Friday, July 6, 2012

Music Influences How You View the World

Music evokes emotions. Music is a universal language. You can effectively communicate with others in different parts of the world with music even if you do not understand their language. Music is a
heartbeat everyone can feel and relate to. It touches the heart and changes your emotions. It also affects how you see the world.

Different scientific research and studies have proven that certain types of songs evoke certain emotions. The Optimism/Pessimism Questionnaire, the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List, and the Wessman-Ricks Elation and Depression Scale are some of the assessments that were done regarding the effect of music on emotions. It was proven that songs that were rated highly improved the listener’s mood positively. Songs rated negatively evoked negative emotions such as loneliness and sadness.

Another study was also conducted to focus on music’s influence in how people perceive art. When positive music was paired with a painting, people perceived the painting as positive. When it was paired with a negative type of music, the same painting was perceived as negative. This goes to show that music not only affects the ear but it also affects how we view the world.

Music can even affect how we think of other people’s facial expressions. When a person has no expression on their face, people could think that he is sad if the background music is sad. If the same person with identical facial expressions is shown along with happy, upbeat, and elevating music, his neutral face will be perceived as happy. This concept is often used in performances, plays, movies, and art galleries to take advantage of how music’s influence can color the perception of an audience.

There is no clear reasoning behind this phenomenon. Science cannot explain why this is so. We know that the connection of music’s influence to emotions exists in our brains. Music affects our emotions and our perceptions. It changes how we view things. No matter where you are in the world, music is often used to communicate in many ways far more effectively than language communications.

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