THE TYPE OF MUSIC YOU LISTEN TO CAN AFFECT YOUR MOOD.
The Hypothesis
According to Examined Existence, “the meter, timber, rhythm and pitch of music are managed in areas of the brain that deal with emotions and mood. These key areas are the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and the parietal lobe” (ExaminedExistence). Soothing tunes help release serotonin, which is a hormone responsible for happiness. Dopamine is also released, which is a neurotransmitter that helps make you feel good.
When you turn the radio on in your car, popular pop songs will typically play. For example, if you listen to a song that has an empowering message, such as Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger,” the song will make you feel motivated yourself.
On the other hand, if you are in a grumpy mood and are determined to stay grumpy, your mood will not change. Blasting happy, upbeat music to a determined grumpy person will not change their mood, because their mind is solely fixated on their current mood state, grumpiness.
On a larger scale, listening to either happy or sad music can further change not only your mood, but your perspective of the world. In a situation where it's a very gloomy day and raining extremely hard, if the genre of music you're listening to is slower-paced and saddening, you're more likely to perceive the world as a dark place.
Besides creating new emotions, music has the power to bring back old memories. For example: When you watch a movie from your childhood that was substantial in your life, you are likely to recognize a common theme song which will evoke past emotions from that movie. In opposition to this, if you had sad emotions or negative experiences tied to a childhood movie, you may have an unhappy nostalgic experience when listening to the movie's soundtrack.
Music is a good alternative for therapy. If music makes you feel good, and is free, why pay hundreds of dollars for a psychologist to tell you music can help you?
COMMENTS
When elderly people listen to livelier music, doesn't it make them more agitated and anxious? When anyone, even more specifically the elderly, listens to louder more upbeat music, it takes more for them to process it. Because of these circumstances, their mood can be affected in an alternative way than the happy upbeat music was originally intended. Furthermore, in the case of those who wear hearing aids, the devices often skew the sound of the music which could make it more undesirable to listen to. EDM music, for example, has a more electronic sound to it. Therefore, the frequencies in the music could interact in a negative light in the viewpoints of the elderly, making it a negative experience; this makes the feeling negative and even more agitating.