投稿類別 : 英文寫作. 篇名 : You Are What You Listen to- Music s Influence on Humans 作者 : 李盈潔 台中家商 外三 2 張以柔 台中家商 外三 2 廖禹甄 台中家商 外三 2 指導老師 : 廖明珠

Transcription

1 投稿類別 : 英文寫作 篇名 : You Are What You Listen to- Music s Influence on Humans 作者 : 李盈潔 台中家商 外三 2 張以柔 台中家商 外三 2 廖禹甄 台中家商 外三 2 指導老師 : 廖明珠

2 Abstract From ancient times to the present, music has always been a part of our lives. Music comes in all manners of types, including classical music, which is created by a number of exceptional composers and musicians and pop music, which has won over every young heart in modern times. All these are undoubtedly existent in our every day life, somehow subtly affecting us all. There is no denying that music has a lot to do with human nature at all times. As time goes by, we have started to become conscious of the effects music has on us, and thus we were interested in conducting a deeper investigation into the relation between music and humans. For instance, we may be aware of the slight consistency between our emotional reactions and the type of music we listen to; what s more, even when you re buried in your work or cramming for tomorrow s exams, music also plays a significant part in this process. Keywords: music, mind, emotions i

3 Table of Contents Abstract i Table of Contents ii I. Introduction I.1 Background and Motivation I.2 Research Question I.3 Literature Review I.3.1 The Relation between Music and Human Emotions I.3.2 The Theory of Emotions I.3.3 Typical Emotions Aim to Music I.3.4 Music Benefits Human Health II. Methods II.1 Participants II.2 Instruments II.2.1 Questionnaire II.3 Procedures III Findings and Discussions III.1 Music and Emotion III.2 Music and Its Relationship with Respondents Study and Work Attitudes 6 IV Conclusion V References ii

4 I. Introduction I.1 Background and Motivation Since hundreds of years ago, music has been closely related to human nature. Even nowadays, people definitely still have a strong connection with music, and we are able to listen to a variety of music played nearly everywhere in our daily life. For instance, not only can we hear pop songs played in a fast food restaurant, but we can hear classical music in a Western restaurant in the countryside, whose purpose is to foster a romantic atmosphere in the restaurant. What s more, it comes as no surprise that we can see nearly everyone on the street or on the bus wearing headphones, playing their favorite songs. As we can see, music plays an important role in our life at all times. There is a wide variety of music with different styles for us to enjoy. Some listen to classical music for the purpose of relaxation, and others may prefer pop music with an eye to spicing up their stressful life. People listen to various kinds of music for different purposes, and in other cases, some people even find themselves unable to live without music in their life. Accordingly, it s apparent that music is of great importance to humans. As time goes by, we have come to be conscious of the impact that music has put on us. Were it not for music, our life would be so monotonous. Interestingly, by observing people around us, we can find that different personalities tend to prefer different types of music, and this clearly reflect the fact that music is related to something in the human mind. So, what exactly is the relationship between music and human emotion? What benefits can music brings to our health and study efficiency? Perhaps these are trivial matters that we should know more about, but relatively little is currently known in the scientific literature. Due to the increasing popularity of music, we conducted this investigation to learn more about its relationship with the human mind. By conducting questionnaires and research, we are able to further our knowledge about music and make good use of it so as to make our life become more agreeable. I.2 Research Questions The purpose of this study was closely related to our motivation to comprehend the relation between music and human beings, and our principal issue we are eager to find out was divided into three portions. Our study focused on the subjects of humans reactions after listening to different types of music, and their studying and working efficiency. In the following sections, we will focus on the three subjects mentioned below: 1

5 1. What influences do different categories of music have on human emotions? 2. How do various types of music affect humans studying efficiency? 3. How do different kinds of music influence humans working efficiency? I.3 Literature Review No matter in the past or in nowadays, the music is closely related to humans. There are many different kinds of music like classical music, symphony, rock music, light music, pop music and so on. It seems that people can t live without music. Music is omnipresent in many cultures, and it has played an essential role in our daily life. I.3.1 The Relation between Music and Human s Emotions Most people are able to feel basic emotions which are expressed in music. However, what kinds of music can affect our emotions, including negative, positive emotions and even specific feelings? In this research, we used classical, pop and rock music to explore their impact on people. Music makes listeners arouse happy, sad, excited and calm, which are the most common emotions. Almost all music can produce these general emotional reactions. Nevertheless, if somebody who have different familiarity and preference of music will produce different emotional reactions. When walking on the street, we can find stores play different music to attract customers. Different shops play different music. For instance, in a coffee shop, it usually plays smooth music like classical music which can make the customers feel comfortable and relaxed; in a fast food restaurant, light music is played, which can make the customers feel pleasant and subconsciously makes them eat more quickly. I.3.2 The Theory of Emotions Emotions are not produced by ourselves but aroused by stimulus. Stimulus on the whole comes from external factors, while others come from interior factors. Notwithstanding, external factor doesn't never fail to lead to our emotional conditions. This phenomenon depends on the knowledge and experiences a person has. A. Emotions are subjective consciousness Since each person is not the same individual and what we learn and experience are not similar to others, we will have different emotional reactions in the face of everything. Therefore, emotional reactions are definitely different from others and they are subjective. B. Emotional conditions are not effortless to control 2

6 Despite the fact that the generation of emotions depends on one s cognition and experience, the behavior and physical reaction which emerge from different emotional conditions are unlikely to be controlled easily. C. Emotions have a lot to do with motivation Emotions are generated along with motivated actions, and what kind of motivation determines what kind of emotion you will produce. For instance, when you listen to classical music, you feel like having a relaxing moment and soothing yourself, and vice versa. I.3.3 Typical Emotions Related to Music According to the classification of Hevner (1936), music appreciation mood terms can be divided into eight categories: solemn, sad, longing, calm, humorous, delightful, agitated, and majestic. Later, on the basis of Hevner s classification, Farnsworth (1954) examined its consistency, revising it into a more identical emotional expression narration, consisting of ten categories: delightful, fanciful, delicate, quiet, eager sad, sacred, majestic, agitated, and frustrated. Thus, these ten kinds of emotional expression were used as the classification in the present study for participants responses. I.3.4 Music Benefits Humans Health It is well-known that music has a great influence on our psychological and physiological health. Different music has different impacts on humans. Take students for example. Music can release our stress and help us be more confident. According to many reports and books, like Music and Emotion and Correlation between music preference and mental health of Chinese object of study for college students, we know that different types of music have different influences on the individual, such as soft music, which has a unique melody and rhythm can soothe and relax the listener s mental pressure. Furthermore, according to a report entitled, The theoretical foundation of the music therapy, a student who is closed up and introverted has many problems getting along with people. Through the therapy of music, the student began to open his mind and have a positive life perspective. In addition, according to a paper entitled, The Developments and Current Status of Music Therapy in Taiwan, researchers have found that music has direct and positive effects on curing patients illnesses and diseases. They have found that music s unique traits are capable of helping patients 3

7 drive anxiety out, expressing sensibilities, transferring painfulness and restless emotions, which means shifting patients attention to other subjects that are able to make them feel better and get rid of the anguish for a while. As a consequence, these cases have given substance to the notion that music does have the facility to make patients progress in curing diseases or making their illness improve considerably. II Methods II.1 Participants In order to collect statistics and data rapidly and accurately, we selected places with a large number of people. Then we chose people that developed the habit of listening to music on a regular basis so as to identify suitable for this study. We had the participants answer some questions as they were filling out the questionnaire. II.2 Instruments II.2.1 Questionnaire The most crucial step in this study was to devise a detailed questionnaire, which was a tremendously important process, since this approach is capable of providing objective data. As a consequence, by combining the research with the questionnaires, we were able to maximize the validity of our project. The questionnaire respondents were high school students. The researchers devised this questionnaire for the purpose of understanding participants preferences for different types of music and how they felt while listening to them. The data analysis of the questionnaire results enabled us to find out which category of music was most likely to affect both mental and physical health. II.3 Procedures With a view to making our study result more accurate, we went to places that contained a great number of people and selected participants who developed the habit of listening to music. Besides, we chose the place that people could answer our questions with concentration like bookstores and schools. After receiving back 300 questionnaires from participants, we used Excel to collate the statistics. Afterwards, we created graphs from the data. The last step we took was to analyze the data and describe them in the text of this study. 4

8 II. Findings and Discussions III.1 Music and Emotions After making a detailed investigation according to our research theme, we procured an adequate dataset capable of answering our research questions. First of all, let s begin with the first topic. We separated music into two categories: vivacious and leisurely. The vivacious ones included pop music, metal music, rock music, and so on. As for the leisurely ones, they referred to classical music and light music. The first topic, we wanted to analyze the relationship between music and emotions for the purpose of learning more about music. local music metal music classical music 3% light music 3% 10% 15% pop music 69% Figure 1 The Kinds of Music Preferred by Respondents Figure 1 showed that what vivacious and leisurely music had in common was that no matter which kind of music people preferred, both kinds of music was capable of making up to 50 percent of people feel calm and relaxed. And now let s take a look at how the vivacious music influenced humans. People who listened to pop music, rock music, and metal music were apt to hold a more aggressive and optimistic attitude toward life. Moreover, participants proclaimed that not only did they appear to be pleasant outwardly most of the time, but they were also enthusiastic about things on the inside. In other words, people that preferred vivacious music were more dynamic than others after listening to this kind of music. On the other hand, on account of the peculiarity of this type of music, people would somewhat appear to be less temperamental and elegant in their behavior, just as the data showed. Just as the information mentioned above indicates, leisurely music was able to make people feel cozy and serene as well, yet what differed was that leisurely music 5

9 had a higher percentage of participants than vivacious music did. This fact was strongly connected with the traits that leisurely music contains, as many studies have indicated, a kind of αwave that can foster the human brain to stay calm and tranquil. And it goes without saying that, judging from the graph, this fact had a lot to do with our EQ (emotional quotient), as the number of people with a better EQ among leisurely music listeners was higher than that of vivacious music listeners by approximately 8 percent. Participants asserted that they were somehow likely to take control of their emotions and to be more tranquil when they were about to hit the roof. As a result, their ability of being in charge of their emotions gave a good response to their temperament and elegance. making you more temperamental enhancing your EQ making you more dynamic 3% 5% making your personality 27% 27% optimistic 31% 7% keeping your mood calm making you more aggressive Figure 2: The Influence of Music on the Respondents According to Figure 2, people who prefer energetic music to soothing music regard energetic music to make them more energetic, optimistic and have a more relaxed mood. Few people thought listening to this kind of music could make them more elegant, improve their EQ or be able to more easily forgive others. III.2 Impact of Music on Respondents Study and Work Attitudes According to our questionnaires, most people liked to listen to music during their work and study, while some people who didn t like to listen to music when working and studying gave various reasons. The reason some people didn t do that was because they were of the opinion that it may disturb their emotions or make them fall asleep. 6

10 Moreover, some people didn t have this habit. It was true that they didn t listen to the music during their work and study. However they listened to the music in their free time such as exercising, driving, taking bath, sleeping, eating or reading books and newspapers. It shows that though music would disturb their thoughts while they were studying, conversely, when they wanted to relax themselves, music is the best choice of company. Music was able to make their spirits relax and let them enjoy their leisure time. On the other hand, people who worked and studied with music said they regarded increased concentration, relief of stress, and isolation from noise from outside and lifting one s spirits as the way to improve the efficiency of their work and study. They viewed music as a useful tool to make them enjoy their work and study more. Habits Forms 18% Refreshing Spirits 22% Isolating Noises from Outside 20% Releasing Stress 28% Reinforcing Concentration 12% Figure 3: Reasons Why People Like to Listen to Music According to Figure 3, people who like to listen to music when they were studying and working can increase their concentration. Nevertheless, the results of questionnaires indicate the best effect of music is release of stress. However, increased concentration as the reason why they listen to the music during their work and study is much less than the reason of releasing their stress. Based on these results, it is apparent that music is an important for helping people to relax themselves. Besides stress of release, lifting one s spirits was another important element. It can make people have more energy to do their work. With music, they would not fall asleep and could do their work for a long time without feeling tired. 7

11 IV.Conclusion There is no denying that music has a lot to do with humans emotions, and that different types of music affect people differently. In other words, music influences our reaction to emotions and minds subconsciously, which depends on what kind of music we listen to. You may enjoy yourself by listening to vivacious music or listening to leisurely music for the sake of soothing your stress and agitated state of mind. In spite of the fact that each kind of music has different effects on our minds, they still have one thing in common: both types have the ability to make listeners feel pleasant and cozy. The study has shown that participants who listened to vivacious music tend to be more dynamic and outgoing than others, and in contrast, they would be deficient in the property of elegance and temperament. According to the findings, we also found that most of the people that listened to vivacious music had personality traits which were similar to the music they were listening to. In contrast to vivacious music, the effects that leisurely music had on the participants were substantially different. Participants that listened to leisurely music had the tendency to be more serene and calm than those who listened to vivacious music. The reason is likely because music such as light music and classical music contain traits that are capable of soothingthe listeners irascible temper. What s more, we found that leisurely music listeners had a greater degree of elegance and temperament of which vivacious music listeners were deficient. Thanks to these accurate statistics, we have gained a deeper comprehension of the differences between people who prefer vivacious music and those who prefer leisurely music. There is no denying that music affects us a lot. With the passage of time, our life becomes more and more busy, so it is important for people to find a way to relax. Music is a good choice for those who wish to reduce stress. When people feeling tired, they would like to listen the music they like. It seems that no matter what kinds of music they like to listen to, most of them feel that the music they like can relax them. In addition, according to our report, most people who like to listen to music are used to listening to music when they are working. Music puts them in a good mood and makes their mind at peace. It is very important because when people are under a great pressure and can not find a way to give vent to it they will easily get sick. What s more, one of our respondents said if there were no music, he may go crazy under his stressful job. Also, another of our respondents said listening to music was a great method for soothing her bad mood. The top reason given by people for listening to music during their work time was just habit, though, so it appears that music is important for some people to help them release their pressure during their work 8

12 day. Next time when you are feeling tired during or after work, maybe you can try to listen to some music to release your stress. It is true that music is everywhere in our lives. However, we may never be aware of how deeply music influences our life. We believe that music impacts our mind, work and study efficiency. To support our hypothesis, we collected some related information on the Internet and from libraries. Moreover, we designed a questionnaire to understand what effect music can have on us. According to the results of our research, music indeed has some positive effects on some people who develop the habit of listening to music when they are studying. Most people think that some of the effect of music is its ability to enhance our concentration, spirits, soothe pressure and block out noise from outside. People feel less tired by listening to music so they feel energetic when studying in a similar way to drinking coffee, but without any side effects. In spite of the fact that some people don t listen to music when studying, they point out the advantages that music brings them in other free time such as personality qualities. Because we spent a long time listening to music, it not only changes our temperament but also enhances the overall performance of our study and work efficiency. Through our research, we found that the effect of music is tangible. And, we no longer feel that the influence of music is abstract and uncertain. We believe that our research makes it possible for people to know how important music is, and to know how to utilize music to make our life richer. After doing the research, we realize that music is beneficial to our mind, work and study efficiency. It is true that music has a variety of effects in our lives. It can help us psychologically to improve our work and study efficiency. With the power of music, we believe that our world can become more colorful. 9

13 V. References Anthony, S (1992).Music And The Mind.Ballantine Books Clarke, E.F & Dibben, N & Pitts, S (2010).Music And Mind In Everyday Life. Oxford Univ Pr McAdams,S (1987).Music: A Science Of The Mind? Taylor & Francis Payzant,G (2005). Glenn Gould:Music & Mind.Music Educators Journal The Effects of Music on the Mind.2012/9/17. 取自於 : Music, Mind, and Meaning. 2012/9/17. 取自於 : Rice University. Exploring Mind Through Music. 2012/9/20. 取自於 : ParentGuide News. Music and The Mind. 2012/9/2. 取自於 : 10