Research Memo #3

As you have probably heard if you listen to Rap and Hip Hop or maybe even the radio, new-comer rapper “Tyler, The Creator” makes it evident that he is not afraid to say explicit words, make sexual remarks, and threaten celebrities. In this new hit song off of his new album “Goblin”, from the very first line, you find out just what his “message” is. “I’m a f**kin’ walkin’ paradox, no I’m not, t**eesomes with a f**kin’ triceratops”. In this very first line of the song, he curses twice, and makes a sexual reference. Does this type of language and attitude affect our teenager’s minds and academic grades?

                According to my research, it does not affect academic achievement. After plenty of time of surveys and accessing articles, the conclusion was established that violent and explicit music affects a teenager’s moods and thoughts, and not their actions, which their actions are traced into their grades.

                On almost the opposite side of music is Nirvana’s infamous and controversial song, “Rape Me”. This song contains no explicit language, but does have a supposedly violent message to it. When “Rape Me” came out in 1994 off of Nirvana’s third and final album, “In Utero”, many anti-rape associations and media immediately criticized it, saying it encouraged raping. Even though the lyrics directly said “Rape me, rape me, my friend”, Kurt Cobain almost meant it in a sarcastic way representing a story he had heard of about a girl named Polly who was raped after a grunge concert. 

Research Memo #2

Research Memo #2

As progress continues to be made on my research, I came across two somewhat contradicting articles. One was called “The effects of censored and uncensored sexually explicit music on sexual attitudes and perceptions of sexual activity”; this information was gathered by the American Psychological Association. The other was called “Implicit and Explicit Consequences of Exposure to Violent and Misogynous Rap Music” by Laurie Rudman and Matthew Lee. These were very interesting articles, and have seriously added to my research.

            The article titled: “The effects of censored and uncensored sexually explicit music on sexual attitudes and perceptions of sexual activity” basically proved through an experiment that listening to sexual music does not affect a student’s sexual activity. The lyrics did not at all have a significant impact on the subject’s attitude towards sexual activity or degrading the opposite sex. This helps prove my theory that violent and explicit music does not affect a student’s grades because it does not change their outlook.

            The second article titled:  “Implicit and Explicit Consequences of Exposure to Violent and Misogynous Rap Music” proved against my theory by proving that listening to violent rap increases a person’s stereotypical views of different races. This might be just more valid because there were two experiments performed. However, this is one’s thoughts, not their actions which leads to one achieving good academic grades.

            Both of these articles are interesting, and are from valid sources. I have learned from both of them and adapted my view of the correlation between music and someone’s feelings, attitudes, actions, and grades.

Research Memo #1

Research Memo #1

Hypothesis:

Explicit and violent music is something that most teenagers listen to on a regular basis. Society however, looks down on this type of music as "bad". Does this type of music affect a teenager's academic performance in the sense of school grades? My hypothesis is that violent and explicit music does not affect a teenager's grades, but it is possible for it to affect their mood.

 

Context:

According to the survey I have conducted, violent and explicit music is widely listened to, and strong opinions are found towards music and grades.

 

Results:

 

 

	Yes	No	Unsure
Do you believe you listen to violent music?	80%	20%	0%
Do you believe you listen to explicit music?	90%	10%	0%
Do you listen to any of the following artists? -Eminem, Jay-Z -Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails -Bring Me the Horizon, Miss May I	100%	0%	0%
Do you find what you consider to be violent and explicit music mood-affecting?	40%	30%	30%
Do you believe violent and explicit music affects your academic achievement?	0%	100%	0%

Data Analysis:

The respondent's opinions of my survey agreed with my hypothesis. 100% said they listened to violent and explicit music and believed it did not affect their academic achievement. This can possibly be flawed because all of the respondents so far were Early College students; so therefore, they had higher grades than a regular high school on average. 50% of respondents found violent and explicit music not be mood affecting, while 20% found it mood affecting.

 

Follow Up:

According to my research so far, violent and explicit music does not affect teenager's grades in one specific high school and it can affect one's mood, but not one's actions.

 

Conclusion:

My hypothesis is correct from the research that's been done so far. However, there's a lot more to be accomplished. Violent and explicit music is listened to from the majority of teenagers, and they find it not to have the ability to affect their grades and moods. Music can be "good" for the brain; this is called the Mozart Effect, which is someone who listens Mozart and finds advancement in certain forms of intelligence.  However, this intelligence can be hard to track because there are so many forms of intelligence. At Wiley-Blackwell College, they found that 51% of surgeons who listened to music while they were performing surgery found it distracting. But the question is does a teenager find violent and explicit music so distracting that their grades lower, even while they are not listening to it in class? The American Psychological Association did a study with undergraduate students and music with sexual activity present in the lyrics. There was no change to the amount of sexual activity, peer sexual activity, or attitude towards a different gender, which supports my hypothesis that violent and explicit music does not affect one's behavior.

 

 

Literature Review and Research

http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/edu/98/2/457/

This website talks about a long-term correlation between the duration of music lessons and positive IQ. However, there was no correlation between school subjects and music lessons.

http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED388615&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED388615

Music and math can be very harmonious, according to the Education Resources Information Center. There are proportions and patterns in math, as there is in music.

http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/jmp/21/2/60/

This was a study done by the American Psychological Association. The study involved undergraduate students and music with sexual activity present in the lyrics. This was to see if there was an effect on the student’s sexual activity or attitude. This part of the student’s life was never affected by the music.

http://gpi.sagepub.com/content/5/2/133.short

Rutgers University exposed subjects to violent rap music in an experiment to see if it changed their opinion on things like race and stereotypes. The experiment showed after listening to the violent rap music, stereotypes were found to be more believed by the subjects, which was predicted in the hypothesis.

What I Want To Know About My Topic

I want to find out whether there is a correlation between the music someone listens to and their academic achievemnt. How is music related to teen's grades? Why is explicit and violent music looked at negatively by society as a whole? Should teens be restricted from violent music if there's a negative affect? What if music has a good affect on teen's grades? regardless  of explicit language. Which genre of music has the greatest effect on teen's grades? I'd like to see the answers to these questions, and I hope to discover the answers through my research.

What Motivated Me To Write About My Topic

“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” These are wise words from one of Reggae’s most popular artists, Bob Marley. This is very true, as many music listeners use it to relax, sleep, wake up, exercise, and get pumped up. As people use music for these purposes, it’s evident music affects your behavior, including teenagers. However, what if explicit and/or violent music can be directly related and associated with a teenager’s grades? Society as a whole tends to look down on explicit and violent music as “not good for people”, now are they correct? And if there is a correlation between “bad” music and teenager’s grades, should actions be taken against this often unappreciated art? As myself being a musical artist, and sometimes actually listening to explicit and violent music, I would like to see if there is a correlation between two of the most important things in my life.