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Music Influence in Daily Life

November 28, 2025

Have you ever heard that one’s emotions can be greatly influenced by music alone? Music can be used to manipulate the philosophy of a person from a young age. It can calm down or bring discomfort to an adult. Music is encoded into human traditions and cultures. 

Patriotism in Culture

It is known that since our ancestors’ time, education has been a fundamental part of the culture to nurture children into responsible and dependable adults. Borea’s area in the left hemisphere of the brain links to language and speech production. This is where music resides, hence music can evoke powerful emotions (Pianka, 2012). Professor Pianka (2012), an evolutionary ecologist, also criticized that music was exploited by leaders to arouse their people into wars, using national anthems to evoke patriotism and inflame tribal instincts. In fact, this does not only apply to soldiers, but also young children and working adults.

In the book “Patriotism and Nationalism in Music Education”, many music education philosophers agree that music education is a medium of instilling patriotism in children (Hebert & Kertz-Welzel, 2016, p. 11). Take Taiwan for example, national identity is a sensitive issue that is strongly reflected in school curricula. The music curriculum is designed to promote students’ personal and national identities in the new Taiwan (Hebert & Kertz-Welzel, 2016, p. 67). In the past, corrupted politicians wanted to strengthen the relationship between citizens and their own country, which in turn would support their position in power. Fortunately, Hebert and Kertz-Welzel (2016, p. 40) noted that with the lesson from Germany, the time for music education as a means for nationalistic or patriotic education is over.

In modern days, this situation occurs more in culture than politics. For example, Pianka (2012) suggests sports fans in opposing groups using their team’s theme song to elicit passion is a form of conflict influenced by music.

Nature in Music

Aside from childhood education, religion is part of many people’s lives, which feels incomplete without listening to the music and singing. Patrick Whelan, a Harvard Medical School lecturer, suggested that church music “puts everyone in the same emotional space” (Eck, 2024). 

Whelan suspects this is due to evolutionary biology. Earliest nocturnal mammals had to rely on being hyperfocused and hyperattentive for survival, which likely adapted into live music today (Eck, 2024). The human brain can tag acoustic cues as familiar or unfamiliar. Church attendants have been listening to choir since their childhood, so indeed the music is familiar to them. Eck (2024) stated that “the valence of the music, which signals whether the music feels positive, negative, or somewhere in between, influences the autonomic nervous system (ANS)”, which can also be influenced by the familiarity of the music. This is the reason why a person can feel discomfort from listening to infamous or heavy metal music if they are growing up not familiar with the genre.

Additionally, a study (Song et al., 2023) revealed that music familiar to nature sounds bring comfort, relaxation, and lower negative mood. The study suggests that despite most people now residing in urban areas, participants are more at rest with nature sounds than urban sounds. Song and others (2023) believe that the reason is due to how the ancestors have long been living with nature, while the accelerated industrialization and urbanization only occur in recent centuries. There’s a suggestion of inheritance involving music familiarity, though family environment can be a larger factor as Whelan suggests.

Healing of the Brain

Sometimes, music can be a cure. According to Eck (2024), there is growing evidence that “listening to Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major can reduce the frequency of seizures in some people with epilepsy”. Eck suggested that “by identifying the exact type of music able to provoke a particular cognitive, motor, or emotional response, there could be progress toward healing, improving, or compensating for disrupted brain function in various diseases.” However, further knowledge about this topic requires more research and may not provide concrete evidence in a few upcoming years. 

Meanwhile, adults deal with a lot of stress nowadays. However, there is a lack of free mental healing resources. Relaxing music would be the best choice for most people. Interestingly, ASMR-triggering music is found to reduce stress equally as relaxing sounds like nature (Paszkiel et al., 2020). Visiting a natural environment is also a good option to relieve stress (Song et al., 2023). Since traveling is not a choice for busy people within cities, nature sounds (in addition to relaxing music) can easily be accessed through various platforms on the Internet.  

 

References

Eck, A. (2024, March). How music resonates in the brain. Harvard Medicine Magazine. https://magazine.hms.harvard.edu/articles/how-music-resonates-brain

Hebert, D. G., & Kertz-Welzel, A. (2016). Patriotism and nationalism in music education. Routledge.

Paszkiel, S., Dobrakowski, P., & Łysiak, A. (2020). The impact of different sounds on stress level in the context of EEG, cardiac measures and subjective stress level: A pilot study. Brain Sciences, 10(10), 728. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10100728

Pianka, E. R. (2012). Can Human Instincts Be Controlled?. Human instincts. http://www.zo.utexas.edu/courses/thoc/HumanInstincts.html

picryl. (2017). Music melody musical note, music. picryl. Retrieved November 28, 2025, from https://picryl.com/media/music-melody-musical-note-music-93af15. Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication license

Song, I., Baek, K., Kim, C., & Song, C. (2023). Effects of nature sounds on the attention and physiological and psychological relaxation. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 86, 127987. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2023.127987

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  Timothy Durham was convicted of rape when a test showed his DNA genotype matched the DNA recovered from the crime scene. Eye witnesses testified that Durham was in a different state at the time of the incident, but he wasn’t exonerated from his 3000 year sentence until follow up DNA analysis showed that the preliminary forensic analysis used in the trial was misinterpreted (Thomas et al.). DNA testing serves an invaluable part in our criminal justice system, but it comes with complications and bias that can lead to wrongful convictions and misinformed juries.  

Background:

Forensic genetics aims to identify the origin of a biological sample. It can be traced back to Karl Landsteiner who discovered human ABO blood groups. With blood groups, suspects could be eliminated based on their blood type. For example, if a suspect had type A blood and there was type B blood left at the scene by the perpetrator, the investigators could rule out the suspect. Unfortunately, the reverse didn’t work. If the suspect and perpetrator both had the same blood type, it can’t be concluded that the suspect was guilty. Blood identifiers evolved into 8 distinct categories which improved the ability to eliminate suspects, but could only conclude that (if the system matched) it might be the perpetrator or this person might be related to the perpetrator (Jobling and Gill). The field evolved in the 1980s with the discovery of Minisatellites, lines of repetitive DNA that don’t encode proteins. Minisatellite patterns in DNA create what we know today as the DNA fingerprint, and it has a much higher accuracy rate than previous methods (Augustyn et al.). Around the same time, a breakthrough for victims of sexual assault was discovered. In the case of assault, bodily fluids of both the victim and the assaulter can get mixed. A process called differential lysis was created which could selectively increase the concentration of sperm in a fluid sample thereby allowing for accurate DNA testing (Jobling and Gill). Forensics evolved to use single-locus probe testing after several years because of its ease of interpretation. It looked at specific minisatellites that had high variability between subjects. This was the first DNA-based method to be used in a criminal investigation. Two murder homicides from several years apart were connected using DNA evidence. The evidence was then used to exonerate an innocent man, and the guilty party was found when he tried to evade mandatory DNA testing for all men in the small town. His guilt was then reinforced when the DNA profiles matched, and he gave a confession (Jobling and Gill). Finding DNA at a crime scene doesn’t guarantee that you’ll find a murderer. There are issues with non-pure samples and limited samples that make DNA work difficult, and accreditation of facilities and new techniques and take time (Jobling and Gill).  

Subjectivity of DNA Interpretation:

In a 2009 publication, the National Academy of Science discusses the possibility for subjective influence in lab based forensics. The interpretation bias happens in complex cases where, for example, there could be a mixture of DNA. A study published in 2011 looked specifically at this issue. A gang rape happened in Georgia, and the mixture in DNA from the case was used to prosecute one suspect after another suspect took a plea bargain to testify against him. With DNA mixtures, there are three possible conclusions: suspect excluded, suspect cannot be excluded, and inconclusive. If the suspect is excluded, it means that there’s little to no possibility that his DNA is part of the sample. If the suspect cannot be excluded, it means that there’s a possibility that his DNA is part of the sample. In the trial, the DNA examiners who knew the context of the case concluded that the suspect being prosecuted could not be excluded. The 2011 study gave the DNA evidence from this case and the DNA profiles of the suspects to 17 forensic examiners. These examiners had no context of the case, and they all worked independently. Of the 17, only 1 came to the same conclusion (suspect cannot be excluded) as the examiners who knew the context of the case. Twelve of the 17 concluded that the suspect who was prosecuted and convicted had no relation to the DNA found in the sample. Not only does this show that subjectivity occurs due to the context of the case, but the 17 examiners came up with different findings based on their past experiences meaning that not all DNA analysis is objective. Some organizations like the Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods say that quantitative statistical evidence should be presented with every categorical conclusion, but the US doesn’t require this (Dror and Hampikian).

False Positives:

There are two categories that cause wrongful identification in a DNA report: coincidental matches and false positives. Coincidental matches are DNA matches between two unrelated people. The probability of these matches is about 1 to 500,000 for white individuals and about 1 to 350,000 for black individuals. This small probability of coincidental matches makes people feel confident in DNA evidence. False positives, on the other hand, are matches between DNA and test DNA that result from issues in the forensics lab. There have been multiple cases of forensics labs accidentally switching victim and suspected rapist DNA which lead to convictions that were later overturned when the lab realized the error. There are also cases of misreading or misunderstanding a sample. In a case from 1993, a man was convicted of rape because someone interpreted a mixed sample of victim and perpetrator DNA as an individual sample. The conviction was again overturned. To prevent false convictions, retesting DNA is allowed, but it’s not an efficient solution. Many people are pushing for statistical information on the probability of false positives, so that the jurors can make accurate judgements based on DNA evidence (Thomas et al.).  

Conclusion:

DNA analysis is a useful tool for the criminal justice system, but subjectivity can be an issue in forensic testing. To combat wrongful convictions, there are organizations like The Innocence Project who use DNA testing to free the innocent, but reformed forensic testing standards should be put in place to prevent subjectivity and to ensure juries are correctly informed during trials. https://www.innocenceproject.org/    

Citation:

Augustyn , Adam, et al. “DNA Finerprinting.” Encyclopedia Britannica , 26 Apr. 2018, www.britannica.com/science/DNA-fingerprinting#ref153186. Dror, Itiel E., and Greg Hampikian. “Subjectivity and Bias in Forensic DNA Mixture Interpretation.” Science & Justice, vol. 51, no. 4, 2011, pp. 204–208., doi:10.1016/j.scijus.2011.08.004. Jobling, Mark A., and Peter Gill. “Encoded Evidence: DNA in Forensic Analysis.” Nature Reviews: Genetics, vol. 5, no. 10, Oct. 2004, pp. 739–751., doi:10.1038/nrg1455. Thompson, William C, et al. “How the Probability of a False Positive Affects the Value of DNA Evidence.” Journal of Forensic Sciences, vol. 48, no. 1, Jan. 2003, pp. 1–8., doi:10.1520/jfs2001171.