Here’s an interesting piece of research.
Psychologists decided to study how mood affected a sense of identity. The first thing they did was split the volunteer subjects into two groups – European and Asian. They claim that Europeans culturally value individuality and independence most highly, whilst Asians rate community and harmony most highly. I can see where that comes from but it’s one of those rather sweeping generalisations, isn’t it? However, let’s assume they actually checked out to see if their particular volunteers rated those characteristics in those ways.
They conducted two studies. In one, each group had to first list to Mozart (described as uplifting) and then Rachmaninov (described as mood lowering) [yet another BIG generalisation, huh? Again, let’s presume they had some way of checking that out on their subjects]. In the second, they had to hold a pen in their mouth, first between their teeth (forcing a smile), and second between their lips (forcing a frown)!
The groups were then tested in a variety of ways to see how strongly they expressed either individualistic or group values.
What they found was interesting – the mood elevated groups expressed more highly divergent values, and the mood lowered groups reverted much more to cultural stereotype, as if good moods lead to a freedom to explore a wider sense of self, and low moods did the opposite.
As is often the case with these reports, I particularly liked the conclusion –
They conclude that the findings also suggest that the “self” may not be as robust and static as we like to believe and that the self may be dynamic, constructed again and again from one’s situation, heritage and mood.
It’s just that……are there still people around who think the “self” is a static entity?
Isn’t it now widely understood that the sense of self is an act of continuous creation?
I constantly use music to alter my mood. Classical works the best. Esp pieces from the baroque era.
http://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/papers/selfctr.htm
Bob , have you read this by Dennett?
I like this idea and it is interesting clinically as a people may be tipped off their ‘centre of gravity’ by all sorts of things – this is why listening to narratives makes so much more sense than a lot of the medical tests that are undertaken.
I think there are lots of people who think that ‘the self’ is fairly static –certainly there are many people who behave as if it is?
ian
@ggw_bach – thanks for sharing your experience. I wonder if you find that music can let you be more flexible and explore different aspects of yourself as these researchers suggest positive feelings can do?
@ian Thanks for that reference and link Ian. I’ve read quite a lot of Dennett, but not that particular paper.
Oh, yes, I had my tongue in my cheek when suggesting surely nobody thinks the self is a static entity! I reckon it’s still the prevailing view!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/arts/music/05ma.html?_r=1&ref=music
you might be interested this interpretation of self through music and science ………..