Happy is the New Smart: Music, Flow, Positive Psychology, Happiness, Productivity (Coursework Sample)

455003536315660006638290Haran Choi360000Haran Choicentercenter95000950004550035363152500251460 3700030000 44000341947525002514604000070000455003536315690006939915370000455003536315350003520440 Happy Music Increases Productivity, Mindfulness, and Self-Regulation3600028000 Happy Music Increases Productivity, Mindfulness, and Self-Regulation
Happy is the New Smart
By
Haran Choi
11/28/2017
Psychology 401: Happiness
Page 1
Abstract
In the 21st century, creativity is considered an essential competency as it enables us to overcome and deal with challenges and opportunities are a part of our fast-changing world. Despite the recent scientific studies on the benefits of music on intellect, the creative cognition of music listening remains unfamiliar by vast majorities. Recent studies show experimental tests of the specific type of music such as classical music and their possibility systematic arousal of intellectual creativity as compared to the silence. In the comparison between silence control and listening to music, vast majorities who listen to happy music such as classics believe that it enhanced divergent creativity while performing tasks. I decided to test if happy music during work hours produces higher productivity in creative work and increases mindfulness and self-regulation. During the first seven days of the intervention, I recorded word count of creative writing. And during the second seven days, I recorded the word count of creative writing that occurred while playing Vivaldi's Four Season played by Josh Groves.
The result shows that happy music does increases productivity, mindfulness, and self-regulation
Keywords: Music, Flow, Positive psychology, Human happiness, productivity
Overview
In the 21st century, creativity is considered as a critical competency as it’s the engine behind any technological, scientific or cultural innovation. Creativity enables one the ability to overcome obstacles and also deal with challenges which are part of the fast-changing world. The demand for creative thinking is less compared to the complex problems of the constant changing world. Nevertheless, the current the current generation experiences creativity crisis and a vast majority have become less creative in thoughts and ideas. However, according to scientific findings, the listening of music while performing tasks that require divergent thinking it enhances the original reasoning(Osman& Anouze, 2014). However, there remains significant part for exploration on the effects of music listening for creative cognition. On the other hand, a minority group who found no impact on music and therefore regarded it as convergent creativity while performing functions as they preferred to silence more than music.Also, scientific research shows that the recent findings may have significant implications for the divergent creativity. The listening of music may promote innovations by facilitating creative reasoning in various educational, organizational and scientific settings where innovative thinking is required. The figure 1 below suggests that listening to happy music increases an overall performance in your place of work.
Questions
In the current project, the aim of bringing to light the potential benefits and relations of listening to music for enhancement of creative reasoning. This unique project is an experimental test that will answer specific questions.For instance, whether the listening of songs such as classical songs will stimulate creative cognition according to the measurement of convergent and divergent creative tasks. Secondly, the question of whether music can be integrated into our lives quickly and also enhance the creativity of mind efficiently and expansively in both educational, organizational, a scientific setting where creative reasoning is required.
Hypothesis
The on the possible factors that stimulate critical human reasoning as well as the ability to generate creative ideas and quick solution to problems has been debated upon for several years now. In the olden days, people with creative minds were reserved for divine inspirations. In some cases, those with the ability to think creatively were regarded as geniuses. In the task of original insight, the participants were provided with two insight problems. For example, they expected to solve a problem of a danker candle as well as the problem of two strings. The participants were supposed to use a display of an object in a manner that was unfamiliar to solve the problem. For instance, in the issue of two strings, one had to tie them from the Ceiling together in a way that keeps the two series apart and should no meet at any point. However, to solve the problem, the participants were required to set up the string in a tied pendulum motion (Cunningham, Grout & Picking, 2011). At the end of the experiment, the answers were displayed on the screen for the participants to correct their mistakes given each problem.
Music ratings.
In contrast, recent research findings show that creativity is basic normative intellectual functioning as opposed to an inborn talent that is the only reserve for the genius minds. Importantly, it has been established through a series of tests that creative reasoning can be enhanced through various stimulating activities (Eschleman, Madsen, Alarcon, & Barelka, 2014). For example, the making of random connections, reviews, and brainstorming are forms of artistic thinking used for studies and are mostly triggered by listening to music. In my opinion, music creates a smooth flow of various activities as it acts as an engine behind the creative thinking.
The figure 2 below suggests that listening to a variety of happy music increases an overall performance in your place of work.
Method
Participants
A total of 121 female, SDage5.24, Mage = 22.30 which sums up to a total of 155 participants signed an informed consent to participate in the scientific study. The study was conducted as per the principle of the board of review of the committee of ethics of the faculty of social science and the Universities Nationwide. Therefore there no further requirement for the research as it was of the medical nature and also because it was risk-free in the case of the participants. All the participants signed up on our online database as a possible declaration of their interest to participate in the research project(Osman& Anouze, 2014) (Sosa, & Corson, 2017). The participants were awarded either $5 or course credit for their participation.
Design
To utilize the creative performance of either convergent thinking or divergent thinking a mixed measure of 2 x 5 was designed within the music condition and subject variables such as sad, calm, happy, silence and anxious.
An article on Creative Cognition (Finke, Ward, and Smith, MITPress) says that creative inventions can be induced in the laboratory. That led me to ask, what artistic intervention could be used to test whether innovative flow can be achieved.
According to Mozart, Music can enhance lasting improvement especially songs by Mozart promote period creative reasoning. Recent studies propose that it is the music that makes one happy that produce optimal productivity (Gillett, 2015, Business Insider and Vozza, 2016, FastCompany). I also found that music that had “high arousal and positive valence” such as the Spring movement of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons was dubbed mot as "Happy" music (Walton, 2017, Forbes). Thus, my hypothesis and predictions: Listening to Vivaldi's Four Season during my work hours will increase creative flow. Listening to Vivaldi's Four Season during my work hours will increase mindfulness and self-regulation as well as happiness.
My proposal to the above question was that creative tools such as music creates flow and well-being.
Materials and Methods
The subject therefore, is age 42, female, bi-lingual Korean American, Christian, single, children's book writer. The subject has a history of attentional problems and believes positive affects increases her creative work output. She wants to use more tools to sustain the flow and break writer’s block as necessary. Materials used were: Computer for writing. Pen and notebook for tracking daily word counts, iPhone timer. Measures used were: Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ), Mindfulness, Attention, and Awareness Scale (MAAS), And Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale (PANA) were used to measure creative flow before the 14-day intervention and after the intervention.
For the intervention, the subject used Four Season played by the artist she chose, Josh Groban, the experimental violinist. First, the measures were tested before starting the intervention. Second, daily word count in creative writing was recorded for the seven days that was done without listening to any music. Third, regular word count in creative writing was registered for the next seven days that was done while looking to Four Season by Josh Groban. Fourth, the same measures were tested. Lastly, the test scores were compared between pre-intervention and post-intervention.
Creativity measures versus Convergent thinking
The convergent thinking shall test the ability of a participant's problem-solving skills by giving correct answers to questions with readily given answers. In the recent study, a reasonable thought is examined through a series of selected means such as the task of foreign associates, idea section and the work of creative insight. In the function of the Idea selection, the participants were presented with 10 Kitchen inventions and ask to make a choice three devices that they regarded as most creative from the pictures. As per the instructions of the task, they were to choose an original invention that seemed both authentic and useful. Once the participants selected the three designs, the...