Feeling like paela? Don’tblam eitontheboogie,butyou m ightbeableto blam eitonflam enco
Butgoing to aconcertordeliberatelyputing on m usic athom e orin the carletsuscontrolthe psychological efectsofwhatwe are listening to,to som e degree. W hathappenswhen we experience m usicaspartofour everydaysoundscape? Slow down,spend m ore M usicin shops,forexam ple,can have asurprising im pactonwhatwechooseto do.A num berofstudies have dem onstrated thatbackground m usiccan influence how long we spend perusing the aislesin asuperm arket (slow m usiccan lead people to lingerfor15 percent longerthan fast).Partofthiscould be due to the way m usicm es eswith oursense oftim e –slow m usic,it seem s,causespeople to underestim ate the tim e they spend shopping.
found thatcalm ing,low-tem po m usicseem sto lead participantsto m ake riskierfinancialdecisionsabout where to investtheirm oneythan those listening to high tem po electronicm usic. “M usiccan afectpeople in diferentwaysdepending on the situation,”saysZiv.“It’spos ible thatthe low-tem po m usicm ade people feellike everything wasfine,so they tookrisks.The high-tem po m usicm ayhave increased theirarousal,so theywere m ore alertand careful.Butit dependson the individual–ifyou like the m usic,orif you have ahigh abiltyto focus.” Ziv’sresearch hasalso focused on som e other,rather disturbing aspectsofthe waym usiccan influence us. She found thatlistening to happym usic–specificaly trackslike Jam esBrown’sIGotYou (Ifeelgood)–can alterpeople’sm oraljudgem ents,m aking them m ore wiling to ac eptunethicalbehaviourand cheating.She hasfound thatitcan even lead people to be wilingly caloustowardsotherhum an beings. In one studyshe and herteam asked participantsto cal afem ale studentto telhershe could nottake partin the study,even though she needed to in orderto
Playing pop in acafe frequented bystudentsin one studysaw them spend m ore than with stereotypical ‘piped’m usic,perhapsbecause itcreated an atm osphere theyfound m ore enjoyable. Butm usiccan also cause usto gam ble m ore with our m oneytoo.Strangely,astudybyZivand hercoleagues
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