lapses in its training methods, for their faulty inter-
nal investigatory procedures, and for not adequately
funding the police department at a level that would
permit it to purchase fully functioning communica-
tions equipment. In her defense, Mayor Kelly stated
that problems in and with the metropolitan police
force occurred long before her tenure as mayor.
Mayor Kelly subsequently left politics.
The police force did establish community liaisons
within the Hispanic community in order to have
ongoing channels of communications. They also
made a sustained effort to recruit, train, and hire
more bilingual police officers. The Mount Pleasant
neighborhood has seen an influx of wealthier non-
Hispanic residents move in and gentrify the neigh-
borhood. Rising housing prices have pushed por-
tions of the Hispanic community into less expensive
areas of the city.
Further Reading
Fuchs, Lawrence.The American Kaleidoscope: Race, Eth-
nicity, and the Civic Culture. Middletown, Conn.:
Wesleyan University Press, 1990. A sociological
study of the conditions necessary in order for ri-
ots and other types of civil disturbances to occur.
Waddington, David.Public Order Policing: Theor y and
Practice. London: Willan Publishing, 2007. A
scholarly study and classification of all types of
civil disturbances around the world. Includes a
brief analysis of the Mount Pleasant riot.
Victoria Erhart
See also African Americans; Demographics of the
United States; Illegal immigration; Immigration to
the United States; Latin America; Latinos; Los An-
geles riots; Police brutality; Race relations.
Mozart effect
Definition A temporary effect whereby listening
to a Mozart sonata leads to improved
performance on a spatial-temporal task
The broader interpretation of the Mozart effect—the idea
that just listening to Mozart can make one smarter—
caught both researchers’ attention and the public’s imagi-
nation in the 1990’s.
Specifically, the Mozart effect refers to a finding
published by Frances H. Rauscher, Gordon L. Shaw,
and Katherine N. Ky in a 1993 issue ofNature.
Rauscher and her colleagues found that just listen-
ing to a Mozart sonata led to temporary improve-
ment in undergraduate students’ performance on a
spatial-reasoning task. In this research, college un-
dergraduates listened to different kinds of music
(and silence, in one condition) for ten minutes. Af-
terward, they were administered a mental paper-
folding and -cutting test getting at spatial-reasoning
ability. In comparison to the other conditions, stu-
dents who listened to Mozart showed improved per-
formance on their immediate test. Since this listen-
ing effect was only temporary (about fifteen
minutes), there were few implications for education.
Further, the numerous follow-up studies have been
mixed as to the phenomenon’s existence.
Nevertheless, in the 1990’s, a Mozart effect indus-
try developed, and numerous books and classical
music CDs were marketed toward parents who
wanted to enhance their children’s intelligence. In-
deed, in 1998, Georgia governor Zell Miller went
so far as to propose a budget that would spend
$105,000 so that a classical music CD could be sent to
every newborn in the state.
On another front, the Mozart effect has some-
times been associated with additional research find-
ings as to the potential cognitive benefits of music in-
struction. Again, in an early study, Rauscher and her
colleagues found that preschoolers who received
music instruction did better on a puzzle test than did
a comparison group who did not receive music in-
struction. The music instruction effect has been
more consistently supported by subsequent re-
search and has more implications for education
since the benefits seem to last longer. That is, chil-
dren who receive music instruction may end up
higher in spatial-reasoning ability than those who do
not. Rauscher and her colleagues have further con-
cluded that music instruction can lead children to
score higher in hand-eye coordination and arithme-
tic. It is important to note that the music instruction
effect is a more general effect and is not limited to
the music of Mozart.Impact In the 1990’s, the Mozart effect grew from
an obscure research finding to a well-known (if
somewhat confused) phenomenon. While the pur-
ported, temporary listening effect has limited edu-
cational implications, the value of music instruction
holds more promise.588 Mozart effect The Nineties in America