Curious to know what many of you think of this...I'm sure it's probably been debated here before. http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/05/05/violent.music.reut/index.html Study: Violent music boosts aggressive thoughts Monday, May 5, 2003 Posted: 2:38 AM EDT (0638 GMT) LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Violent lyrics in songs increase aggression-related thoughts and emotions and could indirectly create a more hostile social environment, a study released on Sunday by a U.S. psychology association found. The Washington, D.C.-based American Psychological Association (APA) released the study, resulting from five experiments involving over 500 college students, in the May issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The violent songs increased feelings of hostility without provocation or threat, according to the study. It said the effect was not the result of differences in musical style, specific performing artist or arousal properties of the songs. Even the humorous violent songs increased aggressive thoughts, the study said. The group said the study contradicts a popular notion that listening to angry, violent music actually serves as a positive catharsis for people. The music industry came under criticism from lawmakers in October for failing to use more descriptive parental advisory labels that specify whether the music contains sex, violence or strong language. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has said that current CD labels give parents enough information without violating the right to free expression. The RIAA is the trade group for the world's five big labels, including AOL Time Warner Inc., EMI Group Plc, Bertelsmann AG, Vivendi Universal's Universal Music and Sony Corp. In response to pressure from Tipper Gore, the wife of former Vice President Al Gore, the industry agreed in 1985 to put labels on records that contain explicit sex or violence. At the time, artists said the labels were government-sponsored censorship. Rock and stick During the APA's five experiments, conducted by researchers from Iowa State University and the Texas Department of Human Services examined the effects of seven violent songs by seven artists and eight nonviolent songs by seven artists. After listening, students were given various psychological tasks to measure aggressive thoughts and feelings, including asking the participants to classify words that have both aggressive and nonaggressive meanings, like rock and stick. Results of the experiments showed that violent songs led to more aggressive interpretations of ambiguously aggressive words and increased the relative speed with which people read aggressive versus nonaggressive words. "Such aggression-biased interpretations can, in turn, instigate a more aggressive response, verbal or physical, than would have been emitted in a nonbiased state, thus provoking an aggressive escalatory spiral of antisocial exchanges," said researcher Craig Anderson, in a statement. While researchers said repeated exposure to violent lyrics could indirectly create a more hostile social environment, they said it was possible the effects of violent songs may last only a fairly short time.
I think it is somewhat true. Mainly applicable to teenage males with no direction in life or a poor upbringing.
This seems to be common sense to me. Your moods is influenced by things around you. Same reason that classical music tends to have a calming effect. This is really no different than the hollywood violence argument. If you're exposed to something over and over and over again, its going to become a part of your conciousness. Doesn't mean you're going to act on it -- of course the dumb response in the Hollywood argument is "I watch violent TV and I haven't killed anyone, so it can't be true!" -- but it certainly is going to influence thought processes.
pauses the Cannibal Corpse CD......how dare you , you m*********s, I'll whip your ***...my music doesnt make me violent...say it to my face you *****..... seriously...I have been listening to music that the various parental\governemental organizations claim causes violence...and I have never picked a fight...truth be told, I have onlybeen in one fight my entire life... I can see how some impulsive people that are prone to violence might use the music to feed off of...but I doubt that the music itself is responsible for it. It's not like the music can turn someone who is non-violent by nature into a violent psycho. Like in other cases, people are just looking for a scapegoat, and just like has happened over the years....music that they dont understand is the likely culprit.
i agree entirely...it's hard not to be influenced by music, one way or another. i find that i like certain music better at night than in the daytime...but music can absolutlely change your mood.
Is the Acolyte Protection Agency still together? I haven't seen them in a while. Who knew they discussed such a wide range of topics?
I'll be willing to believe them if they'll also come out with a study that says country music, r&b, and pop lowers iqs.
I know after listening to this, I fee like........going out to the mall and hitting on that chick that works at Marble Slab....booya!
so, what youy are saying is that you believe that music is enough to incite otherwise peaceful people to violence?? That you can take 50 otherwise peaceful, non-violent people and put them in a room listening to Slayer or Cannibal Corpse or some hardcore junk like that, and they will turn violent and start fighting amongst themselves? Comeon, that is a unrealistic jump in logic. Moods are one thing, translating a mood to physical action is quite another.
These guys also claimed homosexuality could be cured until the 70's when the leadership was closeted homosexual and they changed their stand. Wait til the rap generation grows up and into the leadership positions.
LMAO! I never, ever get sick of the Stuntaz. Do they (oh, please) actually have any MP3's or some such? Even if they're a complete joke, maybe somebody spent 5 minutes making some tracks.
Exactly! Violent people do violent things and listen to violent music. The whole arguement doesn't hold water. Hell, I listen to Weezer and Ben Folds Five and I'm not a dork...well...hmmm, maybe they're on to something. OK, I listen to Radiohead and I don't smoke dope. There!
I listen to U2 all the time and you don't see me trying to convince world leaders to help with the AIDS epedemic and bring debt relief to Africa?
Lol...thats basically along the lines of what I was gonna say. This study is stupid. I like this part of what the group said They just reached out there and said that without studying it. Just because your aggressiveness level goes up doesn't mean the music isn't helping you to get things out you normally couldn't. I dunno it seems to me that they are trying to hint at violent music causing more violence, which is just stupid.
Does watching Greek tragedies make people extra violent or want to sleep with their mothers? What about Shakespeare? I always thought it was funny that Manson said Helter Skelter was talking to him. It should have been Maxwell's Silver Hammer. PS - people who are calmed by "classical" music are ignorant.
