Try+It+Yourself

The following experiment is one that I have previously conducted in my eighth grade year of school. If the question or purpose piques your interest I encourage you to follow the experiment yourself. If you wish to compare my results to those of your own please...don't be afraid to send a message or use the discussion board.

Concert of Emotions Science Fair Category: Behavioral and Social Sciences 2009

Question:  How and why does music effect emotions? Hypothesis:  If the subject hears a certain tempo in music then it will activate some type of memory that will cause the subject to feel a different emotion than the emotion prior to the experiment.

Materials:
 * Camera
 * Clipboard
 * Survey x3 packets
 * Subjects x3 people
 * Duct tape
 * Sharpie
 * Scissors
 * <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Blindfold
 * <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Pencil
 * <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Notebook
 * <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Headphones
 * <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Songs x5 (each must have a different tempo)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Computer (to play songs)

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Research <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;"> It is said by many great philosophers that emotions can be subjective. Though, nobody has gone far enough into the mind to find out what exactly cause emotions. Many believe emotions are feelings, but this doesn’t explain why everybody has such extremes in their emotions. Other philosophers think emotions are more like actions, and that we have control over them. Although they all agree that emotions are obstacles as much as they get things done. <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;"> Scientists have recently discovered that the brain could control the emotion from interfering with its functions. Scientists also though that emotions couldn’t be studied in a lab. They no wish to discover the relationship’s effect on a person’s emotions. (Like a baby and her teddy bear) <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;"> Last but not least, is that tempo is the range of beats that heavily influences the sound of music. It may constantly charge or create a steady beat.

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Works Cited

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">“How the Brain Controls Emotions.” Medical News Today. Google. 26 Sept. 2006. Web. 29 Oct. 2009. <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">“List of Human Emotions That we can Experience.” List of all Human Emotions, Types of Emotions, Kinds of Emotions. Self Improvement Mentor, 2008-2009. Web. 29. Oct. 2009. <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">“Neurobiology Advances Emotion Research.” Brain and Emotions Research at VW-Madison. VW Health Public Affairs, 2001. Web. 29. Oct. 2009. <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Sousa, Ronald De. “Emotion.” Emotion (Stanford Encyclopedia Philosophy). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 5 June. 2007. Web. 29 Oct. 2009. <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">“What’s Tempo?” The Music Lab: What’s Tempo? SFS Kids. Web. 29 Oct. 2009.

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Purpose: <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;"> This is the question I always think of when a song plays, suddenly, it bringing old memories alive, or when my mother sorts her songs according to the mood she wants to feel when listening to them. Why is that? So I decided to start my research there. This became an easy experiment because I have always been fascinated by the intricate works of the mind and the tempo required to spin the cogs and wheels within it.

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Procedure: <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Safety- <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;"> This project will vary with each individual’s personality. Those who are mentally unstable should reconsider and/or take precautions to ensure the safety of the individual and the proctor of the experiment. <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Steps-
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Gather materials.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Find five songs, each with no words and a different tempo, and upload them to: I-tunes, a C.D., or other storage space available.
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Test the volume of the headphones after they’re plugged into your computer. Then place them on the subject’s head.
 * 4) <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Take a square of duct tape and place it in the center of the subject’s forehead. Label the subject with a letter of their choice using the sharpie on the tape.
 * 5) <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Have the subject skim over the survey.
 * 6) <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">To make sure nothing conflicts with the subject’s emotions; blindfold them, and make sure they understand that they can’t talk.
 * 7) <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Play the first song.
 * 8) <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Have the subject complete the survey upon completion of the song.
 * 9) <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Play the remaining songs using steps seven and eight. Except this time to save paper have them write the answers in a notebook. (Having a back-up of data is a good and organized practice)
 * 10) <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Test each subject with steps 3-9.
 * 11) <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Take pictures throughout the Procedure.
 * 12) <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Gather your data from the surveys and transfer them into a line graph. Analyze your results.

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Independent Variable: The tempo of every song. <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Dependent Variable: The tone in which they set each song as. <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Control: No control ( you may add one if you choose) <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Constant: Headphones, survey, duct tape, and blindfolds will not change throughout the experiment.

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Music and Your Emotions <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">!!PLEASE BE HONEST!!

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Subject Sample Survey: <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Song #:
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">What was your first though when you heard the song? What about when the song was ending?
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Did this song remind you of anything, like an event or memory? If yes, what was the memory?
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">What was your approximate emotion during the song?
 * 4) <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Do you think cutting off your senses had an effect on your emotion or response to the song? What would you have done if your senses weren’t cut-off?
 * 5) <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Did you think of any person during the song? If so who?
 * 6) <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">What emotion do you think the composer was trying to bring out?
 * 7) <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">If there were any words in the song, what do you think they would be?
 * 8) <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">What do most people describe your personality as?