Jennifer,+Poled,+Kayla,+Dillon

[|Research Paper]

 * Research Question:**

__**1. Big Picture: How do different genres of music influence one's behavior?**__ __**2. Specific: Are people more likely to display violent behavior or aggressive thoughts after listening to loud, violent music than slow, calm music?**__


 * Research Plan:**

Procedures: 1. Subjects will be collected across with variations in gender, ethnicity, and age. 2. During club block I will enter club rooms (permission from advisors attained beforehand) and ask two people (male and female) from grades 9 to 12 to step out to participate in the experiment. If there are none from a grade, we will find a participant from another club room. 3. The participants will be put to an empty room of equal sizes (found out beforehand). 4. Half of the subjects will be asked to listen to loud, aggressive music (pertaining to rock or rap genres) and the other half will be asked to listen to calm music (pertaining to country, ambience, ballad genres). 5. Within these two groups, the first group of male and females will be placed in a room alone, and the second group will be placed in a room with another peer. 6. After the duration of the song, the subjects will be asked to complete a questionare that includes various scenarios/cases of violence. 7. The responses from the questionare would measure how tolerant the subject is towards violence. 8. Data will be compiled and compared with one another.

__**Violent Music:**__ "Left Behind" by Slipknot __**Calm Music:**__ "Let it be" by The Beatles
 * Music Selection:**


 * Questionnaire:**

You are a senior in high school. Your graduation is a week away, and you have been in a good mood all week. You are doing your final English project on your laptop, when a friend shuts your laptop. Your friend smirks, then starts to leave. You open your laptop and see that the project you have been working on for hours have been erased. What would you do?
 * __Scenario 1 __**

A) just ignore and begin your project from the start B) grab your friend and tell him to apologize C) push him away and shout at him D) drag him to the ground and punch him repeatedly Scenario

You have been playing an online Tetris game for hours and have finally reached the last level, when your mom calls you to come to dinner. You don't respond for a few minutes, and your brother comes to bring you to the kitchen. If he threatens you that he will plug out the computer, how would you react?
 * __Scenario 2 __**

A) Turn off your computer and follow him to the kitchen B) Tell him to go away C) Scream at him and swear at him profusely D) Hit him with your keyboard

Your girlfriend/boyfriend calls you up and tells you that she/he won't be able to make the date you planned for the day at the amusement park because her/his mom is sick. When you go to the amusement park with your friends, you see your girlfriend/boyfriend with another boy/girl, laughing together. What would you do?
 * __Scenario 3 __**

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A) Go up to her/him and ask what is going on and who she/he is with <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">B) Scream at her/him and ask for a valid explanation <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">C) Push the girl/guy away and tell her/him you never want to see them again <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">D) Punch her/him in the face and kick them repeatedly

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">You are out at PE class, when you ask permission to get a drink. You approach your bag, when you see someone going through your bag. You heard from your friends that students from other classes have lost their phones a few days ago.
 * __<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Scenario 4 __**

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A) Leave him to finish what he doing; you don't want to get hurt <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">B) Run up to him and ask him what he is doing <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">C) Scream and swear at him and threaten him that you will call the security officers <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">D) Throw a bag at him and beat him with it


 * __<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Measure of Violence __**

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A: 1 point <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">B: 2 points <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">C: 3 points <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">D: 4 points

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1~4: Mild Temperament <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">5~8: Normal Temperament <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">9~12: Moderately Aggressive <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">13~16: Very Violent


 * Tentative Hypothesis:**

A person who listens to loud, aggressive music will display violent thoughts or will be more tolerant towards violence that a person who listens to slow, tempered music.

Music has embedded itself in multiple aspects of our daily lives; we listen to music on public transportation, during study, and at social occasions. However, we hardly ever address the influence music may have on our lives and how it may influence our nature and behavior. Our tastes in music, from the rock genre to ballad, varies from person to person. The question that arises naturally is, whether the genre of music sets one person apart from the other or not, and if so, could listening to aggressive music make one an agressive person.That is why our group chose to examine this hypothesis, as it may assist in our understanding of the extent music can influence our behavior and thoughts.


 * Potential Research Flaws/Problems:**

1. The time the subject listens to either music may be too short to have an effect on him/her. 2. The questionare may not be an accurate reflection/measure of the subject's violent tendency after listening to the music because the subject may not answer truthfully. 3. Violence is difficult to measure simply with a questionare and in the duration of a few minutes. 4. The nature of each subject varies, therefore, we cannot acertain whether the violent thoughts are a result of listening to aggressive music or the actual nature/personality of the subject.


 * Literature Reviews:**

Poled Villa: [|"The Effects Of Music"-Joe Sacriponte] Poled Villa: [|Psychological Effects]

Jennifer: 1) [|"Does Rap or Rock Music Provoke Violent Behavior?"] The Journal by Tropeano examined whether or not viewing violent music videos could evoke violent responses in individuals. One of the studies used to answer this question involved an analysis of how exposure to rap music could induce violent attitudes or impede academic performance. 46 African American males aged from 11 to 16 years of age were the recruited participants and they were randomly exposed to one of the three: violent rap music video, nonviolent rap music video, or no music video. Afterwards, they had to read two descriptions about a violent act committed against a man and a woman, and a man who pursued academic success and another who attained expensive items despite his unemployment. The results of the study showed that those who viewed the violent rap videos were more accepting of the use of violence and were more prone to committing similar acts of violence. Moreover, they were more accepting especially of committing violence against women.

The results from the study somewhat confirms what I wish to prove through my hypothesis and research question: violent music induce aggressive temperaments in an individual. The most notable discrepancies between my planned study the one above are the use of music videos and the use of simply music, a study of only male subjects, and those of the African American ethnicity. Simply these three factors would result in extremely disparate results between the two studies; music videos not only rely on the auditory senses but also on the visual sensations. Furthermore, males and African Americans specifically would predictably have different results than those of the opposite gender and of a different ethnicity. The methodology used to measure the violent responses or tolerance to violence appeared to be similar to my own, but appeared to be addressing two parts of the question, the arousal of violence and the obstruction to academics. The scenario offered in the study appears to be a very effective example which could aptly test how accepting the participants became of violence after viewing the violent music videos.

2) __[|"Violent Music Lyrics Increase Agressive Thoughts and Feelings"]__ "Violent Music Lyrics Increase Aggressive Thoughts and Feelings, According to New Study"

An study held by the American Psychological association (APA) involving over 500 students, examined the effects of seven violent songs by seven artists and a eight nonviolent songs by seven artists. The students would first listen to the songs and then would be asked to complete a number of psychological tasks in order to measure aggressive thoughts and emotions, such as classifying words with violent and non-violent connotations. In order to control external factors that may impact the results, the style of the music and the artists singing the song were matched, and the individual participant’s personality differences were evaluated and controlled. The results showed that listening to violent songs led to a more aggressive interpretation of words, increased the speech in which one read or thought of a violent word, and grew malevolent feelings in an individual.

The study described in the article resembles my experiment both in its purpose and methodology, however has significant variations that could lead to conflicting results. The experiment published by the APA is more effective and accurate in a number of ways. Firstly, the body of people tested is considerably larger than the number I would use, which would at maximum, be about 20 people. Moreover, the exercises the researchers employed to measure each individual’s aggressive thoughts or behavior after listening to violent or nonviolent music, appeared to be a better assess of each student’s violence. Lastly, the study controlled a number of external factors such as the use of songs by the same artists, the style of the music, and the difference in personality, whilst I had not identified those factors into my own experiment.

**Dillon:** [|Does Rock/Rap affect behavior] Does rap or rock music provoke violent behavior? An experiment conducted at western conneticut state university tests the effects of violent media on one group, calm or relaxing on another, and none for the control group. After this was finished the participants were asked to interact with one another. The results claim that exposure to violent media had a significant relation with the participants demonsatrating violent behaviors. Dillon: [|Metal and violence-] Sais there is no scientific evidence of metal influencing negative behavior and tendencies