Music Makes People Happy

from the well,-duh... dept

Now that video games have supplanted rock music as the "evil influencer of kids" among a certain group of adults, we don't hear as many stories worrying about what our kids our listening to. That's probably a good thing. However, for those who still think music has a negative impact on people, a new study shows that any kind of music - as long as the person likes it - can make people much happier and feel better. This shouldn't really be a surprise. People often listen to music (of all kinds) to improve their mood. Admittedly, the study was done on a small sample size, and compared music majors to non-music majors. It also relied on subjects to "self-report" by keeping a diary, so the results could be questioned. The music majors were actually less likely to feel better after listening to music, something the study doesn't explain. Maybe it's because music reminds them of homework they need to do. The study also found that listening to music is mostly done in the background, with different music being used depending on what the other activity is. Again, this seems fairly obvious. Still, it's good to get the idea out there that music is a personal choice - and just about anyone can like a different kind of music, and that music can make them feel good. All the stories about "bad" music, was usually the result of someone not liking that particular music, and therefore assuming it must be a bad influence on kids.
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  • identicon
    Richard Ault, 30 Oct 2003 @ 11:34am

    This is good news...

    :-)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Doug, 30 Oct 2003 @ 1:11pm

    Music majors

    The music majors were actually less likely to feel better after listening to music, something the study doesn't explain.
    One data point: I used to listen to recorded music quite a bit until I started learning to play. After that, recorded music struck me as being "reruns": played the exact same way every single time.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    dorpus, 30 Oct 2003 @ 9:49pm

    Worthless Truism

    So, if someone does something they like doing, it makes them happier. Duh?

    The study would be worth more if they researched the effects on people forced to listen to music they don't like. But of course, criticizing music is such a taboo in our culture that no one has the courage to do it.


    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      eeyore, 31 Oct 2003 @ 6:35am

      Re: Worthless Truism

      What's it like being terminally unhappy? You remind me of the guy on FC who used to fly into a terminal rage if someone had the audacity to place trash in his personal waste receptacle. Bastards.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    SURFA 9, 20 May 2008 @ 4:06pm

    MUSIC

    THANX I REALLY NESED SOME GOOD INFO IM DOING A PROGECT THAXZ SOO MUSH

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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