Employing music exposure to reduce prejudice and discrimination

Abstract

Whereas previous research has mainly focused on negative effects of listening to music on intergroup attitudes and behavior, the present three experiments examined whether music exposure could reduce prejudice and discrimination. In fact, those participants who had listened to songs with pro-integration (relative to neutral) lyrics expressed less prejudice (Studies 1 and 3) and were less aggressive against (Study 2) and more helpful toward an outgroup member (Study 3). These effects were unaffected by song liking as well as mood and arousal properties of the songs employed, suggesting that it is indeed the pro-integration content of the lyrics that drives the effects. It is discussed to what extent music exposure could be employed to effectively reduce prejudice and discrimination in the real world.

Turning Our Gaze to Prosocial Media Effects: What is and isn’t Known

“…Playing a prosocial video game for only 20 minutes prompted participants to be more helpful toward the partner by assigning them more easy puzzles. Similar short-term effects have been found for listening to music with prosocial lyrics (Greitemeyer, 2009a(Greitemeyer, , 2009bGreitemeyer & Schwab, 2014). In one study, 53% of participants were willing to donate money to a nonprofit organization after listening to songs with prosocial lyrics, compared to 31% among participants who listened to neutral songs (Greitemeyer, 2009a).…”

Effects of prosocial lyrics and musical production elements on emotions, thoughts and behavior

“…Greitemeyer, Hollingdale and Traut-Mattausch (2015) showed that listeners' attitudes and behaviours towards women were positively enhanced after the reception of songs with lyrics that advocate gender equality. Other studies reported that listening to music with prosocial lyrics is associated with less prejudice and discrimination (Greitemeyer & Schwab, 2014), less risky driving behaviour (Greitemeyer, 2013) and less antisocial behaviour (Greitemeyer, 2011). Yu and colleagues (2019) showed that even song lyrics without accompanying music can enhance prosocial behaviour.…”

“Where is the love?” Topics and prosocial behavior in German popular music lyrics from 1954 to 2014

“…These findings come mostly from a series of experimental studies conducted by Greitemeyer (2009a, 2009b, 2013) and the field studies of Jacob, Guéguen, and Boulbry (2010) and Ruth (2017a). Other studies have shown that this kind of music can decrease antisocial behavior (Böhm, Ruth, & Schramm, 2016; Greitemeyer, 2011; Greitemeyer & Schwab, 2014). In a longitudinal study, Coyne and Padilla-Walker (2015) showed that the long-term effect of prosocial content is rather small compared with the effects of aggressive and sexual lyrics.…”