Mind-bending music part of the brain known as the amygdala, associated with processing emotion. Victoria Williamson, a music psychologist who until recently was a researcher at the University of Sheffield but now works as an independent academic, describes getting “chills” when attending a concert held in a totally dark room because “expectation based on the performers’ movements was removed, which resulted in some lovely musical surprises”. But going to a concert or deliberately putting on music at home or in the car lets us control the psychological effects of what we are listening to, to some degree. What happens when we experience music as part of our everyday soundscape? Slow down, spend more Music in shops, for example, can have a surprising impact on what we choose to do. A number of studies have demonstrated that background music can influence how long we spend perusing the aisles in a supermarket (slow music can lead people to linger for 15 per cent longer than fast). Part of this could be due to the way music messes with our sense of time – slow music, it seems, causes people to underestimate the time they spend shopping. Playing pop in a cafe frequented by students in one study saw them spend more than with stereotypical ‘piped’ music, perhaps because it created an atmosphere they found more enjoyable. But music can also cause us to gamble more with our money too. Strangely, a study by Ziv and her colleagues found that calming, low-tempo music seems to lead participants to make riskier financial decisions about where to invest their money than those listening to high tempo electronic music. “Music can affect people in different ways depending on the situation,” says Ziv. “It’s possible that the low-tempo music made people feel like everything was fine, so they took risks. The high- tempo music may have increased their arousal, so they were more alert and careful. But it depends on the individual – if you like the music, or if you have a high ability to focus.” Ziv’s research has also focused on some other, rather disturbing aspects of the way music can influence us. She found that listening to happy music – specifically tracks like James Brown’s I Got You (I feel good) – can alter people’s moral judgements, making them more willing to accept unethical behaviour and cheating. She has found that it can even lead people to be willingly callous towards other human beings. 58 Magazine 04
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