Music Making You React?
Moquiao
Join Date: 2003-05-09 Member: 16168Members
Join Date: 2003-05-09 Member: 16168Members
in Discussions
<div class="IPBDescription">does music affect the way we think?</div> all to often i hear stereotypes..
like Rap music breeding killers.. and how it influences people.. and how it like makes people go into schools with guns and blow theyre class mates away..
what is your opinion.. does things like metal music depress you? does rap make you want to go on a gun rampage?
personally.. i think it sucks.. i actually got a lecture from my mom about playing 50 cent so loud. cos of the foster kids.. and how it would be bad for them... its music?! not 'kill kill destroy!' i thin it is pathetic.. music doesnt make killers.. killers make killers... < most stupid analogy ever made...
Discuss
like Rap music breeding killers.. and how it influences people.. and how it like makes people go into schools with guns and blow theyre class mates away..
what is your opinion.. does things like metal music depress you? does rap make you want to go on a gun rampage?
personally.. i think it sucks.. i actually got a lecture from my mom about playing 50 cent so loud. cos of the foster kids.. and how it would be bad for them... its music?! not 'kill kill destroy!' i thin it is pathetic.. music doesnt make killers.. killers make killers... < most stupid analogy ever made...
Discuss
Comments
See board posters injure themselves trying to do a Neo bullet dodge.
I know music affects me, I speed when the Stones are on, "paint it black" is particularly bad for go-pedal abuse.
/edit typing error
I would say its obvious that lyrics can affect people as much as a book, movie, or any other form of media, possibly more so beacuse of the way lyrics often 'sink into your mind'.
as it happens though, I beleive the music can change peoples perceptions aswell.. its not as clear cut, but it happens, on a more sub concious level aswell... someone once said "I think music is a tool, it can create the initial thought patterns that can change the thinking of people" not sure who it was, but its sampled on a tune i have ;D.
anyways, music has obvious and not so obvious properties. obvious ones are things like the calming effects of tranquil sounds, not so obvious ones are things like psycho-acoustic reactions to various wavelengths, ,I had a freind who studied psycho acoustics, some crazy things music can do, like altering vision and thought patterns.
but you were talking about lyrics anyway right?
HOWEVER, at a certain stage in your life, you learn how to filter things you hear. It might affect yoru mood at best, but it is basically harmless. If you do something while listening to a certain kind of music, it isn't something you WOULDN'T have done otherwise with a little mood change. However, I wouldn't recommend putting unsettling music to play in a room full of people that are very hateful towards each other.
anyway..
since i started high school i haven't been coerced by any sort of peer pressure or outside influence.. the only way music affects me is by getting my sh*t out of the chair and dancin.
[dances]
rofl.
I personally find music can have an effect on your mood, but usually for me in a positive way- I find listening to chillout (form of trance) very relaxing, and it has been found such music (along with classical) can help improve concentration, if I recall correctly.
I personally find my music invaluable at the moment, as relaxation is something I have needed for a LONG time. Expect more info on this later...
Yeah, music can change your mood, but in general I listen to music that reflects the mood I'm in or music that I feel is right for the current time. I'm not going to listen to angry, fast, psycho music when I'm mellowing out in the afternoon, but I sure will when I'm playing an intense game or excersizing and so forth.
Everything affects the way you think. Anything you hear, see, feel forms and shapes your own opinions on things.
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Yesss... but. It wouldn't be correct to suggest that 1 item of media could have any significant effect on your mental state. A person's state of mind is far more likely to be affected by real life events, or a composite of many different experiences. You also can't state that any particular media would have a specific definate effect - How we <b>choose</b> to be influenced by music we listen to/games we play is a personal thing.
Experience is subjective, what you take away from any particular experience is unique to you. If you are depressed, angry or alone and you view a film which deals with issues relevant to you, feelings relevant to you, or that you can relate to in any way at all, you may draw hope and strength from that experience, you may become more depressed, or you may seek to lash out. Importantly, what you take away from the experience is less to do with the content of the media, and more to do with your own mental state. If you feel tired, or want to relax, you aren't going to listen to death metal. If someone near you is playing death metal, you will be turned off or annoyed by the media. Someone with a completely different mental state can listen to that same music and be envigorated by it. In the end, its just music, wether you feel like relaxing or feel like getting pumped up to metal is unlikely to be a mental state caused by media. It is much more likely to be a result of real life issues, which have far greater effect on you. To sum up:
Listening to rap music doesn't influence little Billy to want to kill.
Wanting to kill influences little Billy to listen to rap music.
maybe Plato was onto somthing...
A kid who doesn't want anything to do with responsiblity or logic can listen to gangsta rap with random rhyming about guns and hoes all day. It will affect him because he either doesn't care, or subconsciously wants a direction for his life. He is not aware of how the music shapes him because he has not yet learned to analyze the functions of his subconscious and that there are times to override it.
An atheist physics professor, who has a critically functioning mind, and has learned by experience how his subconscious reacts to music and how it can shape him if he allows it, will listen 30 seconds to the gangster rap with inane rhymes and throw the CD into the trash. He feels repulsion at the music and has no intention on listening to it all day just so the lyrics will be stuck in his head the next day. He recognizes really good music and feels joy at his response to it.
If you hammer some idea into a child, once he grows up it will be hard for him to get rid of it. It becomes easier if he can remove it by critical reasoning, but critical reasoning is not very common these days as the number of religious people in the world suggests. Listening to gangster rap and bad metal music (the type where theres just lots of noise) before the mind has formed the structure to manage the music's effect will result in the child getting his mind "calibrated" to the type of music he listens to.
The first and foremost objective of all parents should be to teach philosophy and logic to their children. Allowing them to watch TV all day and listen to music that will negatively affect their development is a recipe for screwed up kids. But most parents today are content with buying toys for their kids, giving them retarded "children's books", and shipping them off to kindergarten and the earlier grades where the children learn little about how their mind or the world functions. They end up picking up ideas on a whim, the media and music are just two of the sources they use.
There are two main causes for this. First, there is a common perception that children are too stupid to understand "advanced" concepts like philosophy and consciousness. The reason for this perception is that children are never actually taught these things. Instead they are given mind-numbing toys and pointless books that teach them nothing of how the world functions. One cannot reasonably expect them to come up with a coherent philosophy and to learn how to manage their subconsciousness on their own. Second, most parents are simply not competent enough to teach their kids the proper skills they need, or simply do not want to.
To answer the original question: music can affect your mood and shape how you feel, but only if you let it.
I liked how Menix put it. The ability to be aware of how stimuli affects you is a really important part of how you let that shape your behavior.
I know that I tend to associate different kinds of music with different ideas, people, even foods. Classical music makes me consider beauty, order, harmonies, and patterns. Techno makes me want to lose myself in the moment and focus on simple joy, adrenaline highs, or just spaced-outness <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> I associate Rap and Country with negative stereotypes of inner-city thugs pimpin' their ho's and brain-dead rednecks complaining about their broken-down trucks, dead dogs and cheating girlfriends. Personally, I really find it hard to break these associations once I get them in my head.
I just find it amazing that music, even without lyrics, can have effects on our thoughts, and even more so that a piece that inspires me makes your ears hurt. (Kenny G? <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> ) Anybody here a brainsurgeon that can help clear this up for everyone here? <!--emo&::nerdy::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/nerd.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='nerd.gif'><!--endemo-->
It's funny because it's true. Ayn Rand has written a theory on how music is interpreted by humans. The basic idea of it is that the kind of music you like comes down to your values. This is why most rebellious children will run away from classical music while most of their parents are repulsed by rap/punk music.