Can music essentially "control" one's mind?

Um, no.

Yes.

It depends on the person and how they take and perceive things.

It can change moods, and does bring relief, I’m not sure if it can “control” someone though. They’d have to be delusional don’t they ?

@EtherRoom Good point. I know many people who’s moods regularly change depending on what music they’re listening to. By “control”, I’m questioning whether music can influence our mind and affect one’s ‘natural’ thought process in a somewhat manipulative way.

Good classic rock music blasting while I drive down the highway can get me feeling pumped up, but I don’t think it’s a negative thing…

I think @EtherRoom kind of hit the nail on the head. Music can be a powerful influence on peoples emotions and that in turn can influence people’s thinking. And it can be a powerful cultural influence. For example, I think the that the bulk of pop songs, most of them love songs, can give people an unrealistic view, way of thinking about what to expect from personal relationships or, for example, it can be used to rouse the emotions of crowds, populations, etc. Like bands playing at football games or music and singing Deutschland Uber Alles at Nazi rallies. And, as @EtherRoom also mentioned, for it to control peoples thoughts they would have to be kind of delusional to begin with. There’s something called “delusions of reference” that schizophrenics sometimes have where they think certain things, things that really aren’t, are directed specifically at them, like songs on the radio, and in those cases maybe music might influence their thoughts directly.

@n_downpour – I’m a big music person. I can go in a trance when I’m listening to it. I think it’s scientific. The way music goes into the ear, then into the brain(or whatever). And your brain sends out pleasure singles. That’s why when people listen to happy or fast music they wanna shake their ass. Or if you listen to a slower more depressed song, it can make you release tears that you’ve bottled up.

I think that though music can affect our emotions, it would not affect us so much that it would change our mindset and the way we think.

There was a really awesome article I read somewhere how they were comparing Music to Religion. Because it causes the same emotions in people from people, like hysteria, spiritual-awakening, trance-like states, etc. I’m not good with words. But it basically made a lot of sense when you compared the power of music to the power of religion.

I think only someone who is delusional or schizophrenic might start to believe the music they listen to can control them….

For each person this would be different. It would really depend on who the person is, how they see things, and how they act. Because everyone interprets music differently. I know it’s changed and helped me a lot.

Types of music may evoke the reactivation of some memories previously associated with such music. That may influence mood and the probability of the occurrence of certain classes of behaviour.

This effect would be difference for each person and could hardly be considered control over peoples behaviour.

Possibly. For me, I think it does.
Has anyone heard of the Mozart Effect? crazy stuff, huh?

Music bypasses your linguistic mind and goes straight to the nonlinguistic mind. The nonlinguistic mind experiences things directly, unlike the linguistic mind, which uses symbols as an intermediary between experience and brain.

When you shut down the linguistic mind, the nonlinguistic can make itself known above the chatter. When it becomes dominant, you lose your sense of consciousness. Instead, you are interacting with the world directly without processing experience symbolically.

Most people will feel a sense of a connection with others or the universe or something larger than themselves when the nonlinguistic mind is predominant. It is a mystical state because you can’t “think” about it, since your linguistic mind is shut down. Symbols are not available.

It makes sense you should feel a sense of being a part of something larger than yourself when you are experiencing the world directly. You are, in fact, no longer separate from the world as you are when you use symbols to think.

Music helps calm the busy, linguistic mind, thus allowing the nonlinguistic mind to come to the surface. Thus music can help people become in touch with this deeper mind, and experience the world differently. As someone already said—go into a trance. And it is also true for performers. In music, you connect to others in your group in an apparently magical way, but I think it is explainable when you bring this different mode of perception that we all have.

Is that controlling a mind? Not really. It doesn’t work with everybody. You actually have to practice to get it to work consistently. And further, I don’t think it allows you the control to change a persons (linguistic) thoughts.

Music strongly affects your experience. But it doesn’t control what you think or perceive. It can open doors of perception, but it can’t tell you what to see.

You can allow music to resonate with your feelings and use it to evoke them when your wish.As @wundayatta says, it takes practice.

Maybe not essentially control but yeah music sure has a deep impact on the way we think and behave. It’s something that people get connected with easily and relate to.

Wow! I just thought of this question tomorrow,I dont think it does, but it is possible ofcource, when I hear a song, and I listen to the lyrics, all sort of things go through my mind about the lyrics, what they’re singing and what they mean about the lyrics, I also do think that lyrics are heard with a personal touch, like: I think this about the lyrics, but someone else thinks that, so ye it can be that music reflects different in our minds, and we reflect the lyrics to the outside, but making it a fact that it actually changes personallitys, doesnt seem all to logic, is it?

Wow, that answer cost me a lot of energy!