The Psychology of Music

The Psychology of Music
Did you know that psychologists can apply scientific methods to music? They have discovered many surprising things through this method.
Richard Parncutt, Professor of Systematic Musicology, University of Graz, says that music psychology studies why people spend so much time, effort, and money on musical activities. The psychology of music often draws upon psychology from many areas, including biopsychology, perception and cognition, creativity, motivation, and emotion.
Music psychologists have explored the following areas of scientific interest:
Music rituals and gatherings
The skills and processes required to learn a musical instrument
The role of music in the formation of personal and collective identities
Everyday music listening
Music can be emotionally reacted to
Research into the two last topics (everyday listening to and emotional response to music) has revealed some amazing things that we can all relate.
Dopamine’s Role
You will likely have felt that incredible buzz after listening to a song or piece. A tune that is so emotionally stimulating or good it gives you goosebumps. These musical frissons, along with other happiness-inducing experiences like sex, drugs and food, are a result of a dopamine surge.
Dopamine, a chemical neurotransmitter, regulates the brain’s reward and pleasure centers. Dopamine is a reinforcement and motivation stimulus that plays an important role in our biological survival. Despite the fact that music listening is not essential to human survival, dopamine release in this context shows the remarkable human ability for abstract concepts like music and art to bring pleasure.
Which song or piece gives you goosebumps the most? Here are some of my students’ responses:
Clare Island – The Saw Doctors.
Vivaldi – L’ Olimpiade (Sinfonia Allegro) in facsimile.
Dire Straits for you and your friend
Eulogy – Tool
Pavarotti – Nessun Dorma.
Simon and Garfunkel – The Sound of Silence
Florence and The Machine: Never let me go
Earworm: A Cognitive Ich
When your brain gets stuck on a catchy tune, you may be suffering from an “earworm”. Another common musical experience is when a song suddenly pops into your brain and keeps doing so over and again. This phenomenon has been called “Tune in the Brain Syndrome”, “Sticky Music”, “Cognitive itch”, “Sticky Music”, “Earworms” and many other names.
Dr. Lassi A. Lilikkanen, Aalto University in Finland, conducted the first comprehensive study to determine the prevalence of earworms. An online survey was completed by over 12,000 people. 91% of respondents reported experiencing earworms at most once per week.
Dr Victoria Williamson, a colleague from Goldsmiths University of London, conducted research in collaboration with BBC 6Music, and the British Academy to discover more about the music in people’s heads. One area of interest has been to examine the circumstances that lead to an earworm episode. The following triggers can cause a song to pop into your head and turn into an earworm:
Recent Exposure: A song you just heard can become an earworm.
Repeated Exposure: A song you hear on multiple occasions becomes an earworm.
Person Association: The earworm tune refers to a person that you have spoken, seen, or thought about.
Situation Association: The earworm song is triggered when you are in an environment that reminds you of your favorite love songs, e.g., a wedding.
Word Association: The lyrics or title of the earworm tune are linked to a word/words that you have heard or seen.
Mood State: The earworm tune can be linked to your mood.
Stress State: The earworm tune refers to your experience with a stressful or anxious event.
Dream Recall: The earworm tune corresponds to the events you have dreamed about.
Other interesting patterns that were reported by those with earworms included the fact that women are more likely to get them than men, and that an average earworm lasts 27 minutes. However, some can last up to hours.
Why it is important to study earworms
We can learn more about earworms and how they work in both positive and negative ways (creativity and PTSD), and how we can use music to aid memory problems or help children learn more easily. (Dr Victoria Williamson).
If you are interested in learning more about music psychology, make sure to check out Dr Victoria Williamson’s Music Psychology Blog.
I can’t think a better way to demonstrate the power of the universe.