Alyssa Oldham
Pennsylvania Highlands Community College
Psychology 100.01
November 20, 2010
Dr. Barbara Mitchell
Abstract
Since 1993, when the Mozart effect was first introduced, people have been asking, does listening to Mozart truly improve my spatial ability? Should I play Mozart for my children? Should I listen to Mozart if I’m pregnant? The answer to each of these questions, is no. Seventeen years ago Rauscher, Shaw and Ky (1993) tested the idea that listening to Mozart increased spatial IQ, and their findings supported this. Since then, hundreds of studies for further testing on the hypothesis have been completed, all turning up negative for a Mozart effect.
The Effect of Mozart on Spatial Ability Researchers, Frances H. Rauscher, Gordon L. Shaw, and Katherine N. Ky (1993), formed a hypothesis; that hypothesis was that listening to Mozart would increase visual-spatial intelligence IQ. Visual-spatial intelligence IQ is understood to be the ability to “think in pictures and need to create vivid mental images to retain information” (Gardner, 2003). Since then the topic has been very controversial. People, especially expectant mothers, are all wondering, is it true? Since the original experiment in 1993, hundreds of studies have been conducted to either try to reinforce the idea, or disprove it. Although some researchers have tried to back up the Mozart effect, most have failed. Very few have been able to successfully replicate Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky’s (1993) experiment and obtain similar data. Several hypotheses have been formed to predict why the results are so contradicting. The most commonly excepted is the idea that spatial task results are based on musical preference. Many doubts arise when it comes to the belief that listening to Mozart will increase visual and spatial intelligence, commonly referred to as the Mozart effect. The following paper disputes the
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