THEINFLUENCEOFMUSIC

TheInfluenceofMusic
ChristenMangum
SaltLakeCommunityCollege

AuthorsNote:
ThispaperwaspreparedforPsychology1010,Section009,taughtbyProfessorMarin.

THEINFLUENCEOFMUSIC
2
Music is in almost every aspect of our lives. In the case ofthosewhoaredeaforhardof
hearing, auditory music may not be as prevalent. However, whether we are actively aware of it
or not, we are surrounded by music. Music can be heard in the car, in an elevator, in the store,
and even as we are dining at our favorite eatery. Even our alarm clocks wake us up with music
every morning. According to a study done recently by Edison Research, a surveybased
researcher with access to the biggest internet and broadcasting hubs all over the world (
i.e
.
Google and CBS Radio to name two of the many), Americans spend roughly a fourth of their
waking day listening to some sort of audio. (Webster, 2014) Assuming you had eight hours of
sleep and are a United States citizen above the age of 13, you have spent four hours of your
waking day is listening to some sort of audio, 96.1% of which is music, the other 4.9% being
audiobooks and podcasts. (Webster, 2014) Music has integrated itself so deeply into our daily
life. There are questions that surface as to how it is psychologically affectingus.Hereareafew
ofthem:
1.

Howcanmusicaffectbehavior?

2.

Howcanmusicaffectotherspositivelyornegatively?

3.

Howcanmusicaffectpeopledifferently?

Extensive research and experiments havebeenconductedbypsychologistsinattemptstoanswer

thesequestions.Therearemanycorrespondingandoverlappinganswerstothequestionsposed.
For example, in an experiment done in
PlayThatOneAgain:TheEffectofMusicTempo
on Consumer Behaviour in a Restaurant
, the researchers found that if you played background
music that had a slower tempoithadtheeffectofmakingmostdinerseatslower,spendingmore
time in the restaurant, and are more willing to spend more money, as comparedtofastertempo.

THEINFLUENCEOFMUSIC
3
Why? Well, according totheresearchers,CaldwellandHibbert,...onaverage,customersdining
under the slow tempo condition underestimated the time spent in the restaurant, while those
dining under the fast tempo condition slightly overestimated time spent dining.(1999) So in
theory, a restaurant managerorownercouldmanipulatethetimeandmoneyhispatrons spendin
hisdiningestablishmentbyusingmusic.
If Mr. Restaurant Owner had customers waiting to be seated at tables and wanted the
current diners to eat quicker, playing musicwithafastertempocouldspeedalongtheprocessof
them consumingtheirmashedpotatoes.However,ifMr.RestaurantOwnerwantedtoreallypush
the dessert options or it was a slow day, he could play music that hadamoreleisurelytempoto
increase the chances of the customers staying longer and spending more. However, the success
of Mr. Restaurant Owners music manipulation tactics depends on how much people really are
affectedbythemusicheplays.Somepeoplemayfeeldifferentlyaboutmusicthanothers.
There was a study done by researchers on how people can feel pleasant emotionswhen
they are listening to sad music, predictably named
Sad Music Induces Pleasant Emotion
. When
studying music and how it affect individuals, the researchers distinguished between perceived
emotion and felt emotion. (Furukawa,
Katahira, Kawakami, and Okanoya
, 2013) For example,
perceived emotion is what the individual thinks that the music is saying while felt emotion is
what they feel. If the individual perceives the music to be sadandalsofeelssad,theresearchers
say that this is a positiverelationship.Contrastingly,iftheyperceivethemusictobesadbutfeel
happyinstead,thisisclassifiedasanegativerelationship.
For anexampleofapositiverelationship,therewasastudydoneatIowaStateUniversity
called
Exposure to Violent Media: The Effects of Songs With Violent Lyrics on Aggressive

THEINFLUENCEOFMUSIC
4
Thoughts and Feelings.
This article expounded on the studies of the psychological effects of
songs that had violent lyrics. Throughout the five experiments performed where the volunteers
listened to an array of violent or nonviolent songs, they would complete afterward the State
Hostility Scale, an irritability scale, completed a task, or didawordassociationquestionnaire to
measurewhatkindsofemotionsaroseafterhearingthesongs.
In the results of the experiments, there was an observed positive trend in feeling hostile
behaviors and aggression after listening to the perceived violent songs. There was another
interesting observation as they found that in one of the experiments, the females were
statistically more hostile than the males after listening. However, as music can affect people
differently, the researchers discussed the possibility that the types of songs that werechosenfor
the experiment were a stimulus that the females may not have beenasaccustomedtohearingas
the males might have been. (
Anderson, Carnagey, and Eubanks
, 2003) In the terms of the
researchers for
Sad Music Induces Pleasant Emotion,
(Furukawa,
Katahira, Kawakami, and
Okanoya
, 2013)
,
the songs were perceived to be violent and aggressive and the emotions felt
were more irritable and aggressive, meaning that the perception and feelings had a positive
correlation.
Now let us go back to Mr. Restaurant Owner, who is still diligently trying to make the
most money in his establishment by playing diskjockey. It is a busy night and he is looking to
speed up the tempo and gethiscustomerstofinishfastersohecangetmoredinersatatableand
ordering food. He decides to play a rap album that had a fast tempo,butoftencontained violent
lyrics. Later on in the evening, an argument broke out over some extra onionsawaiterforgotto
put on a sandwich. What he did not know was that, according to the research in
Exposure to

THEINFLUENCEOFMUSIC
5
Violent Media: The Effects of Songs With Violent Lyrics on Aggressive Thoughts and Feelings,
there is an increased possibility thathis customerswouldbeginexhibitingirritatedbehavior,and
might have influenced the eruption of the argument.
(
Anderson, Carnagey, and Eubanks
, 2003)
For Mr. Restaurant Owner, it was probably an intelligent decision when he decided to take the
rap music that contained violent lyrics off his restaurants background musics playlistasitwas
notverybeneficialforhisbusinesswhenthereisfightingorpeevedcustomers.
On the other hand, thereisalso thenegativerelationshiptobeexplored.Accordingtothe
research in
Sad Music Induces Pleasant Emotion
, people often choose to listen to musicthatis
sadormelancholybecausetheyenjoythemusic.(Furukawa,
Katahira,Kawakami, andOkanoya
,
2013) Is this because they are masochists? No, they are not. The research inthearticlesuggests
that when sadness is presented in an artistic way, such as in broadway, literature, or music,
listeners feel the sad or negative emotion to a much lesser degree than the degree that they
perceive the emotion to be inthemusictheylistenedto.Alongwithfeelinglesserdegreesofsad
emotions from sad music, listeners also feltblithe,whichtheydefineasbeing
merry,animated,
andfeellikedancing.
(Furukawa,
Katahira,Kawakami,andOkanoya
,2013)
For an example of this, if someone were to hear a song that talked swinging from
chandeliers, the listener may think that theycanseehowtheartistwouldliketoperformsuch an
outrageous act from how theyperceivethemusic.Meanwhile,theyarecontenttojusthumalong
or maybejusttaptheirfoot.So,whywouldalistenerfeellikehummingalongtoasongthatthey
thinkissad?
There isatheorythatthe researchersfor
SadMusicInducesPleasantEmotion
broughtup
called the musical expectancy theory.
When we listen tomusic,weareapttoanticipatewhatis

THEINFLUENCEOFMUSIC
6
coming next listenersexperienceemotionbecauseofviolation,delay,orconfirmationoftheir
expectations regarding the continuation of the music.
(Furukawa,
Katahira, Kawakami, and
Okanoya
, 2013) In other words, when we listentoasongthatweknowissad,weanticipateand
expecttheemotionandarenotasswayedorinfluencedbythenegativeemotioninthemusic.
Now, going back to the questions that we askedatthebeginning.Howcanmusicaffect
behavior? We have found that music can affect behavior in many circumstances. As
background music, it canchangethewaythatpeopleperceivetimeinarestaurant.Whenusedin
certain ways, as Mr. Restaurant Owner tried to do in our examples, it can produce a positive
trendinspendingortimespentinarestaurant.(
CaldwellandHibbert,1999)

How can music affect others positively or negatively? As explored, certain types of
music can cause negative emotions like aggression or irritability, and in somemorethanothers,
such as when the female participants in
Exposure to Violent Media: The Effects of Songs With
Violent Lyrics on Aggressive Thoughts and Feelings were found to have experienced more
negative emotions on average than the males.
(
Anderson, Carnagey, and Eubanks
, 2003) This
also leads us to our last question, How can music affect people differently? Sad music can
even influence listeners to feel opposite of what it is perceived to emote. (Furukawa,
Katahira,
Kawakami,andOkanoya
,2013)
With this new insight, perhaps in the fourhoursonaveragethatwespendadaylistening
to music, we might be a little more aware on how the tempo, the lyrics, or what the artist is
tryingtoemoteinfluencesourbehaviors.

THEINFLUENCEOFMUSIC
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REFERENCES
Anderson,C.,Carnagey,N.,andEubanks,J.(2003).ExposuretoViolentMedia:TheEffectsof
SongsWithViolentLyricsonAggressiveThoughtsandFeelings.
JournalofPersonality
andSocialPsychology,

Vol.84
(No.5),960971.RetrievedNovember29,2014.
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http://apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/psp845960.pdf
>
Caldwell,C.,&Hibbert,S.(1999).PlayThatOneAgain:TheEffectofMusicTempoon
ConsumerBehaviourinaRestaurant.
EuropeanAdvancesinConsumerResearch,

Vol.4
,
5862.RetrievedNovember29,2014.
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http://www.acrwebsite.org/search/viewconferenceproceedings.aspx?Id=11116
>
FurukawaK,KatahiraK,KawakamiA,andOkanoyaK(2013)SadMusicInducesPleasant
Emotion.
Front.Psychol
.4:311.doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00311RetrievedNovember
27,2014.<
http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00311/full
>
Webster,T.(2014,June18).EdisonResearchConductsFirstEverShareofEarMeasurement
ForAllFormsOfOnlineAndOfflineAudio.
EdisonResearch.
RetrievedNovember29,
2014.
<
http://www.edisonresearch.com/edisonresearchconductsfirstevershareofearmeasu
rementforallformsofonlineandofflineaudio/#.U6I4UfldWSo
>