Music is a concept that has captivated the minds of humans for as long as history. The random combinations of sound waves that illuminate the ear have the power to change a person’s mood and help people make connections. It plays a huge role in today’s society; hardly a day goes by without music. Music is simply the succession of various tones that are pleasing to the ear in some way. However, its impacts can be profound. Social life is often underlined by music, whether in the background or on a stage. Music can have a dramatic effect on human interaction and relationships with others. A biopsychosocial framework provides a comprehensive depiction of music’s effects on human’s social life by exploring the biological basis of music, its cultural significance, and psychological impacts to reveal how music can bring about greater connectedness.
Biological
Though much debated, most scholars will agree that music provides some form of evolutionary purpose. The universality of music in all cultures points to it being beneficial in an organism’s survival or reproduction. However, there is great deliberation on what advantage it actually provides. The most logical explanation is music contributes to social bonding. Watching a sports event or going to a religious meeting makes this idea appear obvious. Music can align people towards a common goal and provide a feeling of group cohesion. It “might contribute to the coordination of group work, such as pulling a heavy object” because everyone’s efforts are synchronized (Huron, 2001). This cohesion is important because it allows for more efficient labour and a sense of unity against rival groups. In this way, music making ability could be viewed as an advantage because it allows the group to be more efficient, improving survival. Another possible application of music as an adaptation would be in mate selection. As “some animals find colorful or ostentatious mates attractive, music making may have arisen as a courtship behavior” to attract females (Huron, 2001). The ability to sing could demonstrate that the male is healthy and thus a good mate. Even today, musical ability is considered an attractive quality which may stem from this evolutionary concept. This demonstrates the ability music has to strengthen relational bonds in a romantic and group context.
Psychological
Empathy is a key attribute in forming human connections. It provides the ability “to feel the experiences, needs, aspirations, frustrations, sorrows, joys, anxieties, hurt, and hunger of others as if that experience were their own” (Clark, 2013) and is an important quality for having healthy relationships. “The basis of social tensions, conflicts” and general breakdown of human relationships is a lack of empathy (Clark, 2013). A goal of music is to convey the writer’s ideals and influence the listener in some way. As such, it appears that music has the ability to evoke empathy in its listeners. In a study by Clark, it was found that certain types of music “may, over time, promote greater empathic understanding in the listener. Exposure to such music genres may serve as a buffer for all forms of aggressive and antisocial tendencies” (2013). Music can be seen as a tool to improve emotional intelligence, which includes the ability to “empathiz[e] with others and maintain[] satisfying relationships” (Carpernter and Hoffman, 2013). Thus it is clear that music does impact how people interact with each other. It has been found that listeners of Reflexive & Complex genres, such as jazz, express greater empathy than other genres such as Upbeat and Conventional genres, like pop (Clark, 2013). One reason this connection may exist is “when moving together in time with the same music, one shares a common experience. This shared experience can facilitate social bonding compared with the experience of just moving in synchrony without music” (Stupacher, Wood & Witte 2017). This bonding experience music provides leads to greater social connectedness. There is some evidence that this shared experience may increase community and empathy because of firing mirror neurons (Carpenter and Hoffman, 2013). Mirror neurons are activated when observing someone else and may contribute to feelings of empathy. Music can improve social interactions by cultivating a greater sense of empathy in people as well as providing a shared experience which helps people feel more connected.
Since the inception of the term in 1688, “nostalgia” has often held negative associations for the majority of its existence. The conceptualization of nostalgia has been expressed as a variant of depression by psychoanalytic theories and was even considered a disease well into the 20th century (Batcho et al, 2008). Music is able to induce the feeling of nostalgia. Recent research shows that nostalgia may actually serve an adaptive function and listening to music allows young adults to accomplish the process of individuation, assess personal change over time, and adapt to discontinuity. These factors contribute to an individual’s perception of self-identity and enables them to grow social bonds with others (Batcho et al, 2008). Song lyrics play an integral role in evoking nostalgia. When the artist incorporates personal experiences into their music, listeners can empathize with these emotions and even recall their own past. Personal nostalgia occurs when an individual’s self-identity relies upon the experiences they have shared with others. These individuals are more likely to relate to lyrics in which the author writes about past relationships with an old relative or long-lost friend. By engaging in personal nostalgia through relationship-centered music, people can strengthen their social connectedness (Batcho, 2008). However, while some individuals can reinforce bonds through song lyrics, others find themselves in isolation. Certain lyrics can prompt emotion that romanticizes and favours previous experiences over current events. This is referred to as historical nostalgia. People that experience historical nostalgia are more likely to find refuge in song lyrics that grapple with an individual achievement or solitary experience. “Dissatisfaction with the present and the view that conditions are getting worse over time” (Batcho, 2008) are reflected in historical nostalgia. By listening to self-centred lyrics, people will only increase separation between them and the rest of society. As music is always present in the 21st century, it is imperative to recognize nostalgia-inducing lyrics can either promote social cohesion or escalate individualization.
Social
The biopsychosocial model, proposed by George Engel, was created to encompass and unify the biological, psychological, and social processes to give humans a greater understanding of a particular behaviour or condition. Considered revolutionary in the medical field, the model allowed the industry to move away from a linear idea of thinking. However, the social aspect often takes the back seat to its bigger brothers. As the biological and psychological processes can traditionally be used in a “cause-effect” practice, it is easy for people to gravitate towards the simplicity of these areas, leaving sociocultural influences out of the picture. By recognizing these social processes, it allows people to expand the frame to give context as to why behaviour is fostered in individuals and groups. Sociocultural factors are instrumental in the dissection of how music correlates to personality and social-identity as preferences can differ and relate from person-to-person and culture-to-culture.
Music preference has generally been accepted to have strong correlation with the personality traits of an individual. While there is a plethora of music genres in the world today, researchers have tried to narrow them into generalized categories. Subjects who prefer to listen to jazzy, more complex music usually score high in traits such as openness (Carlson et al, 2017), whereas people who tend to be more agreeable often find themselves listening to upbeat and conventional music, such as country (Carlson et al, 2017). However, personality is not the only determining factor when looking at the musical preference as there is more to taste in music than just what acoustic sounds are pleasing to one’s ear. Sociological factors must be taken into account. Music preference can be tailored to any individual through an act of classical conditioning (Carpenter and Huffman, 2013). A person may associate a pleasurable experience with a certain genre of music. For instance, if an individual is attending a party where a type of music is predominately being played, they may come to find a liking in that particular music as they are partaking in a joyful experience. Predisposition also plays a key role in shaping musical identity. American people who live in rural areas often find themselves listening to country music regardless of their personality (Carlson et al, 2017). When a person is exposed to an environment where only a particular genre of music is prevalent, they are more likely to tolerate that genre. Therefore, while metal music is often considered repulsive to many individuals, in Finland, the country that holds the most metal bands per capita, there are notably fewer people that dislike metal than in other countries (Carlson et al, 2017). The societal functionality of music will also shape preference through “social signaling” (Carlson et al, 2017). Music can be used as a tool to allow for social connectedness as individuals may adapt their preferences to foster comradery among peers or even to impress a potential partner. Music gives people the opportunity to relate to others in ways that would not normally be possible. By accounting for social factors and influences, there can be a greater understanding of how personality can dictate musical preferences.
Biopsychosocial Perspective
It is evident that music influences human interactions on the basis of biological, psychological and sociological concepts. However, it is important to see how these concepts work together to explain why music can bring out greater connectedness in human societies and its practical implications on social issues. Many artists write songs about social issues to enact a change in society. These social changes are caused by modifications in individual’s actions and perceptions about others. In society, sexually degrading music is a topic of contention in the music industry as its effects on the treatment of women in the real world are not fully understood. Greitemeyer, one of the fore-front researchers on music’s effects on social life, believes “the present findings provide convincing evidence for the notion that listening to music with proequality lyrics is associated with increased positive attitude and behavior toward women” (Greitemeyer, Hollingdale, & Traut-Mattausch 2012). In addition, “listening to prosocial (relative to neutral) music decreased aggression and aggression- related variables” demonstrating that music does not simply influence perspective, but actions as well (Greitemeyer, 2013). This exhibits social learning in practice. As people listen to music, they are being exposed to sounds and lyrics that convey social norms which teaches humans how to interact with others. Music is a pathway for observing other people through sound which “teaches us how to think and feel and shows us how to act and interact socially” (Carpenter and Hoffman, 2013). These pro-social songs help people to interact in a more positive way, while aggressive music can decrease the likelihood of positive social interactions (Greitemeyer, 2013). As people continue to listen to music, more neural connections are formed. By increasing synaptic connections, a behaviour becomes more engrained through learning (Carpenter and Hoffman, 2013). Thus, it is a reasonable conclusion in the context of woman’s treatment that “repeatedly listening to music with proequality lyrics may even improve people’s attitude and behavior toward women to a larger extent” (Greitemeyer et al, 2012). This idea can be translated to any social issue influenced through music. The type of music listened to can impact how people see the world and each other, affecting how humans interact. Prosocial music can help people learn to better interact with each other and provide an avenue for a more connected society.
Conclusion
Music has walked aside human cultures throughout history. It is omnipresent in our lives as it accompanies almost every day-to-day activity. Opportunists have taken advantage of people’s obsessiveness with music by turning it into the $130 billion industry that it is today. However, music is not simply a source of entertainment for humanity. It provides the opportunity to promote greater social connectedness by strengthening human interaction and relationships. Societal cohesion is cultivated by music to enable the achievement of goals and progress of societies. By inducing empathy and nostalgia, music helps foster healthy relationships and shape personal identity. Since music is so ingrained in culture, it can motivate behaviours within societies. It is imperative to recognize this effect to ensure that music has a positive influence on the minds of individuals. Combining all the components of the biopsychosocial model allows for a greater understanding of how music can contribute to social connectedness.