general model of influence.
The purpose of this paper is an attempt to examine the existing literature on the effects of music as they relate to human psychology. The intent is to determine some general patterns of these effects as a means of contributing to the development of a general model of the influence of music on human beings. The first section of the paper presents a review of the general literature on the influence of music on human psychology; while the second section of the paper presents a brief model of the various factors that produce the effects of music.
Phillips (2004 1-3) has noted that the literature on background music and human performance has established that music has the ability to increase or decrease performance in the area of task quality, memory, math problem solving, and even general cognitive performance. In her study, Phillips (1) found that classical music was superior to both punk music and no music in terms of subjects' performance on a web-based task.
In another study of the effects of music on performance, Hunter (2000:1) had subjects attempt to solve a set of 30 anagrams. Subjects were divided into groups with one group hearing no music, a second group listening to fast background music and another group listening to slow background music. When the groups were compared, findings showed significantly higher task performance in the group listening to slow music as they completed the task than in either the no music or the fast music groups. In fact, the fast music was observed to seriously depress the quality of performance.
Jones (2003 1-2) reports that research has shown that music can increase human spatial intelligence defined as the ability to mentally manipulate objects in three-dimensional space. Moreover, Jones (2) states that listening to a Mozart sonata can result in an increase in IQ scores, a finding commonly referred to as "the Mozart effect."
Iakovides (2004 1-4) ...