Milton E. Becknell, Michael W. Firmin, Chi-En Hwang, David M. Fleetwood, Kristie L.

Tate,

and Gregory D. Schwab. Effects of listening to heavy metal music on college women: a

pilot study. Project Innovation Austin LLC, 2008.

In this article, the authors argue that “…exposure to heavy metal music was

associated with physiological reactivity…,” (1). The authors conducted research to

understand the correlation between heavy metal music and women’s psychological being.

The researchers create two groups with three tests to run to gather data and find if their

hypothesis was correct or was it another psychological or physical aspect. The study

ultimately shows that the non-control group, the group that heard the heavy metal music,

had women who elicited a psychological response and data shows that there is a dramatic

change between the heavy metal music and the silence especially in the muscles.

Although the control group did not elicit much of a response to the music, it did help

provide a great insight on what might the women have experienced as part of the study

and what might be seen in future studies. The authors conclude that, “It is not clear why

the significant differences in reactivity were focused on the masseter muscles, but it may

have implications for female's relatively greater susceptibility to bruxism and

temporomandibular dysfunction (Rieder, Martinoff, & Wilcox, 1983)” (1). This is very

important because it will help me provide information and data on what might be seen as

music being able to help women better focus and have a good mental or physical

reaction.

Marion Simpson. Will listening to Mozart make you smarter? Marion Simpson investigates an
unusual exam aid. (Education). BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. 2002.
 In this article, Simpson argues that “…something as simple as listening to a

Mozart piano sonata might’ improve your aptitude for complex tasks,” (1). Simpson explains

why Mozart was chosen for the study and what led to the misconception and controversy of such

study. The misconceptions that Simpson often talked about was the study, “…Misleading to

translate their subjects; scores on the spatial reasoning tasks into IQ ratings, but the authors did

not suggest an effect on general intelligence.” (1). In addition, Simpson also states the other ways

music can be used in a medical setting for hospitals and to treat a variety of neurological

conditions. In conclusion, Simpson states that there is a lot of misconceptions to the study

conducted and in fact is up to individual opinion whether the study once done is true or not. This

article is important because it contains an opposing view as to music being effective in mental

health and in concentration.

Kenneth Elpus. Is It the Music or Is It Selection Bias? A Nationwide Analysis of Music and Non

Music Students’ SAT Scores. Journal of Research in Music Education. 2013.

In this article, Elpus argues that “college entrance examination scores of music and non-

music students in the United States … showed that millions of students graduated high

school having earned at least one course credit in music.” (1). Elpus ultimately means

that many students starting their journey into colleges or universities often have a music

enrollment class in their high school transcripts. In addition, Elpus conducts research on

college students and his findings were opposite to previous studies that Elpus had

researched on. Elpus’ findings seem to be opposite of what other studies had conducted

and some of his findings seem to be consistent with another study that had been
 conducted. “…when disaggregating music students by type of music studied.” (1). In

conclusion, Elpus’ Study showed that the absence of music enrollment on test scores was

greater than that of students enrolled in music classes. This article is vital to my findings

to help provide extra research as to why music might not be helpful, or my even help

provide a counter argument.

Rick Docksai. A mindful approach to learning: new research shows potential for “mindfulness

training” to boost student productivity. World Future Society. 2013.

In this article, Docksai argues that “teachers often complain that young people have

shrinking attention spans and are more restless.” (1). Docksai ultimately argues that with

the constant decreasing attention span of young students and individuals, teachers find it

hard to ensure that every student succeeds. Docksai presents a low-cost, effective way to

help students, and this is through mindfulness training. Docksai quotes Dawa Tarchin

Philips that states, “By training on reducing that which may be inhibiting test-taking—

such as mind-wandering—mindfulness is a means of reducing that which would be a

negative effect on performance.” Docksai mentions how Philips assisted on a study that

was testing to see, “students’ performance on standardized tests.” (1). In addition,

Docksai mentions that “Mindfulness is also a potential aid for the increasing numbers of

young people who struggle with attention=deficit/hyperactivity disorders (ADHD).” (1).

This was very important because it talks about some of the ways college students can

focus better and promote better mindfulness and self-awareness.

Steven L. Cohen, Concetta Paradis, and Linda M. LeMura. The effects of contingent-monetary

reinforcement and music on exercise in college students. University of South Alabama.

2007.

In this article, the authors argue that “Despite the positive relations between exercise and

health, most people do not maintain an exercise program for an extended period of time.”

(1). The authors viewed various studies conducted prior to the study and found that many

individuals prefer watching videos and listening to music and this can increase exercise

productivity and intensity. In addition, the authors conduct their own individual study that

consisted of a music induced and money goal orientated. Both methods had their own

procedures and results and interestingly both had various yet similarly expected

outcomes. The authors also included a detailed account of the study and found that people

are more goal orientated through monetary values. However, this does not mean that the

authors didn’t state that the music helped, in fact music was a great contributor to having

similar findings in the study. In conclusion, the authors found that people were more

motivated towards money than music, but music is still able to influence motivation and

movement. This article is important because it can serve as an opposing view for my

essays and give examples of how music might not be overall effective.

Robert S. Weisskirch and Laurel C. Murphy. Friends, porn, and punk: sensation seeking in

personal relationships, Internet activities, and music preference among college students.

Libra Publishers, Inc. 2004.

 In this article, the authors argue that “… the number of casual and close friends was

positively associated with sensation seeking; Individuals who reported using the Internet

to get sex-oriented material, download or play music, play games, and chat/instant

message with friends in the previous 24 hours had higher levels of sensation seeking.”

(1). The authors also mention that while individuals have different preferences, “these

differences in levels of desired simulation or arousal involve a personality trait known as

sensation seeking.” (1). The study originally started with a questionnaire to understand

what type of genres are often heard or desired in college students. The questionnaire

provided a lot of feedback as to understanding these different genres and the behaviors it

can have on the listeners. In addition, the authors stated, “because high sensation seekers

have a strong need for optimal arousal and stimulation, they were expected to have a

greater number of personal relationships.” (1). In conclusion, the authors found that

attention seekers are people or have friends that, “provide the needed stimuli for some

sensation seekers, while others look for arousing stimuli elsewhere.” (1). This article is

highly needed because it states what might college students be listening to in terms of

music and as tools of concentration as well.

Eileen Ferrer, Polong Lew, Sarah M. Jung, Emilia Janeke, Michelle Garcia, and Cindy Peng.

Playing music to relieve stress in a college classroom environment. Project Innovation

Austin LLC. 2014.

In this article, the authors argue that “music therapy can be an effective treatment that

prevents stress from contributing to the etiology of disease.” (1). The authors review the

various benefits that studies have shown because of music and the various effects it has

on people. The authors mention lots of reactions from the body, emotional state, and even
 psychological well-being. In addition, the author also state, “Research has proven that

music may be an effective medium to help college students reduce the effects of negative

emotional states.” (1). However, although music can be a good effect to control negative

emotions there is no guarantee that music can produce any effect to individuals. In

conclusion, the authors mention the various importance’s that music can do and even

what it might not function very well. This article is importance because it can provide

information for other articles and even have a viewpoint as to why music might be a good

idea for concentration and production.

Keith A. King, Meha Singh, Amy Bernard, Ashley L. Merianos, and Rebecca A. Vidourek.

Employing the health belief model to examine stress management among college

students. American Journal of Health Studies. 2012.

In this article, the authors argue that “significant associations have been established

between college stress and cognitive difficulties including impairment in academic

performance, increased rates of depression and anxiety, and overall decrease in life

satisfaction.” (1). The authors ultimately state that college students often get faced with

various physical and mental problems and this leads to decreased performance in both

school and in life. The authors conduct research and do a study to understand stress and

what might be some effective ways to decrease these levels of stress. In addition, the

authors mention the different stress that college students often feel and mention some

ways of channeling that stress out. In conclusion, the authors create a understanding of

why might managing stress, especially in college students, be essential to help promote
better health and provide a better way of life. This article is important because it can help

me give some ideas as to why managing stress would be ideal for college students.