Mozart Effect Field Research
Mozart Effect Field Research
PSYCH/600
Diana Slade
September 30, 2013
Dr. Debra Jennings
Mozart Effect Field Research
Many parents have come to believe that music, especially classical music played during pregnancy or in the nursery of their newborns would make their precious bundle of joy smarter. Is there science to prove that this is true, or is it just a quick way to sale books, cd, and videos’. The Mozart Effect drove expectant mothers and mothers of young children to believe that through this music their child would become exceptional learners. What parent would not want the best for their child? Parents are desperate to give their children every enhancement that they can. There are areas we will examine to see if the Mozart Effect has evidence to support the claim of children becoming smarter after listening to it, and to see if the claims made promoted healthy development in children. The frenzy that arouse during the time the Mozart Effect came to life, opened the door to commercials and political personalities to endorse it, but was it all just for the money? We will examine all of these to see what truth is.
In the 1990’s the Mozart Effect was receiving much attention. It is thought to help with early brain development in infants and young children. Francis Rausher and Gordon Shaw along with other colleagues are credited with the research for the Mozart Effect. All of the colleagues attended the University of California at Irvine in the early 1990”s (Caulfield, 1999). The news of their work had an immediate impact on neuroscience and music education. There were also those that had doubts that stirred up a lot of controversy. Their original study was first focused on college students, not infants or young children. They found that when these subjects listened to Mozart’s Sonato for Two Pianos in D Major K 448, their performance on standard IQ spatial reasoning tasks
PSYCH/600
Diana Slade
September 30, 2013
Dr. Debra Jennings
Mozart Effect Field Research
Many parents have come to believe that music, especially classical music played during pregnancy or in the nursery of their newborns would make their precious bundle of joy smarter. Is there science to prove that this is true, or is it just a quick way to sale books, cd, and videos’. The Mozart Effect drove expectant mothers and mothers of young children to believe that through this music their child would become exceptional learners. What parent would not want the best for their child? Parents are desperate to give their children every enhancement that they can. There are areas we will examine to see if the Mozart Effect has evidence to support the claim of children becoming smarter after listening to it, and to see if the claims made promoted healthy development in children. The frenzy that arouse during the time the Mozart Effect came to life, opened the door to commercials and political personalities to endorse it, but was it all just for the money? We will examine all of these to see what truth is.
In the 1990’s the Mozart Effect was receiving much attention. It is thought to help with early brain development in infants and young children. Francis Rausher and Gordon Shaw along with other colleagues are credited with the research for the Mozart Effect. All of the colleagues attended the University of California at Irvine in the early 1990”s (Caulfield, 1999). The news of their work had an immediate impact on neuroscience and music education. There were also those that had doubts that stirred up a lot of controversy. Their original study was first focused on college students, not infants or young children. They found that when these subjects listened to Mozart’s Sonato for Two Pianos in D Major K 448, their performance on standard IQ spatial reasoning tasks