Summary article Effects of songs with romantic lyrics on compliance with a courtship request
•Music and song lyrics have the ability to influence people’s behaviour.
•It is well established that exposure to violent media increases aggressive behaviour, thoughts and
feelings and decreases the probability of expressing prosocial behaviour. The same effects were
found with violent video games.
•These effects of violent or aggressive media on aggression-related variables were explained by the
general aggression model. According to this model, exposure to violent or aggressive media could
lead to the activation of various internal states such as affect, cognition, physiological or cognitive
arousal in an individual that led him/her, in return, to misinterpret a social situation and to respond
in an aggressive way.
•The general learning model (GLM) states that media exposure in general, and not only aggressive
or violent media, affects the internal states of individuals, which explains why prosocial media
fosters prosocial outcomes.
•The purpose of the study was to expand the validity of the GLM model by showing that further
media content that is not associated with aggression, violence or prosociality can affect behaviours
other than aggressive or prosocial behaviours.
Discussion.
•The hypothesis is supported by the results. Listening to romantic song lyrics, relative to neutral
ones, increased the probability of accepting a request for a date some minutes later. This effect
confirms the behavioural effect of exposure to media content.
•For the first time, it was found that the effect of media exposure affects another individual’s
behavioural response with no relation to aggressive or prosocial thoughts, feelings nad behaviours.
•Why did this effect occur in this experiment? Previous research found that music had the ability
to induce positive affect and that positive affect is related with receptivity in a courtship request. It
is also possible that the romantic song acted as a prime that, in turn, led to the display of
behaviour associated with this prime.
Leesvragen
Vraag 1: Welke onderzoeksvraag staat centraal in deze studie?
Vraag 2: Wat waren de belangrijkste bevindingen van deze studie?
Vraag 3: Op welke manier verklaren de auteurs deze bevinding?
•Music and song lyrics have the ability to influence people’s behaviour.
•It is well established that exposure to violent media increases aggressive behaviour, thoughts and
feelings and decreases the probability of expressing prosocial behaviour. The same effects were
found with violent video games.
•These effects of violent or aggressive media on aggression-related variables were explained by the
general aggression model. According to this model, exposure to violent or aggressive media could
lead to the activation of various internal states such as affect, cognition, physiological or cognitive
arousal in an individual that led him/her, in return, to misinterpret a social situation and to respond
in an aggressive way.
•The general learning model (GLM) states that media exposure in general, and not only aggressive
or violent media, affects the internal states of individuals, which explains why prosocial media
fosters prosocial outcomes.
•The purpose of the study was to expand the validity of the GLM model by showing that further
media content that is not associated with aggression, violence or prosociality can affect behaviours
other than aggressive or prosocial behaviours.
Discussion.
•The hypothesis is supported by the results. Listening to romantic song lyrics, relative to neutral
ones, increased the probability of accepting a request for a date some minutes later. This effect
confirms the behavioural effect of exposure to media content.
•For the first time, it was found that the effect of media exposure affects another individual’s
behavioural response with no relation to aggressive or prosocial thoughts, feelings nad behaviours.
•Why did this effect occur in this experiment? Previous research found that music had the ability
to induce positive affect and that positive affect is related with receptivity in a courtship request. It
is also possible that the romantic song acted as a prime that, in turn, led to the display of
behaviour associated with this prime.
Leesvragen
Vraag 1: Welke onderzoeksvraag staat centraal in deze studie?
Vraag 2: Wat waren de belangrijkste bevindingen van deze studie?
Vraag 3: Op welke manier verklaren de auteurs deze bevinding?
