Music while Driving

Mr. Sasabe (G7) wrote:

I got caught speeding twice in my life and both of the times it was because I was listening to the music in my car and did not realize how fast I was going. Maybe it's all about the "training" that Dr. James has been talking about, but when my favorite music comes out, I just lose myself! On a different day, I was driving and realized that music was off. It was a bit of surprise because I was so calm and relaxed that it was almost like I was meditating. So I recommend that you guys sometimes stop listening to the music in your car. It's really different!

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Cris Burlem (G7) wrote:

I have been in the drivers frustration seat many a time as many of us have. My solution to claming down is actually the opposite. I find that by turning off the radio I am able to relax when I am in an uptight mood to begin with. I find that turning off the radio helps me concentrate on the road and what is going on. It is at these times that I think music actually irritates me?!?

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Mr. Sasabe is inferring causality from just one correlation, his speeding behavior and listening to music. There could have been other confounding variables involved, such as his urgency to reach a destination in both instances that he received the speeding tickets. It is probably more likely that he simply is unaware of his speeding most of time and blaming the music is easier than blaming his own reckless tendencies to speed. He states that no music, or turning off the radio, has a calming affect on his temperament. He didn't say he wasn't speeding without the music, just that he was more relaxed. Cris Burlem's solution to frustration is turning off the stereo as well. He says music tends to irritate him more when he tries to concentrate on driving. Some individuals need silence in order to focus, in activities like driving or studying, because noise and distractions impede her/his ability to think clearly and attend to the task.

Mr. Miyoshi (G7) wrote:

This is also something that I have been thinking about while taking this class. Does rock music make us more aggressive and slow methodical music make us a better driver. It is interesting because rock music makes our hearts beat faster and that might get our adrenaline flowing and made us lose some of our senses. Just a thought for everyone to think about. I know what Akira is talking about. Once in a while someone turns off the music in my car before I get in and when I realize that it is off it suprises me. I find myself almost in a meditative state when the radio is off. I am more calm and am able to control my feelings more! I think that this could work both ways. I think that if you listen to a station that you don't like but doesn't show views that you are strongly against or go totally against your values then this will work. If you just don't like the Dj's or music then thats fine. However if you listen to a station that gets you upset and deals with touchy situations or points then you could get more agressive on the road and other things that drivers do may upset you more. I think I will have to try this before I give a difinite answer.

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Mr. Miyoshi is also placing the blame of aggressive driving on the music. I can see how fast beats and loud tones can raise levels of adrenaline if the music affects the individual in that way, but rock music doesn't create such a forceful impact on people who are not stimulated by it. He makes an important point about the individual's interaction with music, however, when he discusses the affect of certain songs or music that deals with touchy subjects or content. The impact of the music lies in its power to elicit a response from the listener because the listener is assigning some type of personal emotion to the music or its message. Altering state of mind requires more than just a passive flow of music into the senses, the person has to translate it and create the alteration.

Mr. Shintani (G7) wrote:

I really think that music has an effect on the way a person drives. When I want to drive fast I play a CD that has a powerful or past beat. My favorite is the Top Gun sound track. If I want to relax while driving I would put in a mellow CD like Kalapana or some type of soft rock. I dont listen to rap so I dont know the effects of listening to this type of music. I really think that some music causes bad driving behavior than others. I can see people being more aggressive after listening to heavy metal then to classical music. I has been proven in studies that playing of classical music in malls helps to reduce the amount to violence in metal than to clasical music. I has been proven in studies that playing of classical music in malls helps to reduce the amount to violence in these malls. I do this in two ways by mellowing or relaxing people and by staying away from a certain section of the community that causes a lot of the crimes.

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Mr. Shintani makes the same mistake of inferring causality when he attributes bad driving to some types of music. He relates violence to heavy metal music--a biased opinion no doubt--and leaves me with the impression that he believes people who listen to classical music are not violent and criminals are metal maniacs. It is an amusing assumption because it shows how people love to use scapegoat excuses for violence and aggression. It makes me visualize a person blaming her/his tendency to hit a child on the background music playing in the house. It is the abuser doing the hitting and the bad driver doing the bad driving. The individual should always be in control of her/his behavior.

Web visitor Brian Haimerman wrote by e-mail: (November 1997)

I want to thank Dr. James & Mr. Shintani for the feedback. At this time I am taking a History of Rock and Roll class and am learning of the effect that rock music has in our psyche. We are basically talking about how we listen to music. The Affective, Cognitive, Psycho-motor, and Transpersonal. It is almost like a psychology class. So far like I said in my last message, music does affect our psycho-physical. The loudness and the beat play the biggest part. It has a direct effect on our hearts. Notice why younger people like loud beating music. It is because it causes our heart beats to go faster and our blood pressure to rise. For us it is enjoyable but for older people it is a big no no! The more I learn the more I'll tell you about it!

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Kristin Evert (G7) wrote:

After reading the little excerpt about music and driving behavior I really started to think about myself and my own driving. If all of this is right, I should technically be a VERY aggressive, speeding maniac on the road, because when I drive I like my music loud and usually fast-paced and "singable" (meaning I can sing along). Although I am no Ms. Perfection, I am more often times getting passed than doing the passing, as I usually try to stay no more than 10 mph over the speed limit. On the other hand, however, I could see how slow sappy music could make me sleepy, even if I like the song. Hmmm...

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Brian Haimerman discusses the significance of music and the psychophysical. He states that the loudness and the beat cause the heart rate to increase and the blood pressure to rise. The affect is the volume, not just the beat. This makes sense to me because when I listen to Luciano Pavarotti or other opera music at a high volume in the car it elicit that same energetic, excitatory feeling G7 is equating with rock music. Classical music can also creates that rise in blood pressure because the beats and loudness can be intense; an example is Beethoven's "Ode to Joy". Generalizing aggression to rock and the lack of to classical is not valid. Kristin Evert illustrates the flaws in generalizing about volume and fast past music too, when she writes about her disbelief that her choice in loud, fast music makes her a VERY aggressive driver. This proves again that it really depends on how the individual reacts to the music.

Web visitor Mary Ford wrote by e-mail (November 1997):

After reading your site, I've realized that I've become much more aggressive in my personality as I've gotten older. Is this a normal phenomena? By more aggressive, I mean I speak up and assert myself; and in the car -- well I've never got a ticket, but I do admit, I swear -- not good. I was aware of my tension in the car, so for several years now, I've used a melodious tape to mellow myself out when I'm driving -- Rain Melody, beautiful flute music, Ghandharva Veda music (supposed to bring harmony into the atmosphere). It seems to work for me.

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Tami Hshimoto (G7) wrote:

I just wanted to respond to marshall's message on how music affects my driving. When I'm driving, music makes me relaxed and clam. Ifeel that when I'm driving in traffic the music that I listen to helps me to feel less anxious and fustrated. I'm able to tolerate more unsafe drivers by letting them get a head of me. Music is an awesome way to relax when I'm driving.

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Mary Ford listens to flute and environmental music to calm her nerves when she drives. It may work for her because of the psycho-physiological factors stated by Brian Haimerman above, or because she simply enjoys this type of music and it helps her to create peaceful thoughts and emotions while driving instead of focusing on the perceived bad driving behaviors of others. Tami Hshimoto does not make any reference to the type of music she listens to, except that it helps her tolerate other drivers. Through music, she can take her mind of the bad thoughts about unsafe drivers in traffic and replace them with tranquil thoughts.

Wilfred Lee (G7) wrote last semester:

I definitely agree that music has a role in how you drive. Fast music, and loud music, makes you more excited, and makes your heart pump faster. In turn making you drive faster. Slow music relaxes you and you get more mellow. If you dont believe it, then ever tried driving really fast with classical music. It just doesn't work. maybe the solution is to make everyone listen to classical music. I did hear an interesting fact, babies in the womb become calm children when mothers listen to classical music. Maybe classical music is our solution???? I'm a townie so I consider myself fortunate. I live in Kahala so I drive for 5 minutes and get to school. I often ask my friend that has to drive from Pearl City to get to school by 8 how he does it. He just says he has to deal with it and has accepted it as part of his life. What i did to try to alleviate his road rage is make a tape of his favorite songs. My theory is when he listens to his favorite songs then he doesn't notice the traffic as much, and time passes by more quickly. I sing (sometimes) in the car. That makes the time fly by faster. I also enjoy it and it takes my mind off the congested road. Could this be a possible solution for the commuters to school?

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Wilfred Lee has a theory about relieving road rage that I have actually applied to my daily commute into UH every morning. He made his friend a tape of his favorite songs so that he could take his mind off of the traffic and the commuting time. Usually what I do is throw in a CD with a lot of songs that I like, or that I can listen to at least twice, because I know that once I've listened to it at least once I am almost at UH (that North Shore commute is wild and exhausting). I am able drive with ease and patience.

I have always loved listening to music in the car. My parents always had the radio on when they drove and I enjoyed their diverse taste in music. The thing that used to frustrate my parents was the noise my brothers and me created, not the music. They would sometimes turn the volume up on the radio to settle us down--usually a failed attempt to combat our shouting. Their choice in music and content varied sometimes Oldies or AM broadcasting of Dodger games, but usually a mix of top 40 stuff. Winning co-pilot dibs against my brothers meant control of the radio (my parents were patient and didn't mind giving up control of the music most of the time). I used to get frustrated when I couldn't find songs I liked on the radio. I've grown to hate switching stations and prefer to use CD's for longer drives.

I have to be in the mood for the type of music that comes blaring out of the stereo or else the drive is unpleasant. It doesn't matter what genre of music it is as long as it is something I feel like listening to that day or during that trip. Sometimes it is Rage Against the Machine, sometimes it is the Chemical Brothers, sometimes it is Björk, sometimes it is Ella Fitzgerald or Louis Armstrong, sometimes it is Pavarotti or Sinatra, sometimes it is Jimmy Hendrix or the Doors·. My list could fill up this entire report. My point is that I can't attribute my actions on the road directly to what I pop in the CD player, but I do believe that as long as I'm enjoying it my experience is fine. Again I want to state that I believe the affect of music is entirely a unique experience and it is dependent upon the individual's response at that time to the music and not the music itself.

I still listen to music at the same volume level I did when I was in high school, so my tolerance for noise level hasn't changed much. I have had to make some adjustments over the past three years, because now I share the radio with my husband. Compromise and patience have helped me through a lot of road trips! After reflecting on my history with music in cars, I can only think of one reason why I experience a bit of negative feelings on the road. When I drive in a car with no radio, I feel like something is missing. Silence is wonderful; I'm just not accustomed to it in the car. I don't feel the meditative state that some G7 students experienced. I hear my thoughts--yes--but I hear those with music too. I can deal with the lack of music, though, by taking advantage of the time to organize my plans for the day and take mental notes of what I need to do. I think it would be difficult for me to give up the luxury of having a stereo in the car, hopefully I'll never have too. Music is very important to me because I am affected by it in general. It is part of my memories and part of my daily life.

I try to be attentive and responsible when I drive, and I don't believe a specific type of music aids in the process of better driving habits. Driving skills take practice and knowledge about safe driving, not classical tunes. The therapeutic qualities of music apply here, but it may only be part of the entire process of becoming a good driver. There is definitely no harm in listening to whatever music a person believes calms the tension or aggression she/he experiences when driving. My concern is that these individuals could easily fall into the trap of ignoring other possible reasons for bad driving that are irrelevant to music.

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Usenet and Web Search

 Music Therapy Resource Page

This is a wonderful resource site to begin exploring different topics, searches, and related links to Music therapy. It includes National Sites on Music therapy, Music therapy schools, personal WebPages, and Web search results.

Musical Journeys LLC

Musical Journey LLC offers high quality relaxation exercises designed by music therapists to teach people relaxation techniques, while accompanied by soothing music composed at a resting heart rate· All products and services are research based and supported by the medical community.

The website offered products like the one listed above as part of a music therapy technique that could be applied in different settings and used by anyone who needed to find ways to relax. For those who enjoy soothing music and meditative states while driving, this could be a stress relieving approach to commuting.

 American Music Therapy Association

How is music therapy utilized in hospitals?

Music is used in general hospitals to: ·: elevate patients' mood and counteract depression; promote movement for physical rehabilitation; calm or sedate, often to induce sleep; counteract apprehension or fear; and lesson muscle tension for the purpose of relaxation, including the autonomic nervous system.

How is music therapy utilized in psychiatric facilities?

Music therapy allows persons with mental health needs to: explore personal feelings, make positive changes in mood and emotional states, have a sense of control over life through successful experiences, practice problem solving, and resolve conflicts leading to stronger family and peer relationships.

The purpose of music therapy is to assist the individual with cognitive and physical stress or pain. It works as a means to finding inner strength, control, and harmony. The goal of music therapy is to help people find the music and therapeutic techniques that suits her/him and to utilize the positive affects that the music can elicit to achieve balance. In driving situations, finding the right kind of music and reaping the benefits of the enjoyment is the therapy.

Music Perception: Online journal

Music Perception publishes original empirical and theoretical papers, methodological articles and critical reviews from scientists and musicians studying musical phenomena. The broad range of disciplines covered includes psychology, psychophysics, linguistics, neurology, neurophysiology, artificial intelligence, computer technology, physical and architectural acoustics, and music theory.

The online journal is a good resource bookmark because it is an academic journal that publishes current research that pertains to psychology and music.

Other related sites

Music Therapy listserv

Psychology and Music hits at Yahoo

Music Research Newsgroup

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Online Generational Curriculum

Ishikawa G8/459

 
"Therefore, if a person does not like classical music, but always listens to rap music, when they listen to classical music they may be more aggressive because they don't like that type of music, thus they may feel more aggitated. Therefore, I strongly believe that our behavior also depends on if we like or dislike the music, not only the type of music being played."

Ishikawa discusses the significance of individuality. This was one of my arguments in regard to students in G7 who over generalized the affect of certain types of music on all individuals. Our preferences for music and the responses we hope to get from our choices are two reasons that motivate us to choose them initially. If I am forced to listen to music that I don't want to hear at that particular time, I usually just tune it out.

Grace Lumabao G8/459

"What matters is how you react, whether it's positively or negatively. As long as you are put into a positive mood, the kind of music you listen to isn't important. I agree with this idea, each person feels about the music. His idea is that it doesn't matter what type of music you listen to."

Grace is commenting on a Deja News posting. She reinforces the point I made earlier in this report concerning the importance of an individual's internalization of the sounds and content of music. Reactions to music involve interpretation by our senses and our thoughts.

Robert Nakagawa G8/459

" When I drive without music I find I am able to concentrate and think about a lot of other things.  I actually get more done mentally which makes it more worth while to drive.  What I mean by that is that if I have an exam coming up I can focus on it and let theories or concepts just flow and this is when I find out what I do not quite understand."

Here Robert is explaining the benefits of driving in silence. I stated earlier that certain people need silence in order to focus and get a grip on tasks. Robert is an example of someone who prefers to use driving time to organize his thoughts and doesn't mind the absence of music. I, on the other hand, need music in the car because it keeps in tune with my thoughts.

"I feel that there are many reasons people may drive aggressively due to their mood, music, weather, time of day, level of conciousness, or whether they are in a hurry or not all makes a difference."

Robert makes some excellent observations about the complexity of assigning the blame of aggressive or bad driving on just one reason. (Is aggressive always equated with bad? --I don't think it should be, but that is an entirely different subject) On a personal note, weather seems to affect my temperament and level of activity more so than music does. I absolutely despise excessive heat, so on hot days I am crankier than usual and I don't feel like leaving any place that has air conditioning. Oh, I remember this one time that I was stuck on the freeway, in afternoon traffic, and I didn't have enough gas to crank up the air conditioning. I suffered in the heat for about an hour and a half. I wanted to run everyone over that day--this is pretty extreme for me because I am a pretty mellow person. Ahh· my physical and mental tolerance for the heat! I can't remember what I was listening to that day, but I sure remember how hot it was in my car.

Generation 8 has several more reports on the affects of music on driving. Don't forget to check them out!

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Rothe Text Book

Irene Lau G8/459

"In one section the author expressed his concerns about accidents and accidents on the road. The author suggested that accidents can be related to "sound". "Sound is a disturbance that propagates in an elastic medium. Sound can be described objectively by frequency and amplitude. Related to sound is the concept of noise. Noise is an unwanted sound" (Rothe, p.46)."

I never really made the distinction between sound and noise before reading this excerpt. If noise is an unwanted sound, then I hear a lot of noise everyday and all day. If there are too many passengers talking all at once, I get annoyed and it distracts me because I keep thinking about how to make people take turns instead of shouting. Noise, its intensity and amount, could become the cause of a car accident in this case because my focus is not the road. My solution to this dilemma is to tune out the noise or find some way to reduce it if possible.

"·However, a large number of crashes result from in-car activities or driver mood. A theme worth stressing is that inattention to the road arising from passengers, loud music, mental pressure or psychological escape, can lead to serious mishaps" (Rothe, p.146).

All drivers get distracted or drive when she/he has a million and one things on her/his mind. The reason why the inattention leads to car accidents is because the driver lets the distraction(s), like music, interfere with her/his ability to handle traffic or drive safely. Someone who is aware of what is going on around them on the road (i.e. road conditions, the flow of traffic ahead and behind, other drivers' behavior) can listen to loud music or think about an exam while driving because they are attending to many things at once, and with the appropriate amount of attention.

G9Homepage--links to Rothe Text Summaries

Rothe: Irene Barrineua Chapter 3

"Actual intention is when drivers decide to engage in a certain action, being fully aware of why they are doing it and what the possible consequences are. Virtual Intention involves intentions while driving that continue the influence driving behavior but these intentions may not be constantly thought of on a conscious level. Habitual intention is when drivers engage in action that are now done out of habit and intentions are made out of comfort and convenience. An interpretive intention is one that comes on later and was not made originally due to circumstances that may arise."

The concept of virtual intention is interesting in relation to music and driving because some individuals may listen to music that stimulates aggressive or reckless emotions without consciously acknowledging that the sound is influencing her/his driving experience. Actual intentions of choosing music, or the lack of, that the driver can enjoy and interact with emotionally and physically on a therapeutic or entertaining level is what the driver should practice. This is what I was referring to when I said that drivers should take control of their actions and stop using scapegoat excuses for bad driving habits--for example, hard rock or rap makes me push the speed limit.

Wing Kwong G9

"Rothe says that drivers have learned to speed as a normal social behavior despite the threat of sanctions being held over them. In other words, speeding is a social norm."

So true is this statement in my opinion, because I honestly believe that all drivers speed. Speeding has become acceptable and abiding speed limit laws has become the deviation from the norm. Speeding is not something that can be completely linked to music playing in the car. It is more closely related to our adaptation to this social norm of speeding. Drivers are conforming to this norm despite their understanding about safety and laws. So working on deviating from the speed norm in conjunction with finding the right kind of music may be one solution to modifying driver behavior.

 Rothe, Peter J. (1994) Beyond Traffic Safety, New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

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ERIC and Uncover Databases

Uncover Results

**I used the keywords: music, emotion, psychological, effects, therapy**

Gregory, Andrew H. Worrall, Lisa Sarge, Ann. (1996, December). The Development of Emotional Responses to Music in Young Children. Motivation and Emotion, 20, (4) 341.

Johnson, Susan M. (1998, July/August). Listening to the Music: Emotion as a Natural Part of Systems Theory. Journal of Systemic Therapies, 17, 2 1.

Madell, Geoffrey. (1996, January). What Music Teaches about Emotion. Philosophy; The Journal of the Royal Institute, 71, (275) 63.

Robinson, Jenefer. (1994, Winter). The Expression and Arousal of Emotion in Music. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 52, (1) 13.

Spychiger, Maria B. (1995, Winter). Rationales for Music Education: A View from the Psychology of Emotion. The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 29, (4) 53.

Water, Lindsay. (1998, July/August). In Responses Begins Responsibility: Music and Emotion. Boundary 2, 25, (2) 95.

Wigram, Tony. (1995). The Psychological and Physiological Effects of Low Frequency Sound and Music. Music Therapy Perspectives, 13, (1) 16.

ERIC

#631ED391114.

Lehtonen, Kimmo, & Shaughnessy, Michael F. Music as a Treatment Channel of Adolescent Destructivity.

ABSTRACT: A young person showing strong destructive symptoms often has too much hatred toward adults, other authorities, and society for the "voice of reason" to penetrate or reach some fixed point in his or her psyche. Music, however, activates emotions raising problems of the real field of life to be dealt with in symbolic form. This paper discusses the theory and practice of music therapy in the treatment of institutionalized adolescents.

#582EJ487219.

Taylor, Jack A. (1993, July/August). The Evolution and Future of Cognitive Research in Music. Arts Education Policy Review, 94, (6) 35-39.

ABSTRACT: Discusses the evolution and current status of cognitive research in music. Identifies the field's five research branches: (1) sensation; (2) perception; (3) concept formation and memory; (4) affect or emotions; and (5) psychomotor activity. Recommends five changes forthe future of cognitive musicology. (CFR)

#589ED067587.

Scherer, Klaus R. (1972). Acoustic Concomitants of Emotional Dimensions: Judging Affect from Synthesized Tone Sequences.

ABSTRACT: This study suggested a rapproachement between studies on emotional expression in speech and the psychological investigation of emotion in music, with interesting implications concerning speculations on the common origin of music and speech in primitive emotional displays of our prehistoric ancestors. (Author/BW)

#625ED225883.

Marshall, O. W.; Tomcala, Maryjane. Effects of Different Genres of Music on Stress Levels. . COMMENTS: 13p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association (89th, Los Angeles, CA, August 1981).

ABSTRACT: The response of patients with stress problems to one of five music genres during biofeedback training is measured. Results indicate no difference in stress reduction among the various types of music. The authors are currently engaged in a second study in which all subjects will receive all five treatments. (KC)

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G10/409a Comparisons

Jeffrey Takiue

Jeffrey uses a very clean and concise style in his report. The text and organization of the information is easy to read. He makes good use of his screen space. He doesn't include a lot of interpretive or opinionated evaluations of the material, but his understanding of the material is evident in the summaries and comments that he does share. He has some cool links to web music sites that I enjoyed--Thanks!

Stephen Weers

Stephen uses humor and personal input to relate the material to his own life and understanding of the topics. He makes honest comparisons with fellow student reports and gives some excellent tips for future generations.

I think that these two reports are good examples of how personal style and unique approaches to assignments are valuable.

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Conclusion

 I think that future generations could use the report as a starting point to explore many of the issues raised by G7/459 and G8/459 students in this report. Hopefully I have added to the comments in new ways that will create more discussion and expansion of the topic. My search on the Net was not as successful as my search on the Library databases. I think that this is partially due to my experience of searching library catalogs and the novelty of the Net (to me anyway). Psychology 459 focuses on driving topics, while Psychology 409a is centered on learning the Net and the psychology behind this process. I decided to choose this topic because it interested me and I thought I could gain an understanding of music in the context of driving. I have, but I think the more important gain I have made is the process by which I had to go through in order to complete this report. It has given me the skills to write and organize information in a new medium; as well as integrate prior research with my own.

I approached the report following the sequential order of the directions. I recommend that future generations look through the other generational reports first, and then proceed to comment on the e-mail postings. I found that I shared a lot of ideas and similar comments, so knowing what has already been said helps because then you can give a new perspective. An actual experiment with a daily journal or personal log of your music and driving experiences throughout the semester might be fun. **Find a balance between creativity and organization, because too much attention to one means you'll be sacrificing the other. Have a good semester, and remember to enjoy the sounds of music.

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