People today are faced with numerous challenges and dynamics that affect their daily lives and this leads to an increase in the levels of stress. Following this understanding, there is the need to identify the elements that can aid in alleviating the impact of the stressors on people. The concept brings us to the discussion on happiness and music with the use of scholar debates to provide a precise understanding of the correlation. Researchers agree on the fact that music can be implemented as a form of self-meditating which is crucial in countering the detrimental effects of life stressors which are increasing each day. The various concepts presented by researchers come to the basic understanding that music has the ability to facilitate a platform where an individual can connect with their inner self which has the positive outcome of highlighting the suppressed emotions which is crucial in improving a person’s well-being.
Despite the existing knowledge on the correlation between music and happiness, there are several areas of contention which are discussed by researchers. One of the major points of debate regarding the topic is the discussion of the concept of Basic Emotions and its impact on the psychological connection between music and happiness. Researchers have differed on the existence of a clear relationship that identifies the correlation between emotional speech and music where there lacks the proper structure to show that music expressivity can trigger basic emotions. There are ongoing researches that seek to deal with the consistencies arising between speech and music as it concerns cue-emotions which follows the debate on the two dimensions that form the foundation of musical expressivity and these are valence and arousal. Additionally, there are controversies that emanate from the concept that basic emotions are identified by listeners and there is no connection with the categorical boundaries in the stimuli.
Psychological Well-being and Music
The definition of the conditions that surround psychological well-being includes health-related behaviors and the social, subjective and psychological dimensions of an individual. There is the need to develop a proper comprehension of happiness since this is the basic component of the improved mental state of a person and the associated factors(Krause and North 116). The discussion leads to the identification of the five elements that are associated with the development of meaning, happiness, and fulfillment in a person’s life. The five elements include engagement, positive emotion, accomplishments, meaning and relationships(Krause and North 114). Studies reveal the existence of a separate channel of communication that is associated with music which has the profound effect of inducing the emotional responses of an individual. Rana (155), maintains that the notion can be supported by the point of view that with each selection of a piece of music, there is a subsequent foray of very unique and highly nuanced psychological assessments. At this stage, the individual “assesses their current state of mind and their surrounding environment based on the music piece”(Rana 157). The presentation leads to the idea that psychological help is linked with the process of music selection and mood maintenance.
Music is identified as a critical component of the daily lives of individuals based on the availability of personal computers, mobile devices, and the internet where people can store their music library and have access to their playlist at any time. Krause and North (114) maintain that there is a failure by the existing research to put into consideration the music is intertwined with the everyday stream of life and the two cannot be separated. By focusing on the position supported research on the effect on music on an individual, it is prudent to identify the discussion on the virtual mental space that is facilitated by listening to music(Morinville et al. 385). The advancement in the development of mobile devices has provided room for individuals to create personal playlists and whenever they listen to the music they are able to shift into a private environment. According to Morinville et al. (385), the existence of this aspect shifts the understanding of music and happiness where individuals can alter their sense of dominance as it relates to their music and this offers them a sense of control over their music experiences.
The discussion of subjective well-being has been linked to the aspect of global happiness where their quality of life is based on an evaluation of their cognitive. The question that arises as a regard to the matter is the positive influence brought about by global happiness particularly among the youth and the role of music(Aubé et al. 981). The discussion delves to the role of music among teens and the existing data that shows trends in music the general behavior of the youth. Music is considered an aesthetic pleasure, especially among the youth based on its influence as a self-selected action and listening to music, is seen across the developmental period in their growth. Morinville et al. (384), suggest that the through music competences among the youth, they are able to come up with definitely shaped musical competence which can be highlighted by focusing on their music preference. A look into the element of physiology regarding music suggests that the use of music is essential in growth(Rana 158). In an emphasis on the selection of music among teens, we can establish that the choice of music is usually based on a wide range of factors but there is the basic understanding where music is identified as a source of friendship and peer relatedness. Following this point of view, it is obvious that there are several positive implications associated with listening to music and the selection and level of arousal is based on the level of self-determination(Morinville et al. 386). Therefore, there is a correlation that can be seen between global happiness (SWB) and the aspect of self-determination which can be traced to a rise in autonomy development.
One likely emotional system for neural invasion is the one involved in emotional vocalizations(Aubé et al. 983). Indeed, musical emotions share fundamental acoustic cues with vocal emotional expressions) and appear to recruit overlapping neural circuits, leading to the proposal that music may represent a super-expressive voice According to this view one would predict a similar influence of emotions on memory for music to that observed for vocalizations; that is, an enhanced recognition accuracy for various emotions, including happiness, fear, and sadness, relative to neutral stimuli(Krause and North 119). Moreover, memory for vocalizations should predict performance with music. In other words, someone with particularly good memory for fearful vocalizations should exhibit a similar enhancement of memory for fearful music. Rana (158) maintains that instead, the emotional value of music is more culturally based, acquired mainly through exposure and associations, then the effects of emotion on memory for music should be unrelated to those observed for vocalizations. Therefore, Music tends to offer solutions and relaxation at any moment of life and it must harbor for potential uses as well(Rana 158). The outcome gives immunity to work and tries to come up with potential paradigms that can nurture intellect in a human being(Morinville et al. 387). Music and success go hand in hand while their comprehension is discussed and it is for the betterment of the humans that they can practice on the lyrical composition of Music
The prevailing understanding states that music has the ability to induce happiness which is based on the determination of the emotional state of a person(Aubé et al. 988). The level of arousal associated with music varies significantly among people of different ages which brings is one of the topics of discussion among different groups. For instance, “the selection of a listening strategy is crucial in the correlation between their overall well-being and their life satisfaction”(Aubé et al. 989). However, there is a different view that maintains that life satisfaction and music can be seen only among the teen and this is not true when it comes to the elderly. Listening to any music tries to unravel a point of kindness among the individuals. They, on listening to music, resort to reconciliation with their fellow ones and readapt a normal life. The menace of emotional contradiction completely gets out of their heads and they learn the hard meaning of life in a soft happiness and music(Rana 157). Thus, an emotional contradiction in a normal human being is apparent due to the sizzling nature of humans and music is there to rectify Among the teens, “there is greater emotional well-being which can be traced to the positive emotions of listening to music”(Morinville et al. 388). Despite this understanding, there is a shortage of research that offers concrete findings to support the association that exists between the global conceptualization of happiness and music.
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Work Cited
Aubé, William, et al. “The Effects of Emotion on Memory for Music and Vocalisations.” Memory, vol. 21, no. 8, 2013, pp. 981–990.
Krause, Amanda E., and Adrian C. North. “How Do Location and Control over the Music Influence Listeners’ Responses?” Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, vol. 58, no. 2, 2017, pp. 114–122.
Morinville, Amélie, et al. “Music Listening Motivation Is Associated with Global Happiness in Canadian Late Adolescents.” Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, vol. 7, no. 4, 2013, p. 384.
Rana, Minakshi. “Role of Music in the Development of Psychological Well-Being.” Indian Journal of Positive Psychology, vol. 9, no. 1, 2018, pp. 155–158.
