5 Theses on Potential of Music Therapy

Of all the debated issues in psychology, I would like dive a little deeper into the idea of nature vs. nurture. My personal experience and academic study has led me to the conclusion that human psychological development is strongly influenced by both nature (i.e. genetic and personality factors) and nurture (i.e. experience and exposure to ideas). There are certainly natural tendencies that every person is born with. The things a person does and learns has a tremendous impact on their development, however. 

This is what has fueled my interest in music therapy. It has already shown great promise for people recovering from trauma–particularly neurological trauma. By my own observation, I would argue that the use of music is of great benefit to a person at any time, not only following trauma.

Artificial Social Division

The novel Evelina by Frances “Franny” Burney was first published anonymously because during the time period that this novel was written, women such as Franny held opinions that weren’t important…er, wait, I meant women in Franny’s social class weren’t supposed to interject in literary circles –no I don’t think that’s right either…

Burney's Class Motivations

Satirically laced commentary like above is found in Evelina, or the History of a Young Lady’s Entrance into the World. Evelina soon finds that the “higher” class of people that she meets throughout the novel aren’t much superior than others. The men attempt to seduce her, there are feuds in her family between her mother’s relatives and her father and who deserves what and is entitled to which inheritance. Essentially, people fight for money, power, and sex.

Verga's Reality of Poverty

Serendipitously, I was reading an Italian anthology of short stories by Giovanni Verga published in the 19^th century while reading Evelina. Verga follows the impoverished Sicilian people in southern Italy and thematic elements of these stories were the same; the fight for money, power, and sex.

From the high society living of Evelina to Verga’s representation of poverty, I think the question that I wonder is: Why is there tension between social classes if they are founded on the same basic human 

nature?

Our Modern Financial Division 

Modern research shows that this tension still exists! I remember when the finicial crisis of 2007/2008 destroyed my parent’s personal business and left them depressed, anxious and scared. They were looked down on because they no longer had the small fortune that was providing for their large family. In an attempt to identify the psychology and stigma of social division, researchers Miguel Moya and Susan Fiske outlined the negative social impact the Great Recession had on American social class in an article titled “The Social Psychology of the Great Recession and Social Class Divides.”

I’ll let you read the article on your own time but it proves that social class tension still interferes with individual progression today, even with the same innate nature.

As written in Evelina, “the right line of conduct is the same for both sexes [and classes], though the manner in which it is pursued may somewhat vary, and be accommodated to the strength or weakness of the different travellers.”

Image Credit: Homeless New York  and High Class Lady (Public Domain Images via Wikimedia Commons)

The Nature of Man

The “nature of man” is described perfectly by Thomas Hobbes as he lists “three principal causes for quarrel: first, competition; secondly, distrust; thirdly, glory.” His insights concerning the causes of war are spot on. He says that the first principal makes men invade for gain, the second one for safety, and the third for reputation.

Hobbes’s insights parallel a modern-day scripture from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It comes from the Doctrine and Covenants and reads, “We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.”

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Hobbes, himself, makes several references to the Bible, especially the familiar “law of the Gospel” that reminds us “to do unto others….” He also teaches that “men are continually in competition for honor and dignity…and consequently…there arises envy and hatred and finally war.”

We see this kind of behavior in men (meaning men and women alike) in all areas of life. As a matter of fact, I don’t believe there is any place in our lives that escapes the negative consequences of the natural man. There is one place, in particular, where I have been saddened to see this focus on competition, distrust, envy, hatred, gain, and glory; it is on the fields and in the courts of all sports. While raising my family, I got tired of hearing about how good competitive sports would be for my kids. Many proudly taught that participation in any sport would teach sportsmanship; however, I never witnessed any positive act of sportsmanship. I am sure that it was there, but no doubt it was overshadowed by a much higher percentage of negative behavior, all in the name of gain and glory for self.

I believe the reason so many great minds have been enlightened with this idea of the true nature of man is because our nature is evident throughout history. If we can accept this natural trait in ourselves, we can overcome the natural man. As we rule over each other in appropriate ways and even compete when necessary, we can do so in the manner of “doing unto others as we would have them do unto us.”