The Effect of Music on Behavior
Music has a huge impact on the everyday lives of individuals in America today. It is an important part of the sociological self, which causes a person to feel and act in a certain manner. Sensual guitar playing, a suggestive song, hard rock power chords, or a tune from the past are all highly powerful forces in shaping one's actions. I have taken a particular interest in the way that different genres of music affect student's actions at this university. This paper will take into account the effects that particular genres of music have on people. Because we are in a college town such as Austin it is easy to observe the effects that music has on people. Whether it be at parties, clubs, concerts, or in
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Whole periods, not just single occurrences, can be relived by hearing an old favorite. Several weeks ago in my wing on the second floor of Jester East, I performed an experiment. The participants were very well suited for the experiment because they mostly listen to rock and roll and heavy metal. Their musical taste is a far cry from the music I used in this experiment. Sometime around one in the morning I placed a compact disc entitled "80's Dance Party" in my stereo, and turned it up excessively loud. My goal was to see how the male residents in the wing would react. Immediately after the music began doors started to open, and the residents proceeded to pour out into the hall. Though many of them had already been in bed, they all had smiles on their faces. Everyone was dancing around, and talking about times when they remembered having heard a particular song in the past. Dancing around in a dormitory hall during the a.m. hours of a school night may not be perceived as the most rational event to be occurring, yet the participants did not feel strange because of the music that was playing. The feeling that one has when hearing a song is often related to the most memorable moment they experienced while that song was being played. In the case of my experiment, being that all the participants were around 18 years of age, the songs from the …show more content…
This past Thursday I studied the actions of many people at a popular dance club in Austin. The next night I observed the actions of others at a party. The actions of most of the people were similar at both places. At both places, the connecting element seemed to be the music. Inside a dance club or at a party, it is not uncommon for perfect strangers to engage in very provocative dancing. Many of the dance moves exhibited in these situations are extremely sexually suggestive. The rhythm of the music is one of the causes for this behavior. Many of the songs played at these places contain repetitive, pulsating tempos that resemble the tempo of sexual intercourse. Thus, the dance moves are concentrated around the hips and torso areas. There is a culture that is associated with much of the music in clubs and at parties. This culture involves, among other things, promiscuous sexual activity. Even if one did not participate in the cultural aspect of the music they may imitate some of the principles of the culture. A second reason for these actions is that the music is so loud that there is no pressure to engage in conversation. With this pressure absent the sexual relationship accelerates much faster. The fact that the music is so loud provides anonymity for those involved in the dancing. No identity is placed on one's dancing
Sheerin, Jude. "How the World's First Rock Concert Ended in Chaos." BBC News 20 Mar. 2012: n. pag. Bbc.co. Web. 8 Oct. 2013.
Music is the one thing that has been around since pretty much forever. And in that forever we've created hundreds of music genres including; Classical, Rock/Metal, Country, Pop, Jazz, Rap, and the list goes on. For thousands of years we have made and listened to music but why? I think it's because music is an emotional release for all of us. Music just makes us happier and calmer and better. Let me explain to you why I think this.
There are many factors in life that affect personality, but perhaps one of the most significant is the genre of music you listen to. I chose to focus specifically on how music may affect an individual’s personality. I used two resources to support this topic. The first is a peer-reviewed article from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology titled, “Exposure to Violent Media: The Effects of Songs with Violent Lyrics on Aggressive Thoughts and Feelings”. The other is a popular press article published in Psychology Today, titled as “What Your Stuff Reveals about You.” These two articles will make you question the genre of music you listen to.
Also children as young as 3 or 4 years of age are able to recognize basic emotions in music (Cunningham & Sterling 1988). Emotional contagion it has been argued, facilitates the mother-infant bond (Darwin 1872), as well as social interaction in general terms (Preston & de Waal 2002). In support of this, this emotional contagion seems to create liking and affiliation (e.g. Lakin et al. 2003) which is perhaps beneficial for social interaction (Juslin, P.N. and Vastfjall D., 2008, p.565).
Often times throughout history and in today’s world, music along with lyrics of songs and musical artists are blamed for deviant behavior in adolescents and teenagers. Some argue that subcultures are created because of artists and their music which leads to groups of young adults taking part in deviant behavior, while others argue the opposite; that the behavior leads the person to listen to the music. There is also concern about the effect that music videos have on the behaviors of the listeners of music throughout all genres. Although there is not much extended research on music and the effect it has on its listeners there is plenty of speculation, theories, and minor studies.
Teenagers have for long been a constant bother to many parents, for many years. It is during this stage that a large number of individuals engage in rebellious acts and are anxious to try out almost everything they lay their hands on. It is clear from the illustrations that music does have a great effect on teenagers. Parents should therefore combine effort in instilling a sense of responsibility and good morals to their young ones since they are the future leaders of the world.
Linder, Todd. “The Effects of Music on People's Behavior”. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec 2013. .
If one were to look back into the world’s history, one would find that an important and consistent element is the world of music. Music has presented itself in various forms throughout its spread and through our identification of its magical realm, people have been fortunate enough to come across a means of relation. Whether it is blues and reggae or rap and pop rock, there is music out there for everyone. Music can serve as a stabilizer for some, a relaxant to others, and to many a form of inspiration.
It’s also interesting to think about how music plays a role in someone’s identity. Many articles found discuss the Social Identity Theory, and the people who conduct these experiments always keep this in mind, “Social identity theory (SIT; Tajfel, 1978; Tajfel & Turner, 1979) maintains that individuals gain a social identity from the groups to which they belong. The theorists claim that members have a desire to evaluate their own group positively and that they achieve positive evaluations through social comparisons with relevant other groups along valued dimensions. One maintains positive social identity and self-esteem through in-group favoritism, positive distinction from the out-group, and, occasionally, out-group derogation (e.g., Noel, Wann, & Branscombe, 1995)” (Tarrant, North, Hargreaves, 2001). Towson’s online database is an excellent place to research what has been found on music’s effects on psychology, and ...
Music is one of the few things that has remained constant through the centuries this world has existed. Not only does music provide entertainment, it also has several effects linked to it. Music allows emotions of happiness and sadness to arise. From those emotions, physical effects, negative or positive, can occur. Music has a profound effect on the emotional, social, intellectual, and physical aspects of a person.
Music has incredible effects on the brain and body! Ever since the beginning of time, music has been around. It can influence the way a person thinks and behaves, and also social interactions. Teens are more susceptible to this (Revatto 1). Music can be used in therapy by helping people with depression, and can even be a more natural way to heal the body (“How Music...” 1). In some cases, songs and melodies can help or make diseases worse. Music is a powerful thing and can affect your brain and many other things in your body in numerous ways.
In conclusion towards the arguments and observations, musical expression consists in presenting emotion characteristics in appearance. It turns out people listen to music as having a purposeful nature and that it has an effect on psychological emotions. If there is a case in which music showing emotional qualities with no reference to feelings, there is a case of happy music that is not powerful of happiness.
"Music Influence On Society." SocialPC - Psychology, Sociology, Philosophy etc. Web. 25 Feb. 2010. .
Music is can be a very complicated and delightful at the same time. Music affects our bodies in several ways when engaging with it. The complicated and delightful apparatus we call music affect people physically, psychologically, and is great with healing emotional affliction, strengthens emotions, and is known to cure illness. Music also plays an influential role in the socialization of teenagers. Mainstream music is available practically everywhere. It is conveniently accessible over the internet, radio, individual recordings and other forms of technology
Music plays a significant role in socializing every human being, especially students and teenagers. Teenagers and students listen to various genres of music like rap, heavy metal, Christian rock, country music, jazz, electrical music, dance music, etc. Music involving rap, hip hop, hard rock and Christian rock has become the most popular types of music among teenagers. The lyrics in these types of music have become more explicit in their references to sex, drugs and violence since the past four decades. Listening to such music may affect the student’s life in many ways. In the beginning, the student’s behavior changes due to the influential lyrics in the songs. Then, the education is affected due to the behavior change. After that, the student faces problems in his/her social life. Moreover, the student’s health may also face problems due to overtime listening to music. So, listening to inappropriate music does not only result in ruining one’s future, but it also affects the person’s health.