Sound Effects

People listen to music for a variety of reasons. Some listen to music to relax in which it serves as a sort of escape from everyday life, some because they are a fan and follow a certain artist, and others because they can relate the lyrics to their own personal experiences. Whichever the case may be, music has and continues to serve an important role in people’s lives.

Music has been around for thousands of years; it can be used for entertainment, teaching, or healing and coping. One reason people today listen to music is to help get them through rough times. The structural composition of music can influence a person’s thoughts and mood simply through the right chord progression. It has now become an acceptable modality for certain psychological and medicinal mechanisms. Music has recently developed into a therapeutic mechanism for situations stretching from autistic people to the average person struggling with heart break or simply just focusing.

Billy Joel once said, “I think music in itself is healing. It 's an explosive expression of humanity. It 's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we 're from, everyone loves music.” In many ways this quote is very accurate both socially and scientifically. Music is a vital part of almost every culture and serves many purposes culturally as a means of self expression and communication within a culture and the world at large. While music does serve several external purposes, perhaps its most important and fascinating functions happen within the brain when its making or listening to music. Over the years there have been countless studies on music 's effect on the human brain and body and many have concluded that music positively affects the brain by doing things like relieving stress and improving cognitive function, and the body as well, by relieving pain and muscular and cardio vascular tension. Music is an important part of the human experience and affects our brain, bodies and emotions in both abstract and physical ways, making it vital to many facets our well being.

This reference shows how music lays a foundation of teenage values beyond school or parental teaching. A musical artist can influence a young mind by the chosen lyrics with greater effectiveness than formal education. Music can control or enhance moods. A good mood can get better or a bad mood can be worked through with the choice of music. A bad mood can also be enhanced by lyrics about suicide or violent behavior. Teens can also use music to gain information about the adult world, to withdraw from social contact, facilitate friendships and social settings, or to help them create a personal identity. (O'Toole, 1997)

The impact that music has on individuals lives varies greatly from person to person and often provides a unique lifestyle to each individual. An author by the name Oliver Sacks talks about the unique cases that he has dealt with in the past in his writings. The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat and “Brainworms, Sticky Music, and Catchy Tunes” from Musicophilia are two articles written by Oliver Sacks, which show the relationship that music has on the mind and how music can change how a person perceives reality. The human mind is a complex machine and yet there is something about music that transforms a person’s thought process completely.

Music, “…one of the most widely used and appealing forms of communication…”, is universal and used for different purposes (Root, 2005, p. 7). Among the uses are “…play or entertainment, which humans of all ages engage in to stimulate feelings of joy, tension, and interaction, and enrich their experiences by adding mental complexity, counteracting boredom and lethargy” (Root, 2005, p. 7). In addition, music expresses “…emotions such as love, sentiment, or anger” (Root, 2005, p. 7). Ultimately, it communicates values showing the reality of society and culture. Anyone listening to “a few records [helps] enrich [their] feelings, extend [their] sense of love or despair, and feed [their] fantasies or fire some real relationship” (Cooper & Haverkos,

Rock music has been a large part of our lives since its origins way back in the 1940’s. It’s tone has advanced and changed to meet the needs of specific sub genres, but the message is the same throughout the decades; Rock music is a staple of American culture. Emo and Death Metal hit on the emotional strains of their listeners, while Christian Rock and Rock and Roll give a more positive and upbeat feel. Regardless of the tone, music has been proven time and time again to be directly linked to the brain’s pleasure system. Songs that release a lower level of dopamine have been proven to trigger negative emotions such as depression and anxiety. They are also more likely to cause an emotional connection between the listener, and the song. Other

“Nothing is more singular about this generation than its addiction to music” (Bloom 68). While every person in the world knows this to be true, no one stops to consider whether the music society listens to is actually good for the mind. What people don’t realize is that music affects people’s morals, culture, education, laws, and the way society thinks. Music has proved to be helpful, but no one focuses on that aspect of it anymore. The people that music affects the most only care if they can dance to it.

I. The possible health benefits of music are criticized, yet they yield depreciation in negative emotions, exemplify an increase in physical stimulus, and ultimately instills exponential development.

Music surrounds people everywhere they go: in the car, at football games, on TV commercials, and in waiting rooms. Our personality is an indicator of what kind of music it is that we choose to surround ourselves with. Furthermore, the music we surround ourselves with has multiple effects on both our bodies and our brains. Whether it puts us in a good mood or distracts us from something more important, music has both positive and negative effects on us. Music can be used as a tool to facilitate so much of our experience in this world.

Music has more of an influence on the people in the twenty-first century than it ever has before. Teens, especially, are surrounded by some sort of it in everything they are around or do. Many disagree on how music impacts one’s mental state and behavior; however, all agree that the impact depends on how the listener feels before and how they allow it to influence them.

Thesis: Music is a unique form of sound powerful enough to manipulate mood, feelings, and cognition.

It affects the brain, in return effecting physical appearance and emotion which have a key role in personality development. As Veronica Gonzalez states, a Social Psychology Major, Honors Student, and Research Assistant, “Music is a display of personality identity for individuals: it is a topic of speech upon meeting someone new, a way of communicating experiences, and a manner of expressing culture” (1). Different music genres have been key in figuring out the various outcomes of personality, thus being the several influential factors upon personality. There are numerous ways that genres of music influence, what they influence, and the outcomes of those influences on personality, all the way into specific gender influences. Due to these impacts, it is proven that different genres of music can influence and have specific outcomes on personalities of individuals. The significant relationship between music and personality allow everyone, everywhere, to have an understanding of how substantial music impacts lives, and most essentially,

The impact of music on positive psychology and emotion is a well known fact. Music has an extraordinary ability to change people’s emotions. In humans, music has the ability to invoke emotions of sadness, happiness and even fear (Goycoolea, Levy & Ramirez, 2013). The ability of music to alter human mood makes it one of the greatest subjects of positive psychology. Seligman (2011) argued that even though a lot of effort has been spent on psychotherapy and pharmacology, such interventions are not

Music elicits an emotional and cognitive response in all who listen to it. It is powerful at the individual level because “it can induce multiple responses – physiological, movement, mood, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral” (Francis, 2008,