Dissertation

 can we blame our behaviour on the music that we listen to? 

As the main focus, I will research the studies done about the influence of music in the function of the brain, as a result of the daily-life habits of most of the people nowadays. 

It is really important to identify the main reason for getting used to listening to music as part of our daily habit, but also how music can change our emotions which take the control of our life's desitions and job performance. we could really blame the music, but mainly we can blame us for allowing the music to come through our soul and letting it act for its own free will. Moreover, how could be a painting without colours; as same as life without music.

Beforehand, I would like to express my own interest in researching why and how the music has affected our lives very fast through the development of the technology. As well as the investment of money that we do to get connected the majority of the time with the music through our technological devices.

Even, I feel concerned about the way as the youth has taken the use of the technology in a bad purpose, which makes that students use the phone during a lesson and even they lose respect for their tutors or in another context even the parents keep connected to their headphones which make that they lose interest in what is going on in real life. It is very concerning to see this kind of attitudes taken through the time thanks to the free access that all we have all the time to the internet and specifically to our apps of music and social media.

The music is a remote control for our brain: how behaviour is affected by music and lyrics.

The human brain produces a huge amount of hormones that control our behaviour and emotions such as serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, anti-mullerian hormone, luteinizing hormone, orexin, oxytocin and others more. Also, in most of the cases, the human brain can do from the easiest to the hardest thing, through the state of our emotions. Even,  the music can influence very deeply the way as we act and think during the process of listening to music and after listening to music.

 The music apart from being sound is also as powerful energy produced in different tones and frequencies, as well developed in diverse kind of modes, can origin feelings into us. here, there are two quotations from BBC where it is very clear that the music affects our body functions by just introducing sound to our body:

"Music releases a chemical in the brain that has a key role in setting good moods, a study has suggested." - McGilchrist S. Music 'boosts good mood chemical' [Internet]. BBC News. 2011 [cited 21 November 2018]. Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12135590.

" In this study, levels of dopamine were found to be up to 9% higher when volunteers were listening to the music they enjoyed. The report authors say it's significant in proving that humans obtain pleasure from music - an abstract reward - that is comparable with the pleasure obtained from more basic biological stimuli." - McGilchrist S. Music 'boosts good mood chemical' [Internet]. BBC News. 2011 [cited 21 November 2018]. Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12135590.

And yet, the interpretation of what music is for everyone has different perspectives. I have found a quotation from my research about the meaning of music for everyone, which consists in understanding that for everyone, the music means who they listen to. For me, I would say that music is Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran,  Rihanna, Adele, Nicky Jam, and all my favourite artists that influence my mood when I listen to their music. Even in the quotations says that the music is not music after 1960, but the point is to understand the focus of the comment which emphasises the fact of understanding music from our favourite artist who connects us to the world of the music:

“ What is music? To many, “music” can only mean the great masters— Beethoven, Debussy, and Mozart. To others, “music” is Busta Rhymes, Dr Dre, and Moby. To one of my saxophone teachers at Berklee College of Music—and to legions of “traditional jazz” aficionados— anything made before 1940 or after 1960 isn’t really music at all”. - Levitin, D. (2011). This is Your Brain on Music. New York: Atlantic Books Ltd., p.Page No 19.

Nonetheless, it is suggested that the human being perceives pleasure from listening to the music that likes to listen to. However, this satisfaction can be projected in the way as we change our moods and we show motivation forward anything we want. This satisfaction can be interpreted by anger, happiness, sadness, etc. Which brings us to a point where the projection of emotions produced by music, can take bad directions.

There are some cases in history where communities have been affected by music and mainly the violent, influencing and out-of-place lyrics directly satanic, extremist, sexual and racist in unacceptable criteria. 

Here, I have attached some criminal cases where people have killed influenced by music:

"Richard P. White

Richard Paul White was a man who admitted to shooting or strangling at least six people in the state of Colorado, around Denver. This killer was active from 2001 to 2003, and he had attributed his drive to kill on heavy metal.

Chancey Luna, James Edwards, And Michael Jones

These three teenagers were involved in the shooting of Australian baseball athlete Chris Lane in 2013 while he was in the United States on a scholarship. 

Luna and Jones were charged with first-degree murder, and Edwards was found to be an accessory.

At first, the police suspected the crime to be gang-related, but after reviewing tweets from the teens’ phones, they suspected that rapper Chief Keef had a major impact on the teens, as he was mentioned in those tweets. This rapper was a major influence and idol to the teens and the lyrics from his songs which are known to be violent, are thought to have spurred the teens into committing a murder. Chief Keef is seen as a role model by many in the gangster rap culture.

Richard Dickinson

This man murdered his mother in Hobart, Australia in 1987. Dickinson thought that his mother represented an evil character featured on a Bob Dylan album he was listening to. His mother had also allegedly complained to him about his playing of a Bob Dylan album in the early hours of the morning. It was after this that Dickinson chose to kill her. Dickinson claimed that, through the music, he was able to summon the strength he needed to kill his mother. It is reported that, after killing her, he sprinkled instant coffee over her."

This man murdered his mother in Hobart, Australia in 1987. Dickinson thought that his mother represented an evil character featured on a Bob Dylan album he was listening to. His mother had also allegedly complained to him about his playing of a Bob Dylan album in the early hours of the morning. It was after this that Dickinson chose to kill her. Dickinson claimed that, through the music, he was able to summon the strength he needed to kill his mother. It is reported that, after killing her, he sprinkled instant coffee over her.” -Top5s. (2018). Home. [online] Available at: https://www.top5s.co.uk/5-murders-believed-to-of-been-influenced-by-music/ [Accessed 3 Dec. 2018].

All these criminal actions taken by the influence of music are an important proof that there is a depth on our brain that is in charge of allowing the music to take the control of our hormones and making of us, their own will. 

Even, I am not going to deny that the music has been present in our lives since the beginning of our biological mother's pregnancy. I would say that the main influence for the babies as a therapy, is the music.

The reason is that the most you listen to music during the pregnancy, the more that your baby is going to develop themselves inside mom’s belly. I am not necessarily saying that the use of music for pregnancy is going to define the behaviour of the baby once they get born. But, I will affirm that the music is definitely, the main ingredient for working with babies from their gestation, childhood and their adolescence and even, adulthood.

The early stimulation is one of the great bases of the obstetrician who works with the music which is used as therapy from the gestation to help the baby with all its systems, but mainly his senses. The music in the pregnancy helps the fetus to connect with the outside world, in fact, the use of sounds helps the baby to communicate inside the womb.

TRANSLATED FROM SPANISH TO ENGLISH:

"In the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, prenatal stimulation techniques are performed directly to work on the emotional and sensory capacities of the fetus, and the estimation of the baby's senses will be worked on. At 16 weeks of gestation, the fetus can already see bright lights, which can start visual stimulation. By the fourth month, the baby's senses of touch and taste are well developed. And, from the fifth month, they will appear with the auditory techniques.

The advisable thing is to alternate the exercises. Work one day on a tactile exercise and perform a message. Thus, too, it should be combined as considered, however, there is no faster view."

"Listening to music at an adequate volume helps the fetus connect with the outside world, and encourage learning and the development of the intellect. Depending on the type of music the baby will behave in one way or another. "Listening to soft music reassures him, the instrumental is the most advisable; Baroque music increases concentration and more intense music, for example, rock, excites him, "says psychologist Rosa Granero." - Técnicas de estimulación prenatal para Los sentidos del bebé. [online] Webconsultas.com. Available at:https://www.webconsultas.com/embarazo/vivir-el-embarazo/tecnicas-de-estimulacion-prenatal-para-los-sentidos-del-bebe-13970 [Accessed 14 Dec. 2018].

These are very clever explanations about the right use of use to stimulate the good cognitive development of the baby. Even though, when the baby starts their childhood and adolescence the music is more influence to learn how to speak, how to sing stimulating songs that help them to memorise all that they have been taught. Nowadays and even in my childhood, I remember that most of the first songs that I learnt were about the vowels, syllables and the alphabet.

The music creates an invisible- spacious place in our mind that allows all the memory to record every single word of a song that makes us feel good and pleasurable. Even though, a study confirmed that depending on the music that we listen to we can be productive or not during our jobs and tasks:

• “For the most part, research suggests that listening to music can improve your efficiency, creativity and happiness in terms of work-related tasks. However, there are stipulations to these benefits. For example, studies seem to agree that listening to music with lyrics is distracting for most people. Therefore, it’s often recommended that we avoid listening to music featuring lyrics when working on tasks that require intense focus or the learning of new information.” – Grills C. The Science-Backed Ways Music Affects Your Brain and Productivity [Internet]. Medium. 2017 [cited 21 November 2018]. Available from: https://medium.com/the-mission/the-science-backed-ways-music-affects-your-brain-and-productivity-e11145079305.

However, responding to the question ‘ can we blame our behaviour on the music that we listen to?’, we could infer from all my research and sources of information that our behaviour and mentality are completed affected by the lyrics of the music.  Principally, affecting the youth nowadays with the message that carries the music that we listen to which is more present by the mainstream social media which influences teenagers who are more inside the world wide web and have access to all the material that contains inappropriate information.

Also, the main reason for getting used to listening to music is the need for programming our brain to help us directly to feel pleased about what  we want through the sound, but also the influence of the lyrics become more powerful  in the way as the new generations think and act in relation with the music that they listen to. Therefore, the new fashion, future laws and respect have changed along the music that has emerged.

Bibliography


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