Music, Marketing and Management programme leader, teaching the Introduction to Music Psychology UG module and has previously been the MA Music: Music Psychology pathway leader at the University of York. She is also a Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Lincoln.

Subject Specialisms

Music psychology, music and emotion, music science, empathy, Social experience of music engagement, quantitative research methods and analysis.

Qualifications

• PhD Music Psychology - Intra-audience effect: A quantitative exploration of the predictors and outcomes of the social experience of live and digital concerts. - University of York 2022
• MA Music: Music Psychology pathway - University of York 2017
• BA (Hons) Music - University of York 2016

Awards

• Vice-Chancellor’s teaching award - University of York 2020
• Volkswagon Foundation - PhD funding 2019
• Ede and Ravenscroft - MA Scholarship 2016

School Roles

• Pathway Leader of MA Music: Music Psychology pathway

Research

Overview

Mimi's main research interests concern:

• Music psychology
• Music and emotion
• Music science
• Empathy
• Quantitative research methods and analysis

Teaching

Undergraduate

• Introduction to Music Education

Postgraduate

• Psychology of music performance
• Music Perception and Cognition
• Empirical Research Skills
• Music Psychology for Marketing: The Influence of Music on Behaviour
• Market Research Skills

Publications

Full publications list

O’Neill, K., Egermann, H. (2021). Intra-Audience effects: The social experience of a live Western art music concert influences people’s overall enjoyment of the event but not the emotional response to the music. 

Maloney, L., O’Neill, K., Gray, J., (In press). Alone together: A mixed-methods analysis of Spotify listening during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Music, Health and Wellness. 

Wald-Fuhrmann, M., Egermann, H., Czepiel, A., O’Neill, K., ... & Tröndle, M. (2021). Music listening in classical concerts: Theory, literature review, and research program. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 1324. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.638783

O’Neill, K., & Egermann, H. (2020). Induced empathy moderates emotional responses to expressive qualities in music. Musicae Scientiae, https://doi.org/10.1177/1029864920974729