
Music Genres and Mood Shifts
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Can the type of music playing in the background shift your mood? You divide 30 participants into three groups of ten. Each group sits in a room for one hour listening to a different genre: cheerful, somber, or heavy metal.
Afterward, each person fills out a mood survey that scores their emotional state. The scores sort into three categories: happy, somber, or agitated.
The results show that most participants scored in the mood category matching the music they heard. Seven out of ten in the cheerful group scored happy. Six out of ten in the heavy metal group scored agitated.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis is that the type of music being played in the background will affect the temporary disposition of the participants.
Method & Materials
You will separate the participants into 3 groups of 10 persons each. You will play cheerful music for one group, somber music for another group, and heavy metal music for the third group. After each group has completed a survey form, you will collect the forms and total the points for each participant.
You will need 30 participants, each 12 years old, a cheerful, happy music CD, a somber music CD, a heavy-metal music CD, a CD player, a classroom, tables and chairs.
Results
It was observed that the temporary disposition of the participants was somewhat altered according to the type of music they had been listening to before taking the survey.
Why do this project?
This science project is interesting because it shows how music can affect our moods and emotions.
Also Consider
Variations of this experiment could include finding out the effects of specific genres of music on mood, such as classical, jazz or country music. Another variation could be to compare the effects of music on different genders and age groups.
Full project details
Additional information and source material for this project are available below.Related videos
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