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Music and Hormones

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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

Synonyms

Ancient music; Art; Artistic expression; Contralto; Dopamine; Early castration; Emotions; Estradiol; Hormones; Mezzosoprano; Music; Nitric Oxide; Octave; Oxytocine; Prepuberal gonadectomy; Soprano; Tenor; Testosterone

Definition

Music is an art form and cultural activity whose language is organized in time with logic and sensitivity the sounds and silences. Originally, the word derives from Greek mousiké [téchnē] that means the “technique of Muses.” It combines harmony, melody, rhythm, pitch, meter, timbre, etc. to create psychoanimic states with hormones, steroids, and other metabolic endogen compounds contributing to those effects.

Introduction

Musical stimuli in humans have been proved to be related with emotional areas of the brain such as insula, cingulated cortex, hypothalamus, hippocampus, amygdala, and prefrontal cortex (Boso et al. 2006). Probably nobody would disagree in the asseveration music has an effect over our moods, reducing stress, increasing well-being,...

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Acknowledgments

We thank Prof. Dr. D. F. Swaab because of his example in the method of researching and studying. Also to Dr. Jenneke Kruisbrink for her kindly help in scientific literature provision.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Alicia Garcia-Falgueras

Authors
  1. Alicia Garcia-Falgueras
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Correspondence to Alicia Garcia-Falgueras .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, MI, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Guilherme S. Lopes

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Garcia-Falgueras, A. (2019). Music and Hormones. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2844-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2844-1

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