Running Head: COPING WITH STRESS USING MUSIC

Research, Review, & Reflection of: Coping with Stress: The Effectiveness of Different Types of Music Moran Smithwick Front Range Community College/ Polaris Expeditionary Learning High School PSY101-640 Spring 2013

COPING WITH STRESS USING MUSIC Abstract This research, conducted by scientists in Alabama attempted to assess which type of music could possibly calm people and relieve stress. Participants were 56 college students, 15 male and 41 female. Using self-selected study format, they told the participants to choose music they thought relaxed them, and compared it to other music types, like heavy metal and classical, as well as silence. Overall, they found that classical and the students self-selected music did lower stress rates and anxiety. I chose this test because of my interest in music and how I can relate it psychologically.

COPING WITH STRESS USING MUSIC

Intro The study Coping with Stress: The Effectiveness of Different Types of Music was piloted in 2007. Elise Labbe, Nicholas Schmidt, Jonathan Babin, and Martha Pharr in Alabama all found that there wasnt enough research done in this topic so they conducted their own experiment. They found that young people report that music can help them relax, and that there was a huge lack of scientific study done in the realm of psychophysiological effects of music and different genres of music on people (Labbe, Schmidt, Babin & Pharr, 2007). In previous studies done by Elise Labbe and other colleagues, it was suggested that listening to relaxing music can help the listener relax themselves. In a study done in 2003 by Anderson et al. scientists found that violent songs led to more aggressive thoughts and feelings of hostility. This suggested that there is a huge link between the music people listen to and their behavior following that (Labbe et al., 2007). They tested participants four different times using four different forms of listening. Participants listened to silence, self-selected music (music they thought calmed them), classical music, and lastly, heavy metal. This study was important because relaxation and coping with stress is a difficult thing to deal with, and young and old people would like to know which ways they can calm themselves down and relieve stress. They hypothesized that people who listened to classical music or self-selected music would be more relaxed and will reduce anxiety, anger, and stress and increase relaxation. The researchers also hypothesized that individuals listening to silence or heavy metal music will not be as relaxed. Scientists would like to know if young people can reduce negative feelings and emotions through music (Labbe et al., 2007).

COPING WITH STRESS USING MUSIC

Methods This study consisted of 56 college students, 15 who were males and 41 females. The average age was 22. 11% of the participants were African American, 82% were Caucasian, 2% were Asian and 2% other ethnicity. For incentive to join the study, participants gained credit in their college courses for helping. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board in terms of the ethical standards of the American Psychological Association (Labbe et al., 2007). The participants were tested in eight ways. They were seated in a small testing room with two speakers. They were given a demographic questionnaire and trait scales first. Participants were attached to physiological sensors. They had heart rate EKG gel electrodes on the chest, respiration tests placed on the abdominal and skin conductance sensors on the finger pads and palms. They recorded the physiological data for ten minutes (Labbe et al., 2007). Then participants took a psychologically challenging test which included memory items, simple calculations, mathematical operations, verbal analogies, and words to spell to enable to collect data for stress induced individuals. They then scaled themselves on state anxiety using the StateTrait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) which is a 40 item self-report survey. Twenty questions asked them to rate how they felt at that moment and the other twenty asked how they feel generally. The higher the scores on the STAI, the greater the anxiety. After this they filled out a self-report survey to determine their anger levels (Labbe et al., 2007). They were given the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2 (STAXI-2) which had 57-items and reported their feelings of anger, expression of anger verbally, and physical expression of anger (Labbe et al.,

COPING WITH STRESS USING MUSIC 2007). Last of the tests was a Relaxation Rating Scale or RSS. The participants rated themselves from 1-7. 1 being not relaxed at all, and 7 being totally relaxed (Labbe et al., 2007). After these basic tests, the participants entered the music portion of the study. This required participants to listen to 20 minutes of silence or music. The music selections were: classical, heavy metal, and self-selected, as well as silence. The heavy-metal and classical music was selected by a music professor. The classical disc was mostly baroque style and the tempo and dynamics remained relatively constant throughout each track. The songs were instrumentals (Labbe et al., 2007). For the heavy-metal CD, it was challenging to find an instrumental, so instead, songs with German vocals were chosen, which none of the participants spoke. This disc was louder than the classical, included angst filled German vocals, electric guitar, and heavy bass (Labbe et al., 2007). Lastly, the self-selected discs were brought in by participants. They were music that the individual believed was relaxing. Most of them included country music, soft jazz, and easy listening rock. Volume was set by an audiologist in stereo headphones (Labbe et al., 2007). Once participants were through with their music listening session, or silence session, they completed the state anxiety test, anger scale test, the RSS test and music rating scales. They were removed from physiological sensors and then debriefed (Labbe et al., 2007).

COPING WITH STRESS USING MUSIC Results/Discussion The results in this study supported the hypothesis. Participants listening to classical or self-selected music showed significant reductions in anxiety and reduced feelings of anxiety after being stressed. Listening to self-selected music and classical music as well as silence made participants more relaxed (Labbe et al., 2007). In contrast, heavy-metal listening seemed to increase anxiety levels and even seemed to escalate levels of stress. All participants had their anger decreased over time. However, the post self-selected time had the lowest rating in anger in contrast to the other music types (Labbe et al., 2007). Regardless of music or silence type, the heart rate and respiration both was lowered post-listening time. When exposed to self-selected music and classical music, it seemed participants had more of a significant reduction in heart rate. Surprisingly, participants respiration rate seemed to be decreased the most after the classical and heavy-metal (Labbe et al., 2007). Participants exposed to heavy metal music had increased anxiety and anger. Their feelings of relaxation seemed to not change. The arousal of physiological skin conductance decreased though. Almost as if the body was relaxed but not the brain. Interestingly, after the self-selected music period, participants had more arousal in the potential responses than any other music type. The study did not show a noteworthy positive change with ratings of participants actual use of calming music and the relaxation experienced throughout the selfselected music or classical conditions (Labbe et al., 2007). It can be determined that listening to certain music genres can increase positive sensations and cognitive conditions, and decreases sympathetic nervous system arousal, as opposed to being in silence or hearing the irate sounds of heavy metal music (Labbe et al., 2007).

COPING WITH STRESS USING MUSIC Another fact is that listening to music might not affect the physiological arousal as considerably much as the emotional and cognitive experiences. A stress management could be listening to classical music or self-selected music. Sitting in silence for a while would also help, but the likelihood of an individual to achieve the relaxation is not prospective (Labbe et al., 2007).

COPING WITH STRESS USING MUSIC Review/Critique This experiment was overall well conducted. It had solid research that proved helpful when organizing the variables and constants. The scientists were critical with the way they tested the subjects (Labbe, Schmidt, Babin & Pharr, 2007). They included tests that could be answered personally as well as tests that were the individuals bodies reacting to the music. The fact that they included anger tests and anxiety level tests, as well as a general stress test was smart because stress includes anxiety and anger. Another component that led to a successful study was the way the music was chosen. It was clearly considered important the way timing was chosen, the tempo of the songs, and the vocals introduced. Having the individuals sit in silence was also a factor that led to a well conducted study. It creates a vital constant (Labbe et al., 2007). Although it was generally positive, this study had flaws. Expressed by the scientists themselves, one problem they encountered was the age group. Having only college students participate could have made the study only apply to those students. Also, the amount of people in the study should have been more. 56 students, 15 male and 41 female, does not represent the population as a whole (Labbe et al., 2007). This being said, college students are the ones that the results of this study will impact the most. In their research, the scientists discussed the increase of the youth population expressing concern or interest in music helping them relax. This study would be interesting for all age groups, but it was preformed because of youths. In addition to this, there was a lack in constants. They had physiological tests of participants before they were exposed to music or stress, which was imperative and needed to be a constant. An interesting prospect they could have taken though would be to have participants tested without any stress but with music. This might have changed the aspects of the study but it also could have resulted in a difference of information presented (Labbe et al., 2007).

COPING WITH STRESS USING MUSIC The slight specifics in which this study could have modified or done additional research on were evident but not great enough to abolish the adequacy of the study. These factors would include the state of the room. For instance, which chair they were sitting in, the lighting in the room, the color of the walls, etc. Another detail that could have altered the sufficiency of the experiment was the way the self-selected music was introduced. It was chosen by participants but it was not clear whether it had lyrics, tempo changes, or anything that they made sure the other music did not have (Labbe et al., 2007). A way they could have altered this process would to have made participants select music then have it approved by an official scientist and/or musical professor. However, another component that could have altered the results is the fact that it was self-selected and the relaxed feeling and reduced anxiety they had potentially could have been caused by their sense of control in the situation (Labbe et al., 2007). The scientific method was followed well throughout the structure. The included a clear problem, hypothesis, procedure, and everything else. They analyzed their data clearly and discussed their results and whether or not their hypothesis was proven. Labbe, Schmidt, Babin and Pharr (2007) wrote proficient example of a scientific study.

COPING WITH STRESS USING MUSIC Reflection Overall, it is apparent that the study was an impactful one. The results were important for people to know about, considering the numerous misconceptions about the concepts presented in the research. I think idea of the relationship between music and cognitive feeling is fascinating. Music is a very important thing to me and I personally would like to know why music affects me the way it does. I thought the conclusion they made was interesting but also the component of how music can be a form of meditation. It wasnt introduced formally, but the fact that they used silence as a variable was an insinuation towards meditation. Studies like this should be more prominent. It is important the people have a way to relieve anxiety and stress effectively.

COPING WITH STRESS USING MUSIC Reference Labbe, E. Schmidt, N. Babin, J. Pharr, M. (2007). Coping with Stress: The Effectiveness of Different Types of Music. Springer Science and Business Media, 32,163-168. DOI 10.1007/s10484-007-9043-9