Can listening to music harm people?
However, there is another aspect of music that we rarely consider (or have never considered). And the same holds true for music.
Despite my enthusiasm for and daily involvement with music, I want to share with you some unfavorable consequences of listening to it. Although I don't particularly like talking about it, I feel compelled to do so with all of you.
Let's start now!
1. Listening to music can distort our perception of
reality.
Sometimes cues that we are not now aware of can affect how we judge the things that are in front of us.
The same is true of background music.
A study on visual perception found that emotional
stimuli, like music, can change how people see the faces of others.
Participants were instructed to detect other people's emotions based on their facial features while listening to happy and sad background music.
Participants were better at identifying happy faces
than sad ones when they were listening to upbeat music, and the opposite was
true for sad faces. When a person's face characteristics match their present
emotional state, they become more perceptive.
But scientists also discovered something else. Despite
not having a face visible on the screen, people responded to stimuli by judging
them to be joyful or sad. Even in the absence of actual stimuli, mood had an
impact on what participants saw.
Sad music can make us feel a little less optimistic
than we actually are.
What happens to your outlook on life if you are constantly
listening to music that lowers your mood? You'll distort your perception of
reality if you're continually experiencing bad emotions that are heightened by
music.
I am aware that music is only one factor that
contributes to a pessimistic outlook, but it can maintain it.
Increased aggressiveness as a result of violent song
lyrics
Imagine that these songs include violent lyrics in addition to being depressing.
What can song lyrics do to our worldview?
According to a study, when people hear music with violent lyrics, their aggressive thoughts increase. Three perspectives on this exist:
- Those who listened to violent songs perceived aggressive-ambiguous word pairs as being more similar than those who listened to nonviolent ones. In other words, participants interpreted ambiguous words aggressively after listening to violent songs.
- When listening to violent music, people scan aggressive words more quickly than they would non-aggressive terms. Researchers timed how quickly participants read these words and found that listening to violent music reduced the time it took to pronounce hostile terms. This implies that ideas included in the previous music that listeners have heard are more easily accessible.
People's perceptions of the world will change if their level of hostility increases, as will their amount of violent thoughts and sentiments.
- Consider social encounters.
Someone is more likely to interpret conversations with a hostile tone if they frequently listen to music with violent and sexually explicit themes. This may result in a more combative reaction (both verbal and physical) and escalate the situation to a point where the person will quickly regret what happened.
We can't keep being naive about the music we decide to
listen to on a regular basis. There is a real risk that we should try to
minimize or at the very least balance in our daily music consumption.
2. Music can make us more hostile.
Music has been employed in battle from the beginning
of time.
Music has been associated with the worst in humanity
(as well as the best of us, of course, but for the sake of argument, we're
focusing on the negative portion now. It has been employed to motivate troops,
boost output, terrify adversaries, or even torture people.
Okay, so that's how music has been utilized in the
past for good or bad purposes. But how does contemporary music encourage
violence?
A Drill Song
One study examined how this musical genre might lead
listeners to think more aggressively and to commit crimes.
Drill music, a type of rap music, is used by gangs to
express violence toward the authorities and rival gangs. The songs discuss
violence, masculinity, drug usage, shootings, and even explicit threats to kill
members of rival gangs.
In addition to encouraging violence, there is another issue with converting such words into deeds.
The audience may anticipate rappers to behave in
accordance with what they say in their lyrics given the subgenre's cultural
context. To establish their credibility with other people, they may
feel pressured to carry out those violent crimes.
To be clear, we cannot prove causality, only that
violent crime is glorified in music lyrics. These behaviors aren't necessarily
caused by music. But it can considerably increase the pressure to act.
This is a very severe matter for the legal system.
These songs' lyrics have been cited in court as proof of illegal activity and
have even resulted in numerous convictions.
To be fair, rap music is more popular than other
genres. Compared to other genres, they frequently associate it with negative
associations. In contrast to its rap counterparts, people actually perceive the
same lyrics to be less insulting and more acceptable when they hear them in
country music, according to a study.
Songs with sexually explicit lyrics
An intriguing study investigated how participants'
attitudes toward the same or opposite sex were affected by the sexually
aggressive music content.
It is the content of these songs, not their musical
genre of origin (current rock, pop, or rap), that matters.
After listening to either misogynistic or neutral song lyrics, participants were instructed to apply hot sauce to another person (who were actually male and female research assistants). The other participant had to drink the entire contents of the sauce cup, and the amount of sauce that went into it may be decided by the participants. They were also given the assurance that nobody would find out how much liquid they added to the cup.
According to the findings, men who were exposed to
misogynistic music lyrics reacted more violently to female participants than to
male ones. They used more hot sauce, in larger doses. Good for them, women
didn't exhibit similar behavior in response to lyrics that denigrated men.
Men are also more likely to think negatively about
women when they hear misogynistic song lyrics. Women who hear songs with
anti-male lyrics experience the same thing. They have a stronger propensity to
consider the worst things about men.
The way that people view others can be altered by
music. We must be careful about how we initially see individuals since it will
ultimately affect how we treat them.
3. Listening to melancholy music can send us on a
never-ending downward spiral.
What happens if you immerse yourself in depressing and
nostalgic music?
I don't mean just listening to them one day when
you're depressed. I'm talking about spending days, weeks, or even months
listening to them every day.
The data suggests that depressive individuals are drawn to sad music yet have increased levels of depression after listening to it. Such signs can include a tendency to ruminate. It resembles an endless cycle.
They feel even worse after listening to depressing
music, and they keep returning to the same genre to try to deal with these
sentiments. They are made to feel even worse by the bad thoughts and emotions
that sad music feeds upon. They continue to claim that music is helpful despite
the reality that it actually makes them feel worse. They don't understand that
by repeatedly engaging in these actions, they are furthering their own
predicament.
It might be really risky to listen to music that makes
you feel worse. Even more so if you are unaware that smoking is hazardous for
you.
When we listen to so much music every day and are in a
poor mood, awful things can happen.
Consider your habits to discover if they actually
serve you. Keep in mind that even those who are depressed could believe something
is helping them when it's actually making things worse.
Be brutally honest with yourself about the effects of your daily habits on your life.
It all comes down to how we engage with music and how
much we utilize it every day. Be mindful of what you are surrounded by.
We spend over 4 hours a day listening to music, which
undoubtedly affects our emotions, thoughts, and actions.
It alters how we perceive the world.
Given how pervasive it is in our lives, how can it not be?
Whether it's a feeling or a meaning, the stuff we consume shapes the way we perceive the world. After that, interpretations prompt actions that can have consequences we later come to regret.
It is our responsibility to be conscious of the stuff
we consume every day. The music we listen to and how much of it we want in our
lives are choices we have to make. If we give ourselves negative reinforcement,
that's what we'll spread to the rest of the world.
We just need to know how to use this strong tool
called music.
