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Homero Trevino

Dr. Kevin Lindberg

English 1302

5/10/22

Side Effects of Music

Music is something that many people listen to daily, and different genres have different

effects on us. Where pop music makes us happy listening to breakup songs will make us feel

sorrow. Teresa Lesiuk, an associate professor of music education and music therapy says,

“People have positive experiences when listening to whatever kind of music they prefer and

listening to that music often produces mild positive moods.” Listening to music while at work

can provide a more positive mood and make people working determined to work but having no

music to listen to can have a negative side effect on the worker. With going to work and working

one shift with music and one shift without can help identify which one works best.    

     Positive Effects:

 Evidently, music is some people's escape from reality and even from work. Listening to

different types of music when employed influences how people will perform when working.

Performing at a place that does not allow their workers to listen to music can make employees

more focused on working but they will have little to no motivation at all. Working at a fast-food

restaurant which is always hectic and chaotic and having no music to listen to can have some

negative side effects. It can make workers less determined to go into work, make them act out

because of all the pressure, or even make them stressed and cause them to quit work. When

working at Whataburger and always being in a constant rush with no music affected the entire

mood of the shift. Being not motivated and having full attention to work drained the workers
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ambition and perseverance. “Music may also serve as an anxiolytic treatment, that is, an anxiety

preventative or anxiety-reducing measure,” says Lesiuk. In a study done by Tim Ringgold, an

M.T.B.C music therapist says, “Music can help mitigate these effects and help keep stress and

anxiety in check.”. It has been proven that music can boost chemicals into the brain to lighten up

the day and make people feel better. It can also make people more focused on the present rather

than the past or the future. When jamming out or dancing to music can relieve the stress that

work is placing on people. If managers have their employees listening to their music while at

work, it can make the work environment more positive. To have a good work environment to

boost morale, there need to be workers with a positive attitude coming into work. Some

managers might have their music playing in the store but, “Furthermore, individuals value their

own or ‘preferred music’ when considering the music that best relaxes them,” says Lesiuk. The

manager's relaxing music might make the workers become less focused and make them slow

down at work. Their own personal music can give the worker a sense of familiarity and produce

a positive effect on them to make them focused on working to their best potential. “Familiarity

with the music and discontinuous presentation was suggested as most effective in improving

performance, turnover intentions, organizational satisfaction, and mood states.” Says Lesiuk.

With music each genre has its effect on people, with pop songs can make people happy and more

determined, whereas others might have a negative reaction to it. The way people choose their

music to fit their liking can make them determine when doing anything. 

    Contrary to Lesiuk, listening to our music tends to brighten up our day. If one’s

managers let their employees listen to the music of their choice will make them more efficient.

Working at a restaurant can be more hectic than a fast-food job and listening to personal music

will make people more determined to work harder. According to Lesiuk and Ringgold said, other
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people’s music might have a different effect on others, but our personal music makes people

joyful.  “An analysis of listening habits such as music type selection, duration of listening, and

shifting from one music type to another revealed little relation to outcomes such as employees’

moods and productivity, job satisfaction and turnover intentions.” Says Lesiuk. It has been

studied that a worker who listens to their music makes the work environment more positive and

outgoing.

Having a good atmosphere at work decreases people's stress and releases serotonin to

make the workers more likely to stay in that job. “Listening to music can help combat some of

that loneliness-induced anxiety,” Ringgold says. If employers let their workers listen to their own

music it will more likely keep them working, there and have a positive effect on their mental

health overall. A work-life can have major side effects if the work environment does not promote

morale. If people are becoming depressed or do not have the will to go to work, they will

associate the work environment with something negative. When people want to avoid a negative

atmosphere, they will quit their job and cause the workplace to become understaffed. Music is a

form of expression to many people, with everyone having their own taste in music. Every genre

has its own effect on different types of people, with music being a universal language that many

people can relate to by just listening to the melody of the song. Music has been around for

thousands of years and has evolved a long way since then. From the early cavemen to Cardi B,

there has been a variety of different genres. Music now has a positive effect on people's mental

health and helps them in the darkest times in their life. Like Reddit user, “GermonattaLG” posted

a draft explaining how listening to Lady Gaga’s music saved their life during a hard time. Like in

2017, rapper logic released “1800-273-8255”, this number is for the suicide prevention hotline

“There was a corresponding increase in calls to the hotline, as well as a reduction in suicides an
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estimated 245.” said in the Washington Post.  As well as many other fans have come out and said

how other musicians have saved them in their darkest time.       

   Conclusion:

 Music has come a long way since cavemen invented it. Music is something that many

people listen to every day, and so many different genres make us feel different types of emotions.

Country music makes us bust a move while listening to a Spanish song will make us feel

emotional. During work, listening to music can put people in a more outgoing mood and make

them more motivated to stay working at their job. If there is a negative environment it will make

the workers less likely to go to work and maybe find a new and better job that will accommodate

them.
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References:

Benson, Thor. “You Listen to Music At Work, and It Alters Your Mind. Yes, Seriously.” Futurism.

April 9, 2018. https://futurism.com/affiliate-listening-music-work-alters-mind

Ferraro, Kathleen. “7 Ways Music Can Help Reduce Stress and Anxiety.” ASCAP.

September 10, 2021. https://www.ascap.com/help/wellness/7-ways-music-reduces-stress-

anxiety

[GermonattaLG], e. g. (Feb. 9, 2020). How Lady Gag’s music saved a life. [Online forum post].

Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/LadyGaga/comments/f1c8ix/lady_gaga_saved_my_life/

Lesiuk, Teresa. “The Effect of Music Listening on Work Performance.” Psychology of Music,

vol. 33, no. 2, 2005, pp. 173–191., doi:10.1177/0305735605050650.

Homero Trevino
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Dr. Kevin Lindberg

English 1302

2/17/22

Reflection 1

Something that I learned in English 1301 that I used in 1302 is how I use the quotations

and not to overuse them. With the quotations I used them when they were necessary and needed

them the most. In my UNIV class where we find misinformation became a big help when

looking up articles that were factual. When I was looking up articles that were going to back up

my findings I used “SIFT”, that means Stop, Investigate the source, Find trusted coverage, and

Trace it back to the source. With these techniques I was able to locate a peer-reviewed article

that can be trusted.

Something that I learned in English 1302 that I did not use in this essay is how the

communities all worked along one another. With this essay it was an informative where I talk

about the benefits of listening to music. While there were no mentions of any type of

communities on how they differentiate and are alike. In my Anatomy and Physiology class

where we talked about the endocrine system had nothing to deal with the benefits of music.

The way that music affects us can be used in in Psychology that deals with the way we

act. It has been tested that music has a positive effect on our daily mood and how it will change

how we think. With further research on music and its effect can better help the future.

Something I learned in this essay that I will use in another class is in math. Where this

essay I explained the importance of music and its overall effect has nothing to do with numbers.

Where the science in music can change over time, while numbers will stay the same forever

keeping the same formula.

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With this experiment and its outside research better improved my writing because it

thought me to use a variety of sources to find a common ground so I can have a better

understanding on the topics. With this I can become a better writer because with a variety of

sources my essay can be better understood and can be factual checked.

My writing strength as said from the comments are how I transition from one topic to

another; it is clean and neat. My weakness is that I ramble and repeat myself a lot. With the

repetition I try to make sure that I understand it while I should be focusing if the reader

understands it. My weakness and strength have only gotten better since 1301, as I continue to

write I learn from my mistakes and only get better from there.

The most challenging was having to keep the experiment up and running for a few days.

There were times where I did forget to do the experiment but as soon as I remembered I got right

on track with it. Like when I went into work on Feb 14, one of the busiest days of the year gave

me no time to start of the experiment for a second time. The least challenging was to keep track

of the type of music I listened to give a variety of different effects.