University of Amsterdam - Graduate School Of Communication
Master Thesis
“The Effect of Aggressive Music and Lyrics on State Aggression
and Prosocial Thoughts Among Emerging Adults”
Date: January 31st 2014 Author: Jort van de Ven Student number: 6174957
Thesis supervisor: dr. S.R. Sumter
Abstract
A possible effect of aggressive songs on state aggression or prosocial thoughts has been investigated within previous research. However, few researchers made a distinction between aggressive lyrics and aggressive music and its possible effects. Within this study this distinction is taken into account. A total of 55 emerging adults heard songs, either with or without aggressive lyrics or music, and were asked to fill out an online survey including two measures for state aggression and one for prosocial thoughts. Furthermore, nine covariates were taken into account: gender, trait aggression, trait empathy, media exposure, violent media exposure, education level, parent education level, music preference, and understanding of the lyrics. After analyzing the data by conducting analyses of variance there was no relation found between either hearing aggressive music or aggressive lyrics and state aggression or prosocial thoughts. Furthermore none of the covariates showed to change the expected effects. However, this study has identified two main challenges for future research. Because of the possible inability of non-native speakers to understand English lyrics future research should take the possible difference in effects of lyrics on native and non-native speakers into account. Furthermore, due to different ratings of the aggressive nature of the music future research should investigate what musical features make a song sound aggressive.
The Effect of Aggressive Music and Lyrics on State Aggression and Prosocial Thoughts Among Emerging Adults
Music is an important factor when growing up, allowing people to explore, form, and express an (group) identity (e.g., Mulder, Ter Bogt, Raaijmakers, & Vollebergh, 2007; Rentfrow, Goldberg, & Levitin, 2011). Digitalization has changed and broadened the ways people listen to music (Gunter, Higgins, & Gealt, 2010). People can listen to music via various means such as radio, stereo, or computer. Accordingly, portable devices such as smartphones and iPods increasingly allow for listening to music at all places and times. Music is all around us and is especially popular among the younger generations. In the Netherlands people between 18 and 35 years old spend around two hours per day listening to music via radio or other means (SPOT, 2012). Additionally, of the 476,000 people enrolled in art schools in the Netherlands six out of ten people are attending a music course (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, 2009). Furthermore, Dutch live music venues receive a steady amount of around eight million annual visitors since 2005 (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, 2013) and people between 18 and 35 years old spend an average of 28 hours a year attending cultural events (SPOT, 2012).
Within this study the focus is on emerging adults. Emerging adulthood is a cultural concept and is prone to different interpretations. This is due to the fact that the concept of
emerging adulthood is predominantly used in cultures that allow young people with a period in a period in life that has several distinct features (Arnett, 2000).
Five distinct features characterize this developmental stage, as it is the age of identity explorations, the self-focused age, the age of instability, the age of feeling in-between, and the age of possibilities (Arnett, 2007). First, emerging adults are finding out who they really are and
who they would like to be. This starts in adolescence, the developmental stage preceding emerging adulthood, though this process gets finalized in emerging adulthood. The second feature, the self-focused age, taps in on the idea of identity formation. Emerging adults pay attention to themselves in order to form said identity. As emerging adults are oftentimes not living with their parents anymore nor are they settled down with a spouse yet, they have the time to allow for this self-focus. This allows for great freedom as they can choose what they would like to do, though this also generates a feeling of instability. Subsequently this falls in line with the third, fourth, and fifth feature of emerging adulthood: the age of instability, the age of feeling in-between, and the age of possibilities. Most of the emerging adults are not working full time and do not have children, which leaves options opened for them. The downside of this freedom is the sense of instability and falling in-between. Emerging adults can suffer from not having
stability in their lives as they do not have a daily structure in place yet. Accordingly, having these possibilities can make emerging adults weary of their choices and generate a feeling of falling in-between. Emerging adults are not children anymore though they do not feel like they belong to adulthood either.These characteristics make emerging adulthood difficult to put into specific terms when it comes to the age of emerging adults. Within this study the focus is on 18 to 35 year olds, as it is believed that this is the period that people in The Netherlands fall within
aforementioned characteristics.
The five features of emerging adulthood would suggest they are, susceptible to the effects of media, as they could refer to media as a guide to make choices in their lives (Subrahmanyam, Reich, Waechter, & Espinoza, 2008). Music and lyrics can be a guide to form an identity and
how to cope with the numerous possibilities that emerging adults are faced with. Furthermore, music and lyrics can be a soothing factor when feeling in-between or instable.
Music has been a popular field for scientific research since decades. For example, the scientific journal Journal of Research in Music Education exists since 1953 (Yarbrough, 1984). Research has focused on many different aspects related to music, including music preferences (Rentfrow et al., 2011), music and emotion (McFarland, 1984), or music and attitude formation (North, Desborough, & Skarstein, 2005). Though music is seen as something positive, previous research, including experimental (e.g. Sprankle, End, & Bretz, 2012; Anderson, Carnagey, & Eubanks, 2003), cross-sectional (e.g. Fischer & Greitemeyer, 2006) and longitudinal studies (e.g. Anderson et al., 2003; Bushman & Huesmann, 2006), has predominantly focused on the potential negative effects of listening to aggressive music. It has been stated that this bad influence of aggressive music genres, such as hip hop and heavy metal, is due to the fact that these genres have become increasingly more graphic in its content (Strasburger, Wilson, & Jordan, 2009). Therefore, these types of music can act as a catalyst for violent behavior, especially in someone who is already prone to be psychologically influenced (Strasburger et al., 2009).
Within the popular press the tendency is to blame music genres, such as hip-hop or heavy metal, for having a bad influence on people’s attitudes and behavior, such as evoking aggression (Debate.org, n.d.). Genres such as hip-hop or heavy metal are deemed to be aggressive forms of music. First, hip-hop prominently features themes of sexual violence against and the
objectification of women. Hip-hop lyrics can normalize antisocial behavior and glorify physical abuse, rape, torture, and other degradations of women (Wester et al., 1997). Secondly, heavy metal oftentimes features deviant and rebellious themes and can be characterized as heavy and
intense music (Rentfrow et al., 2011; Mulder et al., 2007). These two genres are commonly used as the aggressive music stimulus in research (e.g. Brummert Lennings & Warburton, 2011; Rentfrow et al., 2011; Mulder et al., 2007; Wester, Crown, Quatman, & Heesacker, 1997).
Most studies looking at the effect of aggressive music investigated the effects of lyrics. Depending on the content, lyrics are expected to trigger aggression or prosocial thoughts and behavior (Greitemeyer, 2009). Aggressive lyrics would increase aggression and decrease prosocial thoughts and behavior, and adversely, prosocial lyrics would decrease aggression and increase prosocial thoughts and behavior (Greitemeyer, 2011).
Within this process lyric comprehension plays a critical role. It can be argued that the English lyrics to a song will not have a similar effect on non-native speakers as English lyrics might be understood less easily. However, few studies have investigated the effect of the music itself and music in relation to the lyrics.
Music arguably conveys emotion that could have an effect on the listener, in addition to the lyrics (Rentfrow & Goldberg, 2011). Music is multifaceted as it is composed of specific auditory properties, communicates emotions, and has strong social connotations (Rentfrow & Goldberg, 2011). For this reason, within this study it was investigated how both lyrics and the actual music, together and separately, influence emerging adults. The expected main effect is that those emerging adults who are exposed to aggressive music and lyrics will report higher levels of state aggression and lower levels of prosocial thoughts. Furthermore it was investigated which emerging adults are more susceptible to these effects by assessing various covariates such as gender, trait aggression, trait empathy, media exposure, violent media exposure, education level, parent education level, music preference, and understanding of the lyrics. This study allows for
more understanding of the process of the effect of music and lyrics on aggression and prosocial thoughts and could be used in further advice on how to deal with this issue.
Theoretical Background
Media such as TV, Internet, and music have shown to affect believes and behavior related to sexuality, violence, obesity, eating disorders, and drug use (Strasburger, 2009). The reason why media can change people’s believes can be explained by various theories such as social cognitive learning (Bandura, 2011). In short, this theory suggests that people learn from media and will develop mental scripts according to the consumed media content. Mental scripts are organized patterns for thought and behavior. People will revert to these scripts as guidance for how to behave. For example, aggression-related thoughts influence how events are perceived and interpreted and could in turn shape how a person behaves in a certain situation. Social learning serves as an explanation to why aggressive music can have effects on its listeners.
Aggression
A theory more specifically related to aggression is the General Aggression Model (GAM). The GAM suggests exposure to violent media content can act as a priming stimulus that can evoke various associations, such as aggressive thought, that could finally lead to aggressive behavior (Fischer & Greitemeyer, 2006).
Although several studies have looked at the effects of exposure to violent media, these studies have two main limitations (Ferguson & Savage, 2012). First, previous studies have failed to distinguish aggression from rough play by measuring arousal as being aggression. Aggression can be seen as behavior or thoughts which are intended to increase the social dominance of one person relative to the dominance of other persons. Most definitions of aggression state that the
recipient of aggression is not willing to have the aggression inflicted. As such, aggressive play cannot be deemed to be aggression as both parties are willingly involved (Ferguson & Savage, 2012). Thus, aggressive thoughts have to be measured by measuring (change in) thoughts of social dominance, and should not measure arousal solely. This current study has done so by using the Word Pair Similarity Task (WPST) (Bushman, 1996), and a second measure: the State
Hostility Scale (SHS) (Anderson, Deuser, & DeNeve, 1995).
A second limitation in previous research is the lack of checking for third factors, such as gender or trait aggression. For example, previous research has not taken into account the possible differences in aggression between males and females. For this reason the current study has taken these limitations into account and will take a more careful approach when defining aggression.
According to aforementioned GAM, a person’s variables (e.g. gender and trait aggression) in relation to a certain situation, such as media exposure, could affect a person’s behavior and thoughts (Bushman & Anderson, 2002). State aggression is aggression induced by certain media exposure whilst taking a person’s personality into account. Within the person’s personality trait aggression is of importance. Trait aggression is the extent to which a person is aggressive by nature. Differences in trait aggression could result in different reactions to aggressive music and lyrics. Individual differences in trait aggression arise from differences in each individual life episode and as something that develops from life experiences (Greitemeyer, 2011). Accordingly, Savage and Yancey (2008) state that personal differences in education level and the level of education of the parents can have an effect on whether people will react in an aggressive manner when coming into contact with aggressive media content. A third factor that could influence the way someone will react to aggressive music is the level of previous media
exposure (Ybarra et al., 2008). These individual differences have to be taken into account when comparing state aggression, in relation to music and lyrics, among emerging adults.
Music and lyrics
To understand how music itself can influence emerging adults, it is needed to look at how music and lyrics communicate emotions. Lyrics are the words to a song. As with other texts, lyrics can vary among a wide range of subjects. Lyrics, like other texts, can convey different feelings and thoughts among the recipient (Anderson et al., 2003).
Music can communicate different emotions. For example, McFarland (1984) found that people who listened to tense music had the most unpleasant emotions as opposed to people who listened to calm music. The sound of, and accordingly the feel to, the music has shown to be an important factor in determining what kind of effect the music and lyrics can have on the listener (Mori & Iwanaga, 2013). Happy music elicited more happy feeling among listeners, regardless of the lyrics. Accordingly sad sounding music elicited more sad feelings among listeners.
Music having an effect on a person’s emotional state is an outcome of the use of different auditory properties of music, such as tempo, tonality, texture, and complexity (Lantos & Craton, 2012). The speed of a piece of music is called tempo and is measured in beats per minute (bpm). Tonality is the use of minor or major melody and chord structures. This determines what a song will sound like, for example happy or sad. Texture refers to the sound, the use of different musical instruments will result in different textures as they differ in the type of sound they produce. An example of different texture is the fact that a guitar has a different sound compared to a piano. The complexity of a song is determined by the use of aforementioned musical
of music sounds. The addition of aggressive lyrics are said to make this effect even stronger (Brummert Lennings & Warburton, 2011).
Exposure to songs with aggressive lyrics can increase aggression-related thoughts and feelings and decrease prosocial thoughts (Greitemeyer, 2009; Fischer & Greitemeyer, 2006). On the contrary, exposure to music including prosocial lyrics has shown to reduce aggression among listeners (Greitemeyer, 2011). Thus, the type and subject of the lyrics seem to have an effect on the listener, whether generating positive thoughts or negative thoughts.
Regardless of the presence of lyrics, aggressive music can elicit greater aggression among listeners than listening to no musical stimulus at all (Brummert Lennings & Warburton, 2011). Though the use of lyrics intensifies and adds to the potential effect of the music (Mori & Iwanaga, 2013). The effect of music and lyrics on aggression-related thoughts can be conceptualized as a double dose effect. In this case, the use of both aggressive music and aggressive lyrics are expected to intensify the effect on aggression-related thoughts among the listeners. Brummert Lennings and Warburton (2011) have found similar effects that show congruent messages can amplify each other. They found a double dose effect for violent music and violent visuals, such as video. The results showed a combination of these two forms of media can amplify aggressive behavior among university students and staff.
Although several studies have shown the potential effects of music and lyrics on
aggression, other studies found no relation between music and lyrics, and cognitive, affective or behavioral change. Wester et al. (1997) stated music solely does not have an effect on changing men’s attitudes towards women. Within this research 60 undergraduate males were exposed to gangster rap music, which included sexually violent lyrics, after which their sexual attitude to
women was measured. Similarly, Sprankle et al. (2012) found no significant relation between music (including lyrics and videos) and males’ sexual aggression towards women. The reason why some studies find a significant effect, and others do not, could lie within various covariates. Several covariates have been investigated in previous studies (e.g. Mori & Iwanaga, 2003; North et al., 2005; Fischer & Greitemeyer, 2006; Mulder et al., 2007; Brummert Lennings & Warburton, 2011; Sprankle et al., 2012). Based on these studies the following nine covariates were taken into account.
The first covariate is gender. Men tend to react stronger to aggressive music, thus becoming more aggressive as opposed to women (Fischer & Greitemeyer, 2006). Fisher and Greitemeyer (2006) have stated that though both genders react in a more aggressive manner after listening to aggressive music, men react the strongest after exposure.
The second covariate that was implemented is trait aggression. People who score high on trait aggression are expected to have higher increased state aggression when listening to
aggressive music as opposed to people who score lower on trait aggression (Brummert Lennings & Warburton, 2011). It has been argued that when a person is more aggressive in nature that this person would react stronger to aggressive stimuli as it is easier to revert to aggressiveness.
Thirdly, in the process of music and lyrics having a possible effect on its listener the empathetic nature of a person could be of importance. When a person scores high on trait
empathy, said person is suspected to react stronger to music (Vuoskoski & Earola, 2012). In their study Vuoskoski and Earola (2012) found that people listening to sad music became genuinely sadder when they scored high on trait empathy as opposed to people who were less empathetic by nature. In this case, trait empathy can be defined as an individual’s responsivity to the observed
experiences of another, involving both perspective-taking capabilities or tendencies, and emotional reactivity.
The fourth and fifth covariates included in this study are based on a study by Sprankle et al. (2012). Sprankle et al. (2012) found that men’s aggression towards women only increases after hearing an aggressive song when taking previous media exposure and violent media
exposure into account. They suggest that the more a person uses certain media content, the easier it will be for said person to react to that certain media content. According to Sprankle et al. (2012) a person utilizes media in order to fulfill a certain demand. If a person deliberately searches for aggressive media content, this results in a stronger reaction to that type of media content. For this reason general media exposure and more specifically, exposure to violent media are included in this current research.
The sixth and seventh covariates that are included in this study are education level and parent education level. According to Savage and Yancey (2008) education level, as well as parent education level, could correlate with exposure to television violence and actual aggression among its viewers. The researchers found a relation of increase in exposure to television violence leading to more aggression among its viewers. Though this effect size was small they concluded that including education level or parent education level increased the effect size.
Furthermore, people with a liking for aggressive music genres, such as hip-hop or heavy metal, are said to have more aggression-related thoughts in general. Thus, the liking for a certain genre of music can determine whether listening to aggressive music results in more reported aggression (North et al., 2005; Mulder et al., 2007). According to Mulder et al. (2007) a liking for rock-related genres, such as heavy metal, could lead to more self-harm, whilst a liking for
hip-hop could lead to more aggression towards other persons. The effect is not due to the listeners copying the behavior of the artist, however these effects are attributed to the subjects of the lyrics in these music genres (North et al., 2005). These lyrics, more than other genres, deal with anti-authoritarian subjects that could cause the same effect to occur among its listeners (Mulder et al., 2007).
Lastly, Mori and Iwanaga (2013) suggested the mother tongue of the listener is of importance for the potential effects of music on people. People who hear songs in their mother tongue are deemed to be more susceptible to the effects due to better understanding of the lyrics. The research of Mori and Iwanaga (2013) showed a relation between understanding of the lyrics and the effect on its listener. When sung in the mother tongue of the listener happy music with sad lyrics were considered to be ‘sad’. On the other hand, when sad lyrics were sung in a foreign, thus understandable, language with happy music, the entire composition was still deemed to be ‘happy’. As this study solely focuses on Dutch speaking emerging adults the extent to which the lyrics are understood is implemented.
Current study
In summary, most studies have found a potential positive effect of aggressive music and aggressive lyrics on state aggression and prosocial thoughts (e.g. Anderson, Carnagy, & Eubanks, 2003; Brummert Lennings & Warburton, 2011; Bushman & Huesmann, 2006). However, these studies did not take any covariates into account.For this reason, besides the expected main effect of music and lyrics, nine covariates were taken into account such as gender, trait aggression, trait empathy, media exposure, violent media exposure, education level, parent education level, music preference, and understanding of the lyrics.The aim of the current study is to fill this gap in the
literature and determine whether different music (aggressive vs. neutral) and different lyrics (aggressive vs. neutral) have an effect on aggressive and prosocial thoughts among emerging adults. It was investigated whether the music or the lyrics are most important when, and if, related to triggering aggressive and prosocial thoughts. It was expected that an emerging adult would rate a piece of music as more aggressive when the music itself is more aggressive, independent of the lyrics. Accordingly a combination of aggressive lyrics and aggressive music were expected to result in more aggressive thoughts and less prosocial thoughts, as opposed to other combinations (see Figure 1).
Method Participants and design
The sample consists of 55 emerging adults. The participants all belonged to the
developmental stage of emerging adulthood; in this case the participants were between 18 and 35 years of age. Each participant was randomly assigned to an experimental group. The sample consisted 36% females and the average age was 25.7 years old (SD = 3.87). Group 1 included 12 participants (8% females, age: M = 24.9, SD = 3.94), Group 2 included 14 participants (50% females, age: M = 26.6, SD = 3.25), Group 3 included a total of 14 participants (36% females, age:
M = 26.1, SD = 3.28), and Group 4 had a total of 15 participants (47% females, age: M = 25.2, SD = 4.90).
To answer the research questions a two (aggressive/neutral music) x two (aggressive/neutral lyrics) quasi-experimental design was conducted (see Table 1). Stimuli
Four different songs were chosen that reflect the different aspects that had to be tested: aggressive/neutral music and aggressive/neutral lyrics. The music was chosen on grounds of tempo, tonality, texture, and complexity (Lantos & Craton, 2012). The lyrics were chosen on grounds of their content (see Appendix A).
The participants were assigned to listen to one of the four songs. For Group 1 a song by
Vents called “Hard To Kill” was chosen. This hip-hop song uses a high tempo, a minor key, and has a dense texture. These features give the song arguably a complex and aggressive feel. The lyrics of this song deal with murder, drug use, death, and hate.
For Group 2 the song ‘Fight The Power’ by Public Enemy was chosen. This hip-hop song uses a high tempo, minor key, and has a dense texture similar to the song for Group 1. Though the lyrics take a neutral point of view and deal with equal racial rights without using aggressive terms related to murder, drug use, etc.
For Group 3 the song ‘April 26, 1992’ by the band Sublime was chosen. This reggae song uses slow tempo, and a major key, thus sounding not too complex, which results in a neutral sound. The lyrics however deal with burglary, murder, riots, and starting fires. In the song the use of police recordings makes the aggressive aspect stronger.
Group 4 listened to a song called ‘Funky Kingston’ by Toots & The Maytals. This reggae song makes use of slow tempo, and a major key. This use makes the song not complex and makes the song sound neutral when it comes to aggression. The lyrics deal with nothing that could be deemed to be aggressive as the lyrics deal with the fact that the place Kingston in Jamaica is a funky and fun place to be.
State aggression. The first scale used to measure state aggression is the Word Pair Similarity Task (WPST), which is based on a study by Bushman (1996). This task consists of rating the degree of association of word pairs. With a total of twenty words, a combination of aggressive words (e.g. ‘blood’ or ‘kill’) and non-aggressive, or ambiguous, words (e.g. ‘stick’ or ‘red’) can be made. Participants were presented with a certain aggressive or ambiguous word, for example ‘alley’. The participants’ task was to link nineteen other words to the given word by their perceived association to that word, either no association, average association, or good
association. For example the word ‘blood’ had to be linked to the given word ‘alley’. By doing so, word pairs were made. This resulted either in aggressive words linked to an aggressive word, ambiguous words linked to an aggressive word, or ambiguous words linked to ambiguous words. Two of theses tasks were implemented. First participants were asked to rate an ambiguous word, ‘alley’, on its association to nineteen words. Secondly the participants were asked to rate an aggressive word, ‘fight’, on its association to nineteen words. The more ambiguous-aggressive word pairs that were linked high for association, the higher the score for aggressive thoughts within the participant on a scale from one (very low state aggression) to five (very high state aggression) (M = 2.52, SD = 0.59). The reliability for this scale turned out to be good, with Cronbach’s alpha = .97.
The second scale to measure state aggression is the State Hostility Scale (SHS). This scale consists of 35 items to measure change in a participant’s state in relation to aggression (Anderson et al., 1995) (see Appendix B for the items of the SHS). This scale measures to which extent the participant lacks positive feelings, feels unsociable, feels mean, and feels aggravated. The reliability of this scale turned out to be good, Cronbach’s alpha = .94. Participants were asked to
rate the items on a 5-point Likert scale, with one being ‘not agree at all’ and five being ‘totally agree’ (M = 2.11, SD = 0.51). The higher the score on the items, the higher the total state aggression of the participant.
Prosocial thoughts. Prosocial thoughts were measured by 11 items that were part of the SHS. An example of an item was ‘I feel cooperative’. All 11 items are included in the SHS, and are starred with * (see Appendix B). These items were recoded so that the average in prosocial thoughts after the experimental stimulus could be calculated on a scale from one (very little prosocial thoughts) to five (very high prosocial thoughts) (M = 3.33, SD = 0.55). The reliability of this scale is good, Cronbach’s alpha = .82.
Covariates. A total of nine covariates were taken into account. First, to allow for checking for gender as covariate, the participants were asked whether they are male or female.
Secondly, trait aggression was measured by using the aggression questionnaire by Buss and Perry (1992). This questionnaire consists of 29 questions that measure trait aggression using four different scales: physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger, and hostility. Out of these scales an average score for trait aggression was calculated on a scale from one (very low trait aggression) to five (very high trait aggression) (M = 2.74, SD = 0.48). The reliability of this scale turned out to be good, Cronbach’s alpha = .86.
The third covariate that was taken into account in this study is trait empathy. This was done by using the Children and Adolescent Measure of Empathy and Sympathy (CAMES). The CAMES is a newly developed scale that measures affective empathy, cognitive empathy and sympathy (Vossen, Piotrowski, & Valkenburg, 2013). Twelve questions on a five-point Likert scale from one (completely disagree) to five (completely agree) were implemented. This scale
has shown to be reasonably reliable, Cronbach’s alpha = .77. Accordingly, mean scores for trait empathy have been calculated (M = 3.43, SD = 0.45).
As a fourth covariate, media exposure was included. To be able to take previous media exposure into account questions from a study by Lwin and Malik (2011) were added. These questions focused on media exposure among six different media types: watching TV, reading magazines, reading books/newspapers, playing video games, chatting online/use of social networking sites, and watching videos online. Participants were asked to fill out the amount of hours spend on the certain types of media during weekdays and during weekends. Accordingly, average hours of media exposure per week were calculated and these results show a wide range in average hours of media exposure among the participants (M = 8.20, SD = 5.14). The reliability of this scale turned out to be reasonably good, Cronbach’s alpha = .68.
Besides general media exposure, the participant’s previous exposure to violent media content was measured according to the research of Ybarra et al. (2008). The participants were asked the amount of fighting, pain, and murder they encountered when using media, such as: television, computer/video games, music, websites featuring real people, and websites featuring cartoons. Answer options were on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from ‘never’ to ‘always’. By doing so an average score for violent media exposure was calculated (M = 2.66, SD = 0.69). The reliability of this scale is reasonable, Cronbach’s alpha = .66
The sixth and seventh covariates focus on education level of the participants and their parents. When filling out the survey the participants were asked for their highest completed education level. The options were based on the Dutch education system: no education,
elementary school, three levels of high school, and three levels of tertiary education.1 Most participants enjoyed a form of higher tertiary education with 60% of the participants having completed the highest or second highest level of tertiary education.
To measure the education level of the parents of the participants, the participants were asked to rate the highest completed education level of their parents. Again these were based on the Dutch education system (no education, elementary school, three levels of high school, and three levels of tertiary education), though another option for ‘I don’t know’ was added (N = 2). Of the participants who knew the highest completed level of education of their parents the most parents have completed a form of higher tertiary education, with 60.4% of the parents having completed the highest or second highest level of tertiary education.
The eighth covariate that was used is music preference. In order to check for music
preference as a covariate, questions on music preferences were added to the survey (Mulder et al., 2007). Eleven music genres were included and the possible answers consisted of a five-point scale ranging from ‘dislike strongly’ to ‘like very much’. The genres that were included are (heavy) metal, punk/hardcore/grunge, rock, rap/hip-hop, soul/R&B, top40/charts, Dutch pop, house/trance/techno, club/mellow, classical music and jazz. The ratings were grouped to create an average score for liking aggressive music (rap/hip hop, punk/hardcore punk/grunge, (heavy) metal, rock, and soul/R&B) and neutral music (top40/charts, Dutch pop, house/trance/techno, club/mellow, classical music, and jazz) (Mulder et al., 2007). On average the participants showed
1
The Dutch equivalent of elementary school is ‘basisschool’. The three levels of high school are ‘MAVO’, ‘HAVO’, and ‘VWO’, with ‘MAVO’ being the lowest and ‘VWO’ the highest level. The three forms of tertiary education are ‘MBO’, ‘HBO’ and ‘WO’, with ‘MBO’ being the lowest level and ‘WO’ the highest.
a higher liking for aggressive music (M = 3.17, SD = 0.58) as opposed to neutral music (M = 2.80,
SD = 0.63). As it was expected that a liking for aggressive music could affect the expected main
effect solely ‘liking aggressive music’ was taken into account in this study. The scale for liking aggressive music has shown to be reasonably reliable after deleting the items for soul/R&B and rap/hip hop, Cronbach’s alpha is .73.
Lastly, the extent to which the lyrics were understood was included as a covariate. In order to measure the understanding of the lyrics the participants were asked to indicate to what extent they believed to have understood the lyrics after listening to one of the songs. This was done by asking participants to rate the statement ‘I understood the lyrics of the song’ on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from one (completely disagree) to five (completely agree) (M = 3.07, SD = 1.04).
Manipulation check. After listening to one of the assigned songs the participants were asked to rate the song on how aggressive the music sounded and on how aggressive the lyrics sounded. This was done by asking the participants to rate the statements ‘I think the music
sounded aggressive’ and ‘I think the lyrics sounded aggressive’ on a 5-point Likert scale with one being ‘completely disagree’ and five being ‘completely agree’.
Procedure
Informed consent was obtained from all participants. When obtaining informed consent the participants learned that this experiment focused on feelings evoked when listening to music. Participants participated via their own computer. Via a link posted on social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, the participants were guided to an online survey made in Qualtrics.
participants were asked to fill out a survey during which they listened to one of the assigned songs (see Appendix C). After listening to one of the assigned songs the survey continued. The average time spent on the survey was 38 minutes. Throughout the process the participants were assisted with written instructions.
Results Manipulation check
The songs were rated on how aggressive the music sounded according to the participants. According to the participants the four songs were significantly different on perceived aggression of the music (F (4, 49) = 7.85, p = .000, η = .39). Song 2 was rated as highest on perceived aggression of the music (M = 3.62, SD = 0.96), though was rated similar to song 3 (M = 3.50, SD = 0.86) and song 1 (M = 3.42, SD = 0.79). Song 4 was rated as sounding least aggressive (M = 1.53, SD = 0.64).
Furthermore the participants were asked to rate the aggressiveness of the lyrics. The songs were not significantly different on the aspect of perceived lyrical aggression (F (3, 50) = 2.66, p = .06, η = .14). On average, Song 4 was perceived to include the most aggressive lyrics (M = 2.13,
SD = 0.83). The other songs were rated similar (song 1: M = 1.42, SD = 0.79; song 2: M = 1.54, SD = 0.52; song 3: M = 1.50, SD = 0.65).
State aggression and prosocial thoughts
For each suspected main effect an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted with the scores of the WPST, SHS, or prosocial thoughts measured after listening to one of the songs as the dependent variable and the variable of the different songs as the independent variable. When
the four groups were compared on both measures of state aggression and on the measure of prosocial thoughts no significant differences were found (see Table 2).
Covariates
As the suspected main effects have not shown any significant results the effects of covariates were explored. To investigate whether any of the covariates changes the suspected main effects analyses of variance (ANCOVA) were conducted for each covariate. The scores on the WPST, the SHS, or prosocial thoughts were entered as the dependent variable and the four different songs as the independent variables variable. The analyses including the nine covariates did not result in significant scores on any of the suspected main effects (see Table 3).
Discussion
The main aim of this study was to investigate the relation between aggressive music or aggressive lyrics, or combination of both, on state aggression and prosocial thoughts. It can be concluded state aggression and prosocial thoughts do not change after hearing either aggressive music or aggressive lyrics, or a combination of both. The aggressiveness of a song cannot be seen as a cause for changes in state aggression or prosocial thoughts.
If an aggressive song does make a person become more aggressive, or having less prosocial thoughts this could be because of other variables influencing this process. In order to investigate this possibility nine covariates were taken into account in this study though none has shown to change the effect of aggressive music or lyrics on state aggression or prosocial thoughts. These findings add to the research of Brummert Lennings and Warburton (2011), who studied several similar covariates in relation to aggressive songs and visuals and the possible effect on people’s state aggression. Within this study none of the covariates have shown to have an effect.
The non-findings in this current study are consistent withWester et al. (1997) who stated aggressive music or aggressive lyrics does not have an effect on men’s attitudes towards women. Furthermore, Sprankle et al. (2012) did not find an effect of aggressive music on men’s
aggression towards women. Accordingly, this study investigated the possible effect of aggressive visuals, though this neither had an effect on men’s aggression towards women. This current study broadens these findings to an extent that it can be stated that aggressive music or aggressive lyrics, or a combination of both, does not have an effect on state aggression in general.
On the contrary, these findings are inconsistent withFischer and Greitemeyer (2006) and Greitemeyer (2009, 2011) who did find an effect for lyrics, either aggressive or prosocial, on state aggression and prosocial thoughts. Though within these studies the use of aggressive music did not seem to have an effect, nor did the use of aggressive music add to or change the effect of aggressive lyrics. The results of these studies are solely based on the aggressive lyrics and this showed to have the strongest effect on men as compared to women. Furthermore these studies were conducted in an experimental setting thus it can be questioned to what extent these findings will uphold in a real-life setting.
Within this current study two important points should be mentioned, which could explain the non-findings of this current study.
Aggressive music
First, the rating of the aggressive nature of the music could be a reason for the lack of significant results. Even though the songs were chosen based on the variables proposed by Lantos and Craton (2012) such as tempo, tonality, texture, and complexity, this is yet to be studied more extensively in relation to the aggressive nature of a song. Though the participants rated the songs
that were supposed to include aggressive music as being aggressive, they rated song 3, which was supposed to be neutral, as being similarly aggressive.
In previous research the variable of aggressive music has predominantly been based on genres that are deemed to be aggressive such as hip-hop or heavy metal (e.g. Wester et al., 1997) or has been based on self-reports from the participants in order to select what music sounds aggressive (e.g. Anderson, Carnagy, & Eubanks, 2003; Fisher & Greitemeyer, 2006). Furthermore Brummert Lennings and Warburton (2011) chose aggressive music through an extensive search on the Internet using keywords such as ‘violent songs’, ‘angry songs’ and ‘hate songs’, and have accordingly rated these songs on its arousability of the musical tone. Though the researchers did not explain these choices, nor were these choices supported by scientific evidence.
These examples show that there is a lack of prescribed musical features in relation to the aggressive nature of the music. Future research should investigate what features of music exactly make a song to sound aggressive.
Understanding of the lyrics
Secondly, the assumption of Mori and Iwanaga (2013) that the extent to which the lyrics are understood could have an effect on the listener could still be valid. Within this research the lyrics were chosen based on its aggressive content, or lack of aggressive content. Though no significant differences were found for the perceived aggressiveness of the lyrics. The
self-assessment of the aggressive nature of the lyrics by the participants could be a reason for the non-findings in the current study. Even though the participants indicated to have understood the lyrics this might not actually be the case.
The participants could be influenced by social desirability, which is the tendency to give positive self-descriptions (Paulhus, 2002). It could be possible, contrary to the findings in this study, that non-native speakers are not able to comprehend the English lyrics to the extent that native speakers can. Accordingly, this could be the reason that none of the main effects had a significant effect on state aggression or prosocial thoughts.
Furthermore, aforementioned statements make findings and conclusions of research focusing solely on native speakers not to be generalized to populations including non-native speakers. Future research should focus more extensively on the possible different effects of aggressive lyrics on native speakers in comparison to non-native speakers and thus should take the variable of differences in mother tongue into account.
Limitations
Within this study at least three limitations can be identified. Future research should take these limitations into account. First, even though this study did not reveal any effect of aggressive music or lyrics, these non-findings are solely based on short-term effects. This does not eliminate the possibility of long-term effects. Long-term effects require learning, more specifically it requires the learning (encoding) of scripts, schemas, or beliefs. If a person is exposed to
aggressive music or lyrics over a longer period of time it is possible that this person will develop scripts, schemas, or beliefs related to the aggressive nature and content of the aggressive music or lyrics.
A second limitation to this study is that within this research the focus has solely been on music and lyrics. Numerous scholars found an effect of aggressive songs accompanied by
aggressive visuals to increase people’s aggression (e.g. Anderson, Berkowitz, et al., 2003; Anderson & Dill, 2000; Bushman, 1995, 1998).
Oftentimes other forms of media, for example visuals in the form of a video, accompany a song. When a song is accompanied by a video the effects on the recipient can be different, and can arguably be stronger. For example, a video can be used to clarify the lyrics and add to the effect by doing so. Accordingly, this would make it possible for non-native speakers to understand the topic of the lyrics, without understanding the actual lyrics.
Though previous research has not found a one-sided answer on the possible of effects of music and music videos. For example, Brummert Lennings and Warburton (2011) did find an effect for aggressive lyrics on the participants, though this effect did not become stronger when visuals were added. This falls in line with the study of Sprankle et al. (2012) who did not find an effect of aggressive videos, though this study did not show an effect for aggressive lyrical content either.
On the contrary Ward, Hansbrough, and Walker (2005) did find an effect of music videos. In their study they found that increase in exposure to music videos resulted in more traditional gender believes among African American adolescent males.
A third limitation to this research is that the non-findings are based on emerging adults. Some studies have made comparisons between several age groups, for example Bushman and Huesmann (2006) compared adults with children and concluded violent media to have a stronger effect on adults. It could be possible that when focusing on other developmental periods in life, such as childhood or adolescence, the results could be different. Again, results from previous research do not show a clear answer to these possible differences. Some studies have proved
aggressive songs to have an effect on adolescents or children (e.g. Martino et al., 2006;
Strasburger et al., 2009), though Rickson and Watkins (2003) concluded listening to music does not change aggressive adolescent boy’s prosocial intentions.
Within this current study no effects were found for aggressive music or aggressive lyrics, or a combination of both, on state aggression or prosocial thoughts among emerging adults. Though this current study has identified two main challenges for future research, which will be to select appropriate (musical) stimuli and the need to distinguish between native and non-native speakers. More research is needed into what features within music will result in said music to sound aggressive. Furthermore, there is a possible difference between native and non-native speakers in relation to the possible effects of aggressive English lyrics on state aggression and prosocial thoughts.
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Table 1
Quasi-Experimental Design Used in this Study
Music
Aggressive Neutral Lyrics Agressive Group 1 Group 2
Table 2
Results for Analyses of Variance (ANOVA) of the Expected Main Effects
Aggressive Music Neutral Music ANOVA F-test Aggressive lyrics M,(SD) Neutral lyrics M,(SD) Aggressive lyrics M,(SD) Neutral lyrics M,(SD) State Aggression (WPST) 2.30, (3.19) 3.12, (3.89) 2.58, (2.90) 2.14, (2.07) F (3, 46) = 0.25, p = .86, η = .02 State Aggression (SHS) 2.04, (0.47) 2.28, (0.66) 2.14, (0.46) 2.04, (0.50) F (3, 42) = 0.50, p = .69, η = .03 Prosocial Thoughts 3.52, (0.42) 3.03, (0.64) 3.35, (0.56) 3.40, (0.49) F (3, 48) = 1.80, p = .16, η = .10
Note. Group 1: Aggressive Music + Aggressive Lyrics, Group 2: Aggressive Music + Neutral
Table 3
Effect of Covariate on Suspected Main Effects (ANCOVA)
WPST SHS Prosocial Thoughts Gender F (3, 45) = 0.32, p = .81, η = .02 F (3, 41) = 0.56, p = .65, η = .04 F (3, 47) = 1.57, p = .21, η = .09 Trait aggression F (3, 43) = 0.42, p = .74, η = .03 F (3, 39) = 2.32, p = .09, η = .15 F (3, 45) = 2.74, p = .05, η = .15 Trait empathy F (3, 45) = 0.33, p = .80, η = .02 F (3, 41) = 0.56, p = .65, η = .04 F (3, 47) = 1.46, p = .24, η = .09 Violent media exposure F (3, 40) = 0.76, p = .52, η = .05 F (3, 37) = 0.66, p = .58, η = .05 F (3, 42) = 1.69, p = .18, η = .11 Media exposure F (3, 10) = 3.54, p = .06, η = .52 F (3, 8) = 0.31, p = .82, η = .11 F (3, 10) = 2.33, p = .14, η = .41 Education level F (3, 45) = 0.27, p = .85, η = .02 F (3, 41) = 0.89, p = .45, η = .06 F (3, 47) = 2.08, p = .12, η = .12 Parent education level F (3, 45) = 0.42, p = .74, η = .03 F (3, 40) = 0.57, p = .64, η = .04 F (3, 46) = 1.73, p = .17, η = .10 Music preference F (3, 45) = 0.23, p = .88, η = .02 F (3, 41) = 0.62, p = .61, η = .03 F (3, 47) = 1.69, p = .18, η = .10 Understanding of lyrics F (3, 45) = 0.11, p = .95, η = .01 F (3, 41) = 0.24, p = .87, η = .02 F (3, 47) = 1.06, p = .38, η = .06
Appendix A Lyrics to the Songs
Song 1: Vents – Hard To Kill
"As I come back" "Vents One"
Word em' up yo
Hard to breathe and hard to chill The balaclava mask appeal '89 pop loud, ghetto blast the fill I'm Seagal Hard To Kill
Marked for death, for whatever bastard I miss to calm at will Get em' then cause and effect
Had to let em' roast, get em' close then hit em' with a fucking hungry ghost I left battle rap alone
Stuck to savaging the machine, chew and laugh on the bone She went kinda nuts when I fucked with the top shelf "Mr. Trials" getting down with your bad self
This aperteister, fuck the police ya Take the power back, rhymes ell' beat ya to death, caress, Waco text
Floats advertise for the same, no less Break the ground rules don't take no mess Born to bleed this life of death but hard to kill
"As I come back" "Vents One"
So where we at
We're going to a terrible place Paranoid, clinical, unbearable case Deep in the third rhyme medical waste I reign terror, 6 there - federal state
And who you be? Vents One you knew me Low-key go to work like call no de?? Get a little bit of land so I could get free
Grow my own shit then chill and stay hard to kill
Killing a terrible thing to waste, post hate
But a rock won't take the style, we killing the rock with state of art Ke Sara, you better prey that ya
java lie crisp then caress in the pagans star
In the great southern land where I roam
Prone to outbursts so take my stain with a bad habit
Fuck Fred Durst, we making them rust in peace, it's the ones deceased Re-born then release the rise in the East
The sum of a thousand mad men on May The First, survive secarian birth Residing in material, rank and serial number
Born with a barcode implanted in my brain Torture lies authorised by the law
But I foresaw your demise
"As I come back" "Vents One"
So where we at
We're going to a terrible place Paranoid, clinical, unbearable case Deep in the third rhyme medical waste I reign terror, 6 there - federal state
And who you be? Vents One you knew me Low-key go to work like call no de?? Need a little bit of land so I could get free
Song 2: Public Enemy – Fight The Power
1989 the number another summer (get down) Sound of the funky drummer
Music hittin' your heart cause I know you got sould (Brothers and sisters hey)
Listen if you're missin' y'all Swingin' while I'm singin' Givin' whatcha gettin' Knowin' what I know
While the Black bands sweatin' And the rhythm rhymes rollin' Got to give us what we want Gotta give us what we need
Our freedom of speech is freedom or death We got to fight the powers that be
Lemme hear you say Fight the power
Chorus
What counts is that the rhymes Designed to fill your mind
Now that you've realized the prides arrived We got to pump the stuff to make us tough from the heart
It's a start, a work of art
To revolutionize make a change nothin's strange People, people we are the same
No we're not the same
Cause we don't know the game
What we need is awareness, we can't get careless You say what is this?
My beloved lets get down to business Mental self defensive fitness
(Yo) bum rush the show
You gotta go for what you know
Make everybody see, in order to fight the powers that be Lemme hear you say...
Fight the Power
Elvis was a hero to most
But he never meant ---- to me you see Straight up racist that sucker was Simple and plain
Mother---- him and John Wayne Cause I'm Black and I'm proud I'm ready and hyped plus I'm amped
Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps Sample a look back you look and find
Nothing but rednecks for 400 years if you check Don't worry be happy
Was a number one jam
Damn if I say it you can slap me right here (Get it) lets get this party started right Right on, c'mon
What we got to say
Power to the people no delay To make everybody see
In order to fight the powers that be
Song 3: Sublime – April 29, 1992
I don't know if you can,
But can you get an owner for Ons, That's O-N-S,Junior Market, The address is 1934 East Aneheim, All the windows are busted out, And it's like a free-for-all in here And uh the owner shouldat least come
Down here and see if he can secure his business, If he wants to...
April 26th, 1992,
There was a riot on the streets, Tell me where were you?
You were sittin' home watchin' your TV, While I was paticipatin' in some anarchy.
First spot we hit it was my liqour store. I finally got all that alcohol I can't afford. With red lights flashin' time to retire,
Next stop we hit it was the music shop,
It only took one brick to make that window drop. Finally we got our own p.a.
Where do you think I got this guitar that you're hearing today? Hey!
(call fire, respond mobil station. Alamidos in Anahiem,
Its uhh flamin up good. 10-4 Alamidos in Anaheim)
Never doin no time
When we returned to the pad to unload everything, It dawned on me that I need new home furnishings. So once again we filled the van until it was full,
Since that day my livin' room's been more comfortable.
Cause everybody in the hood has had it up to here,
It's getting harder and harder and harder each and every year.
I saw her when she came out she was gettin some pampers.
They said it was for the black man, They said it was for the mexican, And not for the white man.
But if you look at the streets it wasn't about Rodney King, It's bout this fucked up situation and these fucked up police. It's about coming up and staying on top
And screamin' 187 on a mother fuckin' cop. It's not written on the paper it's on the wall. National guard??!
Smoke from all around,
Bo! bo! bo!
(units, units be advised there is an attempt 211 to arrest now at 938 temple, 938 temple... 30 subjects with bags.. tryin to get inside the cb's house)
(as long as I'm alive, I'mma live illegal)
Wanna let it burn, wanna wanna let it burn
(I'm feelin' Sad and Blue)
Riots on the streets of Miami, Oh, Riots on the streets of Chicago, Oh, on the streets of Long Beach,
Mmm, and San Francisco (Boise Idaho), Riots on the streets of Kansas City (Salt Lake, Hunnington Beach, CA),
Tuscalusa Alabama (Arcada Compton Mischigan), Cleveland Ohio,
Fountain Valley (Texas, Barstow - Let's do this every year), Bear Mountain, Vista View (Twice a Year),
Eugene OR, Eureka CA (Let it burn, let it burn),
Hesperia (Oh, ya let it burn, wont'cha wont'cha let it burn), Santa Barbara,Cuyamca, Nevada, (let it burn)
Phoenix Arizona,
San Diego, Lakewood Florida, (let it burn) Fuckin... 29 palms (wontcha let it burn)
Structure fire, and numerous subjects looting
10-15 to get rid of this looter..
10-4
Song 4: Toots & The Maytals – Funky Kingston
Everybody, give it to me huh Hey Hey Hey
I want you to believe every word I say I want you to believe every thing I do I said music is what I've got to give and I've got to find some way to make it Music is what I've got baby
I want you to come on and shake it shake it shake it baby
oh yeah hey na na na...
oh yeah..na na na
Funky (x3)
oh yeah
Funky Kingston, yeah is what I've got for you Funky Kingston
oh yeah
Lemme hear your funky guitar yo reggae
hear the piano, stick it to me
watch me now you watch me now
Playing from east to west yeah I just play from north to south, yeah I love black America
people keep on asking me for Funky Kingston
But I ain't got none
Appendix B State Hostility Scale Items Current Mood
Please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with each of the following mood
statements. Use the following 5 point rating scale. Write the number corresponding to your rating on the blank line in front of each statement.
Strongly Disagree – Disagree – Neither Agree/Disagree – Agree – Strongly Agree
1 2 3 4 5 ____ I feel furious. ____ I feel willful. ____ I feel aggravated. ____ I feel tender.* ____ I feel stormy. ____ I feel polite.* ____ I feel discontented.
____ I feel like banging on a table. ____ I feel irritated.
____ I feel frustrated. ____ I feel kindly.* ____ I feel unsociable.
____ I feel outraged. ____ I feel agreeable.* ____ I feel angry. ____ I feel offended. ____ I feel disgusted. ____ I feel tame.*
____ I feel like I’m about to explode. ____ I feel friendly.* ____ I feel understanding.* ____ I feel amiable.* ____ I feel mad. ____ I feel mean. ____ I feel bitter. ____ I feel burned up.
____ I feel like yelling at somebody. ____ I feel cooperative.*
____ I feel like swearing. ____ I feel cruel.
____ I feel good-natured.* ____ I feel disagreeable. ____ I feel enraged. ____ I feel sympathetic.*
____ I feel vexed.
*Item measures prosocial thoughts. The asterisks are not present in the scale when presented to research participants.
Appendix C The Survey Music and Emerging Adults
Q1 Bedankt voor het meedoen aan dit onderzoek. Dit onderzoek is bedoeld om kennis op te doen omtrent gevoelens in relatie tot muziek. Het meedoen aan dit onderzoek duurt ongeveer 20 minuten. We willen benadrukken dat we graag je mening willen weten, vul de vragen alsjeblieft naar waarheid in. Er zijn geen goede of foute antwoorden. De antwoorden zullen uitsluitend voor dit onderzoek gebruikt worden en zullen compleet anoniem worden behandeld. Tijdens het onderzoek zal gevraagd worden naar een stuk muziek te luisteren. Het is dus belangrijk dat je geluid kunt luisteren via je computer, eventueel via een koptelefoon of via de
Q2 Wat is je geslacht? Man (1)
Vrouw (2) Q3 Hoe oud ben je?
If Hoe oud ben je? Is Less Than 18, Then Skip To End of Survey
Q4 Wat is je hoogst genoten opleiding? Geen opleiding genoten (1)
Basisschool (2) Middelbare school (3) MBO (4) HBO (5) WO (6) HAVO (7) VWO (8)
Q32 Wat is de hoogst genoten opleiding van je ouders? (Kies de hoogste opleiding) Geen opleiding genoten (1)
Basisschool (2) MAVO (3) MBO (4) HBO (5) WO (6)
Ik weet het niet (7) HAVO (8)
VWO (9) Q14 Waar woon je? Stad (1)
Dorp (2) Platteland (3)
