How Music Can Influence Thoughts

Source: Image by Karolina Grabowska from Pixabay

Music can be used as a tool for emotional empowerment, such as enhanced mood and motivation. Music has an immediate effect on us. It has a unique power to elicit moments of intense emotional reactions, such as tears, chills and thrills, or goosebumps. The simple act of listening to a favorite song can alter our mood, triggering old memories.

Emotions typically occur with evaluations of events that tell us how significant the events are in relation to our goals. For example, happiness tells us we are doing well, and fear warns us of danger, even though the beliefs involved may not be accurate.

Likewise, our thought process can be influenced systematically by music. Inspiring music can instantly shift one’s mood from sadness toward a more hopeful feeling. On the other hand, sad-sounding music may arouse more calm or depressive thoughts. Evidence has shown that people who had listened to happy music evaluated themselves more positively than people who had listened to sad music (Elvers 2017). Interestingly, the changes in self-evaluation were more noticeable in listeners who reported low self-esteem.

Evidence has shown that empowering music strongly influences thought content (Koelsch, 2019). For example, empowering music—music that sounds energetic, triumphant, and strong—can make listeners feel more inspired, and less afraid.

The use of music by athletes prior to important competitions clearly demonstrate its potential to empower. The use of music in sports and exercise is a near-universal practice to enhance motivation, mood, and positive self-evaluation (Ballmann, 2021). For example, the Maori battle cries known as haka are regularly performed by New Zealand teams prior to international athletic competitions to put the performers in the right mindset. The music, and the accompanying movements, serve as a display of power and confidence and also allow the players to get into the right mindset prior to competitions.

Similarly, listening to music during exercise may positively impact psychological (i.e., mood, motivation) and physiological (i.e., rate of perceived exertion, arousal) changes. It is easier to forget about pain or fatigue when a song you enjoy is distracting you. A lack of enjoyment is frequently cited as a barrier to exercise, but music may help to shift this negative feeling toward a more positive mindset. Music (self-selected) can inspire you to exercise longer or work harder during your exercise routine.

The exact mechanisms through which music influences thoughts are not known. One possibility is that the empowering music has a strong potential to stimulate visual imagery (e.g., scenes of nature, or a sense of achievement). Another possibility is that the listener empathizes and identifies with a singer expressing positive self-view (Elvers, 2016).

In summary, listening to empowering music could be an effective strategy to enhance low self-confidence as well as trigger positive thoughts that contribute to psychological health. Moreover, in everyday life, empowering music can potentially be motivating to engage in tasks, and to reduce distraction by negative thoughts when concentrating on tasks. Furthermore, preferred music has a greater ability to divert attentional focus away from the discomfort of exercise toward the external music stimuli.