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Jules Riv Tasis

Mrs. Carroll & Mr. Crain-Davis

01 April 2018

Various Viewpoints on the Effects of Music on Behavior in Terms of Genre

All throughout the world, there are various opinions that people might have about music

and its capabilities. They may have different stances on how music could have a significant

impact on them physically, mentally, and socially. Music has been around our society for many

centuries and it has evolved from genre to genre. Controversies like these arise in various

environments, much more in the music industry. From various research and journal articles, the

music genre that you listen to either affects your behavior in a negative or positive way, while

others believe that the different types of genre could ultimately be a reflection on your

personality and how you interact with one another. Still, other people believe that by listening to

‘extreme music’, it could make you more calm and regulate your negative emotions. Through

this disquisition, various journal articles will convey different viewpoints on the effect of music

on a person’s behavior through the means of genres.

There are many genres of music that people listen to in a day to day basis. Some may

stick to one that fits in their interest or desire. To enumerate, there are a numerous amount of

genres that musicians and researchers consider. Whether it may be pop, rock, or R&B, music has

always had an effect on how you interact socially. From an article called ​What Does Your Taste

in Music Reveal About Your Personality​ by Cherry Kendra, a professor at Boise State

University, stated that, “If you prefer listening to the top 40 hits, chances are that you also tend to
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be extroverted, honest, and conventional.” Listening to the artists in the mainstream music that

you hear on the radio every day might represent that you are outgoing, blunt, and efficient. Even

though pop music enthusiasts gained this type of reputation, researchers believe that ​it could

seriously be harmful for the youth to listen to pop music.​ The author in this article, Kathleen

O’Toole, in charge of the Stanford University News Service, thinks that graphic images and

morbid violence truly affects how parents should supervise their children. It states that, “On

average, American youth listen to music and watch videos four or five hours a day, which is

more time than they spend with their friends outside of school or watching television.” Parents

unknowingly have little to no information about what their child is watching or listening to in the

internet if they are not supervised enough. Furthermore, this alters the youth’s perception on

music and establishes a ‘role model’ for them on how to dress or act. Additionally, an article

published by the ​American Academy of Pediatrics​ expressed how music preference could truly

have a huge impact on a person’s behavior, especially for teenagers who are in their adolescent

years. The author reassures that, “​a preference for heavy metal music may be a significant

marker for alienation, substance abuse, psychiatric disorders, suicide risk, sex-role stereotyping,

or risk-taking behaviors during adolescence.” This specific type of genre and alike creates a line

in which children and teenagers are told not to listen to due to its rambunctious and loud music.

Not only does this express the capabilities of a genre’s music, but also the impact of it on a

listener.

However, to what extent does a genre of music influence a person on how they behave?

Considering the many factors of risk-taking behavior during adolescence, music could truly have

a distinct connection between its audience. Researchers like Dr. Genevieve Dingle and
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Psychology student, Leah Sharman from The University of Queensland, believes that heavy

metal or any form of extreme music doesn’t necessarily have to connect with negative and

malevolent actions. (insert website). Dr. Genevieve profoundly states that, “when experiencing

anger, extreme music fans liked to listen to music that could match their anger.” In other words,

anger could be prevented by listening to extreme music that correlated with how they felt. Dr.

Genevieve and Ms. Sharman gathered 39 regular listeners of extreme music and then involved

the participants by expressing their anger from past events of their lives. Afterwards, the

participants were asked to choose music from their playlists and revealed that more than half of

the songs the participants chose contained anger and aggressive lyrics and some even chose

lyrics about sadness and isolation. Through this experiment, the researchers were able to find out

that people sometimes rely on music to gain positive emotions that frequently matched how they

feel at the moment. People choose to play loud and extreme music in order to regulate their

emotions and bring about a positive upbringing.

In correlation with a person’s personality, extensive research and studies has proved that

music does have an impact on how you behave socially. However, some researchers contradict

on the fact that a specific genre only affects a person, especially teenagers, in a negative way.

Music compels its listeners to feel a certain way and regulates positive emotions. It has been a

great tool to express unsaid feelings through this unique form of art and the impact of music

varies from person to person and it is up to him/her to interpret how the listener may feel. The

type of genre that causes people to feel something is also from the eye of the beholder which

could be altered and comprehended differently from person to person. Nonetheless, music still

has its capabilities to inflict damage regardless of the type of genre or the personality of a person
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listening to it. Lyrics that contain these vulgar and negative connotations would highly be

influential due to its trend and abundance in our music industry today. In other words, people

should have keen understanding on the type of music they’re listening to and be critical in the

content it discusses.
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Works Cited

Pop Music at the Core of Youth Culture, Says a Soon-to-Be-Released Book (10/97)​,

news.stanford.edu/pr/97/971023teenmusic.html

Cherry, Kendra. “What Does Your Taste in Music Reveal About Your Personality?” ​Verywell

Mind​, ​www.verywellmind.com/music-and-personality-2795424​.

“Impact of Music Lyrics and Music Videos on Children and Youth.” ​Australian Federation for

the Family​,

www.ausfamily.org/resources/media-influence/115-impact-of-music-lyrics-and-music-vid

eos-on-children-and-youth.html​.