Does music contain a subconscious level of influence of which the listener is unaware?  I started to wonder this at the same time that I started to notice the similarities between the activities described in my favorite songs and the activities that I was performing on a daily basis.  The possibility that my actions could be influence by something not entirely in my control was a scary thought, but at the same time interesting enough to motivate me to look further into it.  After the initial realization, I started to wonder if there were different qualities in different people that would lead to a different internalization of the lyrics in music, and therefore cause the listener to be influenced by the lyrics in a different way than I would be.  These questions seemed to me to be important, because if an artist is aware of the influence they have on a listener, then they can make a conscious decision as to what they are trying to do with their music and which words they are going to use in what way to get that message across in the most effective way possible.  As a result of my research, I have determined that there is a subconscious level of influence in not only the lyrics, but also the sounds in music that affects all listeners to some degree, but affects young listeners in the strongest way.  

There are many topics about which people write songs in popular music.  Some of these topics have a positive and productive message behind them while others can be destructive and harmful.  These topics are not only conveyed through the lyrics that the writer chooses, but also the sound of the music that the artist creates: “An online experiment was conducted to compare the influence of prosocial versus neutral song lyrics on aggression level. A pilot study was first conducted to identify a prosocial and a neutral song, and music professionals and music students rated pairs of songs (by the same artist) that were comparable in terms of recognition, enjoyment, emotional arousal, and intelligibility; for example, Bruno Mars’s “The Lazy Song” and “Count On Me.” Our results indicate that while listening to prosocial lyrics decreases aggressive thoughts, there is no effect on aggressive feelings. One possible explanation is that the upbeat melodies and harmonies present in both the positive and neutral songs overshadowed any effect that lyrics had on feelings” (Böhm, et al.).  In this particular study, the researchers found that the sound in music might be even more important than the lyrics when it comes to the psychological influence that music has on a person.  The prosocial lyrics did not have any effect on aggressive feelings which is very surprising because the lyrics seem to have been chosen intentionally to affect the feelings in the listener.  However, it is not safe to assume that just because of this study, no prosocial lyrics could have any effect on any listener’s aggressive feelings because there are many factors that could have played into this result.  The lyrics could have been chosen poorly and not strong enough to stir up any emotions within the listener, the listener could have been unfamiliar with the topic at hand which would not lead to them feeling anything, or they could have been distracted and overwhelmed by the sounds of the music as the researchers suggest.  What can be safely assumed with this study, however, is that the sound of music does arouse the listener emotionally.  

While hearing certain lyrics may not affect a person’s mood or emotions at the time that they hear the music, these lyrics can be internalized and have a long-term effect after repeated exposure.  When a person looks up to an artist, they become more trusting of the things that that artist says.  People don’t always think about what exactly is being said in the music that they are listening to, but the more often they hear it, the more often those lyrics enter their thoughts and the ideas within the lyrics can start to become the listener’s own.  This can be very harmful for young people who aren’t aware of what they are listening to and who have chosen to listen to music with negative lyrics.  This can eventually result in a completely new developed mind state and a different way of treating other people. One of the most common themes among this problem around negative lyrics is the objectification and dehumanization of women: “Boys start to listen to this music and feel a sense of entitlement from it, that it’s their right to have many sexual relationships with women without thinking about their feelings or values… That can also affect their behavior.” (qtd. in Cobb). When a young boy grows up hearing men talk about women as nothing more than sexual objects in their songs, he becomes accustomed to this way of thinking and it becomes normalized in his mind.  When a conscious effort is not made to keep this boy away from the music or to make him aware that the ideas in the song may not be morally okay, it is almost inevitable that the boy will be heavily exposed to it and may internalize and adopt some of the ideas as his own.  This is a massive problem considering that “On average, high school students listen to 15 h of music with sexually degrading lyrics each week” (Treat, et al.).  This number may seem shocking, but these are the types of themes have been accepted and even celebrated in music for years which has caused it to be just as large of a problem as it is.  

While it is frightening, and rightfully so, that negative lyrics can have such a strong impact on those who are exposed to them, the same can be true for positive and prosocial lyrics: “People who were exposed to music with prosocial content were more likely to act in a prosocial manner than were those who were exposed to music with neutral lyrics. Following the theory of the GLM, it seems reasonable that individuals who are exposed to music in an everyday setting will demonstrate prosocial behavior when listening to a playlist that contains songs like “Earth Song,” “People Help the People,” and “Imagine.” Participants in this study were offered an affordable but relatively costly option for helping people and saving the environment, which is not a priority for all members of the public. The observed behavioral action was somehow related to the prosocial content of the songs. The effect found is consistent with the theoretical expectations. It seems likely that songs with prosocial lyrics contribute to prosocial behavior, but there are many personal traits and situational states that influence the appraisal process, the final learning encounter, and eventually a certain behavior” (Ruth).  This experiment was done in a coffee shop that was open for business at the time.  Music with prosocial lyrics was played for the experimental group and music with neutral lyrics was played for the control groups.  Not surprisingly, the group that was exposed to prosocial lyrics was the group that was more likely to sacrifice some of their own money to help people and to help save the environment.  While it cannot be assumed from this experiment alone that prosocial lyrics in music have a direct effect on a person’s willingness to help other people, it is reasonable to assume based on this experiment in addition to the results of other experiments (like the study done by Tamara Böhm) that lyrics can have a strong impact on the listener regardless of whether they are positive or negative.  

Not only can music affect a person’s long-term mentality towards people or things, but it can also affect a person’s mood while he or she is listening to it.  Different types of music can cause different types of emotions ranging from happiness to sadness to aggression.  These emotions are a direct result of how the human brain receives the sound in the music: “By applying ICA, we decomposed EEG data recorded from subjects during music listening into functionally distinct brain processes. We revealed multiple contributing neural sources typically involved in music and emotion processing, namely around the thalamic–limbic and orbitofrontal domain as well as at frontal, frontal–parietal, parietal, parieto-occipital, temporo-occipital and occipital regions. Arousal appeared to be mediated by the right posterior portion of the brain, as indicated by alpha power suppression, and valence appeared to be mediated by the left frontal lobe, as indicated by differential theta power” (Rogenmoser et al.).  When a person is aware of the emotions that are caused by music and aware of which music causes which emotion, he or she can use that as an advantage in daily life.  If a person is feeling sad, then he or she can play upbeat music to improve their mood, and if a person is feeling nervous or anxious, then he or she can play calm, slow music to put them in a better mood.  Intentionally using music as a mood-altering tool can also be helpful when a person is trying to find a way to become more productive.  “Listening to music is habitual for many people while doing a variety of tasks. Listening to the right type of music can enhance task performance. Music can improve reading skills and mathematical abilities, thereby facilitating learning. There is a significant relation between certain types of music and learning. Classical music or instrumental tracks can improve cognitive performance and listening to classical music improves learning compared to other types of music. Listening to music is an inexpensive way to improve cognitive abilities in the elderly affecting their arousal and mood” (Geethanjali et al.).  According to Geethanjali, the sound and lyrics of music are not the only factors in how strongly the music affects a person’s mood.  The listener’s enjoyment plays a bigger role in the mood-altering than either the sound of the music or the lyrics.  Therefore, the same song may have two entirely different effects on two different people or it could affect one person more strongly than the other person.  In addition to increasing cognitive abilities and productivity, certain types of music can increase creativity in the listener.  In a study done by Simone Ritter and Sam Ferguson, it was found that happy, upbeat music increases creativity more than many other types of music: “To test the role music may play, they had participants come into the lab and listen to one of four types of music. The music had either a positive or negative valence, and was either high or low in arousal. For instance, music that had high arousal and positive valence was dubbed “happy” music (the Spring movement of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons). Music that was high in arousal but negative in valence was dubbed “anxious” music. The other two groups, positive and negative low-arousal music, respectively, made for “calm” and “sad” music. A control group listened to silence… People who listened to happy music scored higher on the tests for divergent thinking, but not on convergent thinking. People listening to other types of music didn’t show the same difference.” (Walton).  This means that if a person is aware of all of the effects of music, then he or she will be able to spark their creativity when needed by putting on some happy, upbeat music.  Also, most people probably have their creativity boosted by being exposed to happy music frequently even if he or she is not aware.

After sufficient research, it is clear that music does in fact have a significant subconscious level of influence of which the listener is generally unaware.  The levels of influence and the types of influence vary, but almost every form of music has some form of influence.  If put in to use effectively, this knowledge can be a tool for a person to use easily in his or her daily life.
