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Research Project

Effects of Classical Music on Stress and Anxiety in Students

Submitted to:

Dr. Naumana Amjad

Submitted by:

Asad Abbas

Roll No. 15

MS.c morning 2nd semester

Institute of Applied Psychology

University of the Punjab

Lahore

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Abstract

The present study intended to explore the effects of classical music on stress and

anxiety in students. The DAAS scale (Lovibond and Lovibond1995) was used to measure

stress and anxiety. The sample of 20 male participants (M age= 22.22, SD= 1.47) was

selected from various departments of University of the Punjab Lahore. It was

hypothesized that classical music will decrease the stress and anxiety level in students.

Results from paired sample t-test demonstrated that the effect of classical music on stress

and anxiety was not significant. Music has little effect as before music (M= 38.10, SD=

9.78) and after music (M= 34.95, SD= 8.98) but this was statistically not significant.

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Contents

Acknowledgement

Abstract

Table of contents

CHAPTER I

Introduction

1.1 Historical Background of Music…………………………………..

1.1.1 Definition of Music………………………………..…………..

1.1.2 What is music? .............................................................................

1.1.3 Types of music…………………………………….……………..

1.2 What is stress? .............................................................................

1.2.1 Definition of stress………………………………………………

1.2.2 Physiological and Psychological stress………………………….

1.3: Effects of music on stress and anxiety……………………………..

1.4: Literature Review…………………………………………………………

1.5: Rationale of the study ……………..……………………………………..

1.6: Hypothesis………………………………………………………………..

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CHAPTER 11

Methodology

2.1: Research Design …………………………………………………………

2.2: Sample…………………………………………………………………..

2.3: Inclusion Criteria….……………………………………………………

2.4: Exclusion criteria………………………………………………………..

2.5: Operational Definitions of the Variables………………………………

2.6: Assessment Measures……………………………………………………

2.7: Ethical Considerations…………………………………………………...

2.8: Procedure………………………………………………………………….

CHAPTER 111

3: Results…………………………………………………………………………

CHAPTER 1V

4: Discussion…………………………………………………………………….

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

Table I:Descriptives of demographics and study variables…………………………….

Table II: Results of t-test and descriptive statistics…………………………………….

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Introduction

Music is an art of combining and arranging sounds able to be produced by

humane voice or instruments. It is a source of pleasure and relaxation throughout history

for all age groups. The world is becoming a global village and music also has global

impacts on humane emotions like stress and anxiety. Prior researches on music are

mostly in China and Western countries. According to these researches music can

decrease stress and anxiety level of individuals. This study is design to explore the effects

of classical music on stress and anxiety in students. The experimental within group

design was used in this study.

Since early times, music has played an essential part in human life. It was

appreciated by ancient, primitive and advanced civilizations that realized its power.

Music is universal as language, but it ‘‘speaks’’ louder than words. Since sounds never

lie, music has a truthful authority. Music has intrigued philosophers and writers who tried

to understand its effect on the human body and on human emotions (William

Styron,1990).

The roots of music can be traced to early infancy. ‘‘I believe we see in infants

innate psychological foundations of both musical behavior and musical awareness that

are unique to human beings’’. In his view, music has strong roots in human nature

(Trevarten 2002), (pp. 21).

Three therapeutic functions attributed to music by the Greeks and expressed in

their myths: (1) restoring both the soul and or the body to a state of equilibrium, arousing

or soothing as needed, to temper excess or deficient emotion; (2) creating the sensation of

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pleasure through movement; (3) inducing catharsis that purges the soul of emotional

conflict. The Greeks thought that music penetrates the body, the mind and the soul. Its

healing effect was well recognized throughout the many productions of human behavior

(Rowell, 1984) posits.2

1.1.1: What is Music?

Stern (1985) uses musical concepts to describe the very first communication of

the baby with his mother and thinks that the intonation we use when we speak expresses

our authentic emotions. The musical happening is a manifestation of emotional

communication (Gilboa et al. 2006).

1.1.2: Definition

“The art of arranging sounds in time so as to produce a continuous, unified, and

evocative composition, as through melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre”.

“Vocal or instrumental sounds possessing a degree of melody, harmony, or rhythm”.

“Music is an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant

forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and dynamics”.

On the psychological and scientific sides the latest and the most authoritative

definition of music is given by the eminent American scholar, Dr. Seashore. Using the

term "feeling" in a specialized sense, he says: "Music is essentially a play of feeling upon

feeling. It is appreciated only insofar as it arouses feeling and can be expressed by active

feeling. We are, of course, not thinking here about this mysterious something which is

spoken of as feeling. In modern psychology to feel is always to do, to express something

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- action of the organism. There are two aspects of feeling in music. One is the nature of

aesthetic experience and the other is what we may call the 'creative feeling' as it operates

in the composer. Thus, "music is in the first and the last instances, in the mind of the

composer and in the mind of the listener, not actual sounds but images, ideas, ideals,

thoughts, emotions" (Khalfa et al, 2003).

1.1.3: Types of music

There are different types of music, some commonly known types are following.

Classical music

The kind of music that most of us have forgotten, yet listen to everyday. Because

most of what we hear now is derived from what the great classical composers created

decades and centuries ago. We may think of classical music as what orchestras play in a

giant auditorium, wearing black clothes, with a conductor frantically waving his staff

about. That's a very base description of something that the composers dedicated their

lives to. The main categories in classical music go a little like this.

Rock Music

The origins of rock 'n' roll are as foggy as the genre is popular. What I can offer

you is this: the term was coined in 1955 by Alan Freed, a disc jockey from Ohio. The

oldest form of rock 'n' roll (1950s) was a mixture of R&B, country and rockabilly (it was

just called hillbilly music back then), only it was faster, louder and 'dangerous'. The man

at the forefront of this genre was (and still is) Elvis Presley, followed by personalities like

Chuck Berry and Little Richard. The rock scene in the 50s was more about shock value,

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which included fashion statements, sexually-oriented lyrics and dance moves catering to

a young audience in particular.

Blues Music

The reason why blues became so popular can only be understood when you look at

its time of creation. The origin of blues is too unclear to pinpoint to one artist or one year;

for the sake of historic importance, it's believed that the blues music was created in the

late 19th century, by the black slaves that were forced to work in the cotton fields. Blues

has firm roots in African traditional music. But above all else, the purpose of making the

blues is always the same: the expression of intense emotions. It is the one reason why this

genre had such a profound effect on America, and eventually the world.

Jazz

Jazz is the second genre born from African traditional music. It is considered to be

America's first indigenous form of music. It is believed to have started after the Civil War, when

the black people were free to travel and seek employment. Similar to the blues, the jazz styles are

also classified according to time and location.

Electronic

Electronic music is much older than you think. The first in the history of electronic music

was Thaddeus Cahill and his telharmonium in 1897. Since then, composers started using the

concept of electronically generated music to produce scores that were impossible to replicate by

man through existing mechanical instruments.

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Folk

Folk music can be broadly classified into two groups, traditional folk and folk revival. Not

styles, like other genres. There is only one type - folk. The actual folk songs are something that

are indigenous to a culture, popularized at events and passed down mostly orally. It is often the

case that a folk song does not have a singular credible artist (or cannot be found). The songs are

sourced as anonymous and are therefore, not owned by anyone.

Country

Country music originated around the 1920s, part in Southern U.S. and part in the

Appalachian mountains. It comes from a combination of southern folk songs, gospel and blues

music. It all started with 'Sallie Gooden' by Eck Robertson. His style was similar to what we can

call country music. The genre was made famous by Jimmie Rodgers, who is also known as the

Father of Country Music.

Ska and Reggae

To be precise, reggae can be called an offshoot of ska, because ska came before reggae. To

know how reggae started, you'll have to take a look at ska and rocksteady.

Ska is roughly a mixture of calypso and jazz. It is more percussive than melodic and very upbeat.

You can divide the styles of ska into three generations or 'waves'.

Hip Hop

The music of hip hop is just a part of the whole culture, a very big part. The music is

marked by a significant importance to the bass and the beats, with rapping as the predominant

vocal art form. Which is why rap is a part of hip hop culture and therefore, its styles is also a part

of hip hop music.

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1.2: What is stress?

Stress is part of everyday life (at home, in work, in personal relations), as well as

a psychological condition that is part of a crisis (trauma, wartime, illness, etc.). Outside

the laboratory, stress is accepted as an unavoidable by-product of living and is an

especially complex phenomenon in the modern technological society (Lazarus 1999).

1.2.1: Definition

As an emotional state caused by various emotional or circumstantial factors, stress

can cause a multitude of physical manifestations.

The ability to manage stress has figured prominently in anxiety and

psychosomatic research and in discussions of health psychology or behavioral medicine.

Reports of a statistical

link between coronary heart disease and individuals with a particular personality

profile that is characterized by a behavioral pattern manifesting a life style of impatience,

a sense of time urgency, hard-driving competitiveness and a preoccupation with

vocational and related deadlines (‘‘Type A personality’’) have been reported numerous

times. Similar correlations with other behavior profiles have suggested potential links to

cancer, diabetes and other chronic medical conditions (Lazarus 1999).

1.2.2: Physiological and Psychological Stress

The physiological response to stress includes an increase in heart rate and blood

pressure, an endocrinological response that includes activation and release of ‘stress

hormones’ (mainly ACTH and cortisol) which activate the sympathetic nervous system

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(‘‘fight or flight’’). Psychological strategies are enhanced in order to manage tension and

minimize distress (Thompson, 2009)

In psychology and biology, the term ‘‘stress’’ is applied to describe a response or

reaction to an external event or interference that disturbs and jeopardizes the functioning

of an organism. Organisms, both animals and humans, respond to physical and

psychological stress with behavioral and physiological defenses. If the stress is too

powerful, too prolonged, or is perceived as too threatening, or if the defenses are

inadequate, then a somatic or psychological dysfunction may be expressed: chronic pain

and illness (Sloboda, 1996).

1.3: Effects of Music on Stress and Anxiety

Those positive emotions such as happiness, pride, love, gratitude are also

frequently associated with stress. He distinguishes between social stress, physiological

stress and psychological stress and integrates both stress and emotion into one theoretical

framework, with appraisal and coping as its basis. Emotions have practical importance in

our physiological and psychological well-being and in social functioning (Lazarus, 1999).

One example, of many, that demonstrates how music can influence neurological

functions is given in a report that the amplitude of a startle eye blink reflex was larger and

its latency shorter during unpleasant music compared with pleasant music, suggesting

that the defensive emotional system is modulated by music. More profound effects are

given in reports that demonstrate that musical training enhances activation and

development of certain neuronal structures including cortex, amygdala, hippocampus and

hypothalamus and improves plasticity and neurogenesis (Roy et al. 2009).

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1.4: Literature Review

Many researchers have tried to understand the sources of emotions we experience

in response to music. Thompson (2009), points out to the different possible sources of

emotional responses to music that can either reflect direct sources such as psychophysical

cues or expectancy mechanisms or indirect sources such as personal memories or cultural

significance. Psychophysical cues (such as a sudden loud or soft sound) are grasped as

‘‘emotional’’ since they may signal a forthcoming event that may have a biological

significance; it may put us on alert and challenge us. Expectancy mechanisms involve

emotions, since being able to predict forthcoming events is a biological advantage. These

direct sources are powerful, immediate and personal. When both sources are activated,

the experience can be rich and intense (Thompson, 2009).

Expectancy mechanisms also exist among music listeners in a different sense:

people expect music to be a change agent in the sense that it will alter their psycho-

logical state and relax them when they are anxious or stressed (Sloboda 1996).

(Juslin and Sloboda, 2001) have reviewed many studies that deal with music and

emotions, but the overall picture is sometimes quite confusing, and research findings can

be contradictory. Understanding the psychological mechanism that underlies the

listener’s emotional response to music might help us in understanding this issue. A

relevant question that is commonly asked is whether music can induce genuine emotions

(the emotive position) or if listeners just perceive emotions expressed by music (the

cognitivist position) and how it can give rise to the listener’s responses (Juslin and

Sloboda, 2001).

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How music affects the responses that were observed in their research: brain stem

responses, evaluate conditioning, emotional contagion, mental imagery, episodic memory

and musical expectancy. Using neuroimaging, researchers were able to reveal brain

activity while responding emotionally to music. Several areas of the brain are activated

while performing or listening to music, and the researchers examined possible

neurological and physiological mechanisms of stress and how music can mediate the

calming of stressful situations (Lundqvist, 2009).542 randomized control studies

reviewed on the stress and anxiety and their reduction by the music intervention in a

preoperative setting. In more than half of the reviewed studies, a beneficial effect of

music was found (Nilsson, 2008).

Approaches for alleviating workplace stress include altering actual demands,

increasing individuals’ abilities to cope by altering cognitive appraisals, behavioral

responses and physiological responses and supporting existing abilities to cope. The use

of music to reduce stress is considered a palliative coping approach in that individuals’

internal psychological strategies are enhanced in order to manage tension and minimize

distress (Sutton and De Baker 2009).

A survey of information offered to parents about benefits of music in parenting

magazines showed that the role of music in reducing stress or changing mood was the

most frequently mentioned. A long list of researchers and authors in education

psychology and therapy who published their studies on music as a stress reducer for

children between 1999 and 2005.(Sims and Udtaisuk, 2008)

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Music may act as an anxiolytic treatment, so that experiences of anxiety is

prevented or reduced. The study explored the effect of experimenter- determined sedative

music on participants’ subjective and physiological stress levels following a cognitive

stressor involving 12 min of preparation of an oral presentation. A control condition, that

of sitting in silence during preparation for the oral presentation, revealed increases in

subjective anxiety, systolic blood pressure and heart rate. The treatment condition that of

presence of the music revealed a significant decrease in subjective anxiety, systolic blood

pressure and heart rate. The findings of the study are promising when one considers

stressors in the air traffic control occupation, whether the stressors are perceived as

mildly or strongly adversary (Chikahisa et al. 2006).

Music, which has been used across the ages to soothe and relax, has been

proposed as a means of decreasing test anxiety among college students (Lai et al, 2008;

Stanton, 1975).

Finally, it is an oversimplified view to assume that people respond similarly to

sedative music. Responses to music are based on factors such as familiarity, preference,

current mood and music training. Recently, neuropsychological research is contributing

evidence of neuroanatomical parallels between processing of daily emotions and

processing of emotional responses to music Such parallels will lead to a more thorough

understanding of the influence of music on brain-emotion structure) (Knight and Rickard

2001).

Listening to self- selected music while being in curative radiation therapy lowers

anxiety and treatment-related distress. However, physical symptoms were not affected by

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the use of music. Higher doses of music produced greater declines in distress (Clark et al,

2006).

Affective response to music depends more on cultural tradition than on inherent

qualities of the music (Gregory and Varney 1996).

The study (Salamon et al, 2003) revealed following a comparison of five different

types of music to a no-music condition that one of the types of music (i.e. atonal music),

was significantly less relaxing. They concluded that preferred music was an important

factor in determining music that is considered relaxing (Fukui and Yamashita, 2003).

1.5: Rationale of the study

The current study investigated how classical music affects stress and

anxiety in students. The focus on music important as music can be both relaxing, but it

can also serve as a safe place through which one can acquire self-knowledge through

sound, observe his own life work at deeper levels and release stress patterns that have

built up through the years (Holland, 1995).

Music has its significance for all age groups of all societies. A recent meta-analysis of

the effectiveness of music use for stress reduction revealed that selections of music based

on research and, as well, preferred music decreased arousal due to stress (Pelletier 2004).

In a study measuring physiological and psychological responses to preferred and relaxing

music, varied types of music chosen by the participants significantly reduced anxiety. The

researchers concluded that preference, familiarity or past experiences with the music may

have an overriding effect on positive behavior change than the type of music (Bernardi et

al. 2006).

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1.9: Hypothesis

Classical music will decrease stress and anxiety in students

Chapter II

Methodology

2.1: Research Design

The experimental within group designed used in this study.

2.2: Sample

The purposive sampling technique used to select sample for this study. The 20

male students were selected from various departments of University of the Punjab

Lahore.

2.3: Inclusion criteria

Students from age 20 to 30 years were included

Those students who have interest in music were selected

The students who listened music at least 30 to 90 minutes in a day

Graduate and master level students were included

2.4: Exclusion criteria

M.Phil and PHD students were not included

Singers were also not selected for this study

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Those students who play some musical instruments were excluded from

the experiment

2.5: Operational definitions of variables

Music

In this study the music mean an instrumental classical relaxing track having

duration of 10 minutes which is used in experiment.

Anxiety

Score of participants on DAAS scale, which is used to measure anxiety.

Stress

Score of participants on DAAS scale which is also used to measure stress.

2.6: Assessment Measure

The DASS is a set of three self-report scales designed to measure the symptoms

of depression, anxiety and stress (Psychology Foundation of Australia, 2002). Each of the

three DASS scales contains 14 items. None of the items on the DASS refer to suicidal

tendencies.

Individuals are asked to rate the extent to which they have experienced symptoms

of depression, anxiety and stress over the past week using a 4-point severity/frequency

scale (Psychology Foundation of Australia, 2002). In addition to the 42-item DASS, a

short version, the DASS21 is available. The DASS21 has 7 items per scale.

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2.4: Ethical Considerations

Permission will be sorted by all the research participants.

Care will be given to the research participants about sensitive questions. Option will

be given to them, either they answered the sensitive questions, or they can skip

them.

Psychological counselling will be offered in case of distress or emergency.

Procedure

For this research an authority letter was attained from the institute of applied

psychology university of the Punjab Lahore. The letter authenticated the researcher’s

identity and topic of the research. This authority letter was presented to participants of

this research. The researcher identified the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The

researcher met participants personally. The researcher assured the participants about

the full confidentiality of all the information obtained from them. The participants

assured to have no physical or psychological harm. The purpose of the research was

explained to them. Their consent was taken. After 30 minutes when participants

started to show symptoms of stress and anxiety a DAAS scale questionnaire was

given to the participants to measure their stress and anxiety level. Then an

instrumental relaxing classical track of 10 minutes was played before participants.

After listening the track the participants were given ten minutes to take rest. Then the

same questionnaire was given and the stress and anxiety of the participants were

measured again.

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Chapter III

Results

The results of the current research are presented for effects of classical

music on anxiety and stress in male students. Reverse coding of the relevant items

on DAAS scale was done to attain homogeneity among obtained scores.

The data was analyzed in three steps. In the first phase missing values

were replaced by mean for each of the variables.

In the second step frequency distribution of demographic data and

descriptive statistics were computed for music, anxiety and stress. Paired sample

t-test was generated to assess the effects of music on stress and anxiety.

Reliability Analysis

The reliability analysis for assessment measure was calculated. The internal

consistency for DAAS was measured by Cronbach’s alpha as .67 was found to be

acceptable.

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Table I

Descriptives of demographics and study variables (N=20)

Variables Mean SD

Age 22.22 1.47

Education (%)

14 years (graduation) 14 70

16 years (master) 06 30

Anxiety 15.57 7.99

Before music 16.85 8.34

After music 14.30 7.61

Stress 20.94 3.74

Before music 21.25 3.87

After music 20.65 3.67

Note: Education (14 years=1; 16 years=2); Anxiety (before=1; after=2); Stress (before=1;

after=2)

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Table II

Results of t-test and descriptive statistics for effects of classical music on stress and anxiety.

Before Music After Music 95% CI for Mean Difference

Outcome M SD M SD n t df Sig

38.10 9.78 34.95 8.98 20 3.15 1.66 19 .113

Note: Education (14 years=1; 16 years=2); Anxiety (before=1; after=2); Stress (before=1;

after=2)

The paired sample t-test analysis in table II revealed that mean anxiety and stress

differs before music (M=38.10, SD= 9.78) and after music (M=34.95, SD=8.98) but this

difference was statistically non-significant at the .05 level of significance (t= 1.66, df=

19, p .05, mean difference= 3.15).

The upper results showed that the mean difference of anxiety and stress before

music and after music was not significant but it was due to chance.

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Chapter IV

Discussion

The present study was aimed to investigate the effects of classical music on stress

and anxiety in students. This was an experimental study in which pre-post within group

design was used. The DAAS (Lovibond and Lovibond1995) scale was used to measure

study variables. It was hypothesized that classical music would decrease stress and

anxiety level in students. The Paired sample t-test results shown that classical music did

not decrease stress and anxiety level in students significantly. There was a mean

difference between before and after music but this was not significant. So it was

concluded that mean difference was due to chance. It was not the effect of music.

The paired sample t-test was also generated to examine stress and anxiety

separately. The results were also non-significant for stress and also for anxiety. The mean

difference for anxiety was larger than stress but this was also statistically non-significant.

On the basis of previous literature it was hypothesized that classical music would

decrease the stress and anxiety in students. In contrast to previous literature presented by

(Sloboda, 1996) that people expect classical music to be change agent in the sense that it

will alter their psychological state and relax them when they are anxious and stressed, the

upper results shown that classical music did not change psychological state of students

and did not make them relax when they were anxious and stressed.

Similarly another explanation was given by Sutton and De Baker, 2009 that

classical music reduces stress in individuals and enhance their psychological strategies to

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manage tension and minimize distress. But this finding suggested that classical music did

not reduce stress level of students.

In addition to this a survey of information offered t parents about benefits of

music in parenting magazines showed that the role of classical music in reducing stress or

changing mood was most frequently mentioned. A long list of researchers and authors in

education psychology and therapy who published their studies on music as a stress

reducer for children between 1999 and 2005. (Sims and Udtaisuk, 2008). But findings

from present study also opposed above mentioned statement.

Similarly the theory given by Chikahisa, 2006 that classical music act as an

anxiolytic treatment, so that experience of anxiety is prevented or reduced. The present

study also violated the Chikahisa’s theory that classical music act as a reducer of anxiety.

In this study the results were opposite to this theory.

The current findings are consistent with previous literature presented by Knight

and Rickard, 2001 that it is an oversimplified view to assume that people respond

similarly to music. Responses to music are based on factors such as familiarity,

preference, current mood, music training and some sociocultural factors also contribute to

this.

The results from this study did not support previous literature because the music

played to the participants was not of their choice, it was chosen by the researcher. The

responses to music based on many factors. The most important factor could be the choice

of music. The other important factor behind this could be the familiarity of the music.

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Another research finding which justifies the assumption was presented by Clark, 2006

that listening to self-selected music lowers anxiety and treatment related stress.

Similarly the theory of Gregory and Varney, 1996 that affective response to music

depends on cultural tradition than on inherent qualities of the music also justified the non-

significant results of the current study to the previous literature.

Fukui and Yamashita, 2003 stated that preferred music was an important factor in

determining music that is considered relaxing. This theory was another justification of the

findings of current study that opposed to the previous literature.

Results of current study found that all type of music or all type of classical music

without the choice of people did not alter the psychological state of people when they

were in anxious or in stressful situations. On the basis of literature and results from this

study it is concluded that the classical music has its effects on stress and anxiety but it

depends on the choice of music by the people. It also depends on cultural traditions,

current mood of the people and also the familiarity of that music.

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Acknowledgement

I at first bow my head before Allah Almighty who bestowed his countless

blessings upon me, guided me towards the way of success, and blessed me with courage

of facing problems, and obstacles that enable me to accomplish this research.

I am extremely thankful and grateful to Dr. Naumana Amjad who helped me in all

stages of completion of this research in true sense. This research would not have been

possible without her encouragement and help.

I would also like to thank Ms Mahwish Idrees who helped me a lot in data entry

of this research and guided me in all problems regarding SPSS.

Last but not least I am very thankful to library and computer lab staff and all

existing staff of this department.