3. Music and the Mind
Humans have always listened to music as a form of
entertainment. The psychology of music has been studied
for hundreds of years and it is a well‐known fact that music
can act as a sBmulus and alter our mood. It has been said
that music can even acBvate the reward circuits that are
acBvated during sex and eaBng. With that being said, it is
no doubt that like these two basic human needs, music has
the ability to influence our behavior and the decisions we
make.
We understand that music can have a profound effect
on its listeners. Since it can influence our mood and
behavior, we wonder how this trend could affect our
relaBonships as well. We were curious about this possible
trend because these two topics, music and relaBonships, are
both naturally interesBng topics. We asked the quesBon,
how does music influence our relaBonships? Specifically,
how does musical preference affect our romanBc
relaBonships? We also incorporated other variables such as
frequency and type of music use to see if these factors were
correlated as well.
3
4. Theory
Our study compares the use of music to individual’s
relaBonship tendencies. We are focusing on how music can
affect a person’s relaBonship with their romanBc partner. The
psychology and sociology of music are two concepts that are
most prevalent in our study.
As we have discussed, studies have shown that listening
to music can release reward pathways that are also triggered
by sex and food. You may be familiar with this feeling of
“chills” when listening to your favorite song, a sensaBon that
can also occur when feeling the touch of an inBmate partner.
The feeling is caused by a release of dopamine, a “feel‐good”
neurotransmiTer (Ross 2011). ScienBsts say that while
listening to music, this sensaBon can make you almost feel
like you’re craving the next note. This is the same sensaBon
that drives humans to crave sexual intercourse and certain
foods so it is no surprise that music has the ability to affect
our decision‐making.
4
6. Hypotheses
Hypothesis 1:People who are involved in a roman6c rela6onship are
more likely to listen to country music
Someone who is involved in a romanBc relaBonship is defined as
having an emoBonal and physical relaBonship with their partner.
Country music is represented as a genre with southern roots, and
romanBc lyrics. Typical instruments are the banjo, guitar and the violin.
Common associated country singers are Carrie Underwood and Tim
Mcgraw.
Typical people who enjoy country music like it for its simple
lyrics and upbeat tunes. Country music lovers can be characterized
as laid back people, seeking comfort and pleasure from others.
Country songs are very simple to understand and many portray love
stories, sad and happy, that can influence someone's interest to
pursue love. That is why it would be typical for someone who listens
to country music to be in a relaBonship or seeking once.
Hypothesis 2: People who listen to YouTube music are more likely
to listen to top 40 music
YouTube is a website that allows anyone to upload and share
their videos. Users are allowed to watch and listen to different types
of music posted onto the website. Pop music is the most current
popular songs in a parBcular genre. The music is geared towards a
younger audience, majority young adults between the ages of 17‐
25. It is the preferred format for radio music that is broad‐casted
naBonwide and typically the best selling music during the Bme
which it is played.
Youtube has a specific page dedicated to music videos which are
majority made up of “Top Hits”. This will influence the type of music
many listeners will choose to hear. Audiences ages 17‐25 currently are
more Internet savvy and use YouTube as a medium to receive their
music. with the opBon on YouTube to receive access to popular music
videos for free, users will be more inclined to listen to Pop music then
any other types of music genre. 6
7. Hypothesis 3: People who listen to Rap Music are in mul6ple in6mate
rela6onships
InBmate relaBonships are similar to a romanBc relaBonship stated in
hypothesis 1, with the excepBon that an inBmate relaBonship is more
sexual. In the study we define mulBple relaBonships as someone who has
more then one partner within 12 months.
Rap is defined as rhythm and poetry and a genre that emphasis on
lyrics over melody. The music is all about lyrical content and is
someBmes used as a way to send a message across. Audiences that
enjoy rap music are majority of young adults ages 17‐25. These types of
listener's enjoy hit rap songs that are presented in popular mediums.
Major hit rap music videos present a lifestyle that can suggest audiences
to have more than one relaBonship. Major popular rap music lyrics also
projects a promiscuous lifestyle that can influence listeners to have
mulBple partners overBme.
Hypothesis 4: People who are more religious are more likely to be in a
roman6c rela6onship
Someone who is “more religious” then others is defined in our
studies as an individual who pracBces religious rituals oben, and
determines their acBons based on their religious principles. This means
that the person has allowed their religion to impact how they make
decisions in their lives. RomanBc relaBonships has the same definiBon as
defined in hypothesis 1
People who are “more religious” are more likely to be in romanBc
relaBonship because their religion typically emphasis marriage and
celibacy. Someone who lives by their religion will most likely be in a
commiTed serious romanBc relaBonship with their partner, because they
are typically looking to have a long future with them.
7
8. Hypothesis 5: People who listen to music while doing their homework
will have a higher GPA.
Music is defined in our studies as Country, Hip Hop, Pop, Classical,
Jazz, Rap, Rock, Indie/AlternaBve and Dubstep. We measured a GPA
range from 0.00‐4.00.Music can be a mood changer and enhance
someone's experience when they are engaged in their homework. It
can bring more excitement to someone's homework and allow them to
stay more focused and enthusiasBc about geing their work done well.
Music can enhance someone's work ethics when listening and increase
their GPA.∙
Hypothesis 6: People who live in the northeast are more likely to
listen to Dubstep then in any other region of the country.
The Northeast is a region of the United States that include nine
states. They are New York, ConnecBcut, Maine, New Jersey, New
England states, Pennsylvania and MassachuseTs. Dubstep is a genre of
electronic dance music that is focused on rhythm and beats. Typical
instruments are the drums, turntables and bass. Majority of dubstep is
produced from other songs and formed into remixes with added beats,
and bass. Major Dubstep concerts tend to be more prevalent in major
city’s in the Northeast.
8
10. Methodology
Our quanBtaBve research study was designed to test the
relaBonship status, romanBc interests, music genre preferences, GPA,
religion, geographic locaBon, and romanBc inBmacy of those
parBcipants in the study. To iniBate this study we designed and
distributed a survey consisBng of 15 quesBons, which subsequently
tested and recorded results of 36 variables. The types of quesBons
were systemaBc and included a mixture of yes/no, Likert scales,
answer quesBons, and raBng scales.
The survey did not include any free response quesBons because
we felt they would deter parBcipants from compleBng the survey, and
would require addiBonal data collecBon and sorBng. The survey was
designed using Survey Monkey, a popular survey generator to which
we had access. Once designed the survey was administered to
possible parBcipants through the social network, Facebook.
Each group member invited parBcipants to view and complete
our survey through this network, of which 214 people started the
survey and 187 completed it. While parBcipants ranged from all
geographic regions of the country, the majority was from the
Northeast.
The survey began with very general yes no quesBons that
included if you were above 18, whether were a college student, and
if you like music. We conBnued on with less general quesBons such
as the importance of music in which we used a scale ranging from
unimportant to very important. Followed up with the
environmental seing of the parBcipant growing up, for this we
gave the opBons of “city,” “suburbs,” and “rural. We ended the
secBon of generally basic quesBons with asking the level of
educaBon thus far, and finally the parBcipant’s age. We ranged the
educaBon level from “some high school” to “graduate degree,” and
the age quesBon was measured with a list of ages starBng at 18 and
ending with 25.
10
11. Methodology
Our quanBtaBve research study was designed to test the
relaBonship status, romanBc interests, music genre preferences, GPA,
religion, geographic locaBon, and romanBc inBmacy of those
parBcipants in the study. To iniBate this study we designed and
distributed a survey consisBng of 15 quesBons, which subsequently
tested and recorded results of 36 variables. The types of quesBons were
systemaBc and included a mixture of yes/no, Likert scales, answer
quesBons, and raBng scales. The survey did not include any free
response quesBons because we felt they would deter parBcipants from
compleBng the survey, and would require addiBonal data collecBon and
sorBng. The survey was designed using Survey Monkey, a popular
survey generator to which we had access. Once designed the survey
was administered to possible parBcipants through the social network,
Facebook. Each group member invited parBcipants to view and
complete our survey through this network, of which 214 people started
the survey and 187 completed it.
The survey began with general yes/no quesBons that included if
you were above 18, whether a college student or not, and if the
parBcipant liked music. We conBnued on with less general quesBons
that consisted of their percepBon of the importance of music, in which
we used a scale ranging from unimportant to very important, followed
up with asking their environmental seing growing up. For this we gave
the opBons of “city,” “suburbs,” and “rural, and they were allowed to
select one answer. We ended the secBon of generally basic quesBons
with asking their level of educaBon thus far, and finally the parBcipant’s
age. We ranged the educaBon levels from “some high school” to
“graduate degree,” and the age quesBon was measured with a list of
ages starBng at 18 and ending with 25.
11
14. Results
GENERAL
As we previously menBoned, we used a survey generated
by Survey Monkey to collect our data. We analyzed this data
using SPSS sobware. All of our parBcipants were 18 or older and
we collected a total of 187 completed surveys and 214 parBally
completed surveys.
Our survey was obviously
oriented towards college
College students since 96.2% of our
Degree respondents are/were college
College students. We went further in
depth and asked what level of
educaBon each respondent
had. The results showed 88%
with some college (purple).
The results also showed 7.2%
with a college degree (red)
and 3.8% with a high school
HS diploma diploma (blue).
14
15. 97.6% were between the ages
of 18 to 23. This makes sense Age
because college students are
typically within this age range.
Only 5 respondents (2.4%) were
above the age of 23. 20
21
]
19 18
22+
Our study classified our respondents based on many
demographic variables. Our first variable was whether the
respondent are in a romanBc relaBonship. We asked this with a
simple yes or no quesBon. Respondents’ relaBonship statuses were
relaBvely equal, having 46.6% in a romanBc relaBonship and 53.4%
not in a romanBc relaBonship.
No RelaBonship
RelaBonship
15
16. Although the variable was not involved in any of our
hypotheses, we did ask the respondents to list their religious
affiliaBon and involvement. We asked if respondents idenBfied as
Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, AgnosBc, Atheist, Other, and
no affiliaBon. We combined AgnosBc, Atheist, and no affiliaBon into
the “not religious” category. We only had 3 people (1.5%) respond as
Buddhist so we removed these results since they seriously affected
our data. The majority of respondents idenBfied as not religious,
which is not surprising since we interviewed mostly college students
and college students do not tend to be religious. In addiBon,
respondents indicated that most of them had minimal religious
involvement, which is not surprising since most did not idenBfy with a
religion once we combined the not religious groups
Orange = Jewish
Blue = Catholic
Purple = Buddhist
Pink = AgnosBc
Green = Atheist
Brown = Protestant
Electric Blue = other
Red = Do not idenBfy
16
19. Hypothesis 4: People who are more religious are more likely to be in a
roman6c rela6onship. Our SPSS data also indicated that religious
involvement was not correlated to relaBonship status. This T‐test
showed that these two variables had a p=.897, indicaBng that these
results are likely to occur by chance and therefore not correlated.
Hypothesis 5: People who listen to music while doing their homework
will have a higher GPA. Our results showed a p=.083, which indicates no
significance. People who listen to music while doing homework do not
necessarily have a higher GPA.
19
22. Discussion
Music in some way, has a major influence on our lives. We
focused our studies understanding socieBes response to music by
interpreBng its effects on relaBonships. This was measured
through a sample survey that allowed us to evaluate our
respondents, ages 18 and up, both male and female. Through
prior knowledge our team was able to come up with plausible
hypothesis that will assist us with our studies and allow us to
understand if there is any significance in our studies
We have surveyed and analyzed 214 people and were able
to interpret our results below:
Hypothesis 1: People who are involved in a roman6c
rela6onship are more likely to listen to country music.
There is no significance for people who are involved in a
romanBc relaBonship to be more likely to listen to country music.
We assumed that the data would prove the hypothesis as
significant, because many major country songs are very
emoBonally influenced by the arBsts, and do speak of love and
loss.
Hypothesis 2: People who listen to YouTube music are more
likely to listen to top 40 music.
There is no significance for people who listen to YouTube
music to be more likely to listen to Pop music. This is an
interesBng find from our studies, because major hit arBsts on
YouTube have the highest view raBngs compared to other types
of music, which is what influenced our hypothesis.
22
23. Hypothesis 3: People who listen to Rap Music are in
mul6ple in6mate rela6onships
There is no significant relaBonship for people who listen
to Rap music to also be in mulBple inBmate relaBonships.
Because popular rap music emphasizes having more than one
partner, we were ulBmately believed that listeners would be
influenced to be in mulBple relaBonships as well. So we were
surprised to find that this was not the case.
Hypothesis 4: People who are more religious are more likely to
be in a roman6c rela6onship.
There is no significant relaBonship for people who are
more religious be in a romanBc relaBonship. We assumed that
due to many religious pracBces that pressure believers to get
married would influence more people to be in a relaBonship. But
our results showed otherwise.
Hypothesis 5: People who listen to music while doing their
homework will have a higher GPA.
There is no significant relaBonship for people who listen to
music while doing their homework and having a higher GPA. We
are surprised by these results because we assumed from
personal experience, that we have been more inclined to do
work while listening to music, which would influence our grades
posiBvely.
Hypothesis 6: People who live in the northeast are more likely to
listen to Dubstep then any other region of the country.
There is no significance for those living in the northeast and
Dubstep. We believed there would be significance because major
Dubstep concerts are played in main ciBes of the northeast.
23
24. Hypothesis 9: People who enjoy listening to Classical
music have higher GPAs
There is no significance for those who listen to
classical music and those who have a higher GPA. The
results were interesBng because we assumed from
previous assumpBons that people who listen to classical
music are “smarter”, which led us to assume that it would
influence someone GPA to increase if they were listening
to it while doing work or studying.
Hypothesis 8: People who are single are more likely to
listen to rock music
There is no significance for people who are single to
be more likely to listen to rock music. We are surprised by
the results because we assumed that people who are
single would enjoy rebellious music that usually talks
about having many partners instead of being in one
relaBonship.
Results with Significance:
How religion affects music genre
There is a significant relaBonship between Catholics
and Country music when p<.05. The data shows a
significance of .000, which means that Catholics listen to
Country music out of all religions offered in our studies.
This can be true for Catholics because country music can
have emoBonal songs that discuss faith and would be
significant for someone who is Catholic.
24