News: Why Music Moves Us

Jeanette Bicknell, Ph.D., is the author of Why Music Moves Us. She holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from York University, and has taught in universities in the U.S. and Canada. She is the author of academic articles on the philosophy of music, aesthetics, ethics, and the history of philosophy, and is currently working on a book about singing. She also works as a mediator and business consultant.

Music, Detachment and the Loss of Self

New research on music and dissociation

We choose to listen to music for a number of reasons. Music can engage us deeply, taking us out of the world of our everyday cares and concerns. Of the variety of psychological states that music can arouse, perhaps two of the most highly prized are absorption (a kind of “effortless involvement”) and dissociation or detachment. These states are similar. In both, attention is narrowed, and aspects of our surroundings recede from awareness. The differences between them arise from the interplay between our state of mind, our motivation for listening, and our habitual ways of responding to music. Speaking very generally, listeners who focus closely on the music are more likely to experience absorption than listeners who use the music to accompany some activity or as a means to some other end

Full post http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/why-music-moves-us/201212/music-detachment-and-the-loss-self-0