Pop psych: the impact of music and lyrics on emotion

Abstract

While the effects of music on emotion have been heavily researched, the added influence of lyrics is notoriously difficult to measure. Generally, negative music has been linked with decreased wellbeing and increased aggressive behaviour, but the specific contribution of lyrics remains largely unexplored. To further understand this interaction, original pop songs were written and produced to test the effect of lyrics while controlling for the effect of music. Using a 3 x 2 within-subject design, participants (N = 61) listened to songs in three categories – vitality, unease and sublimity – building on research by Zentner et al. (2008). Each category had two versions with either positive or negative lyrics. 172 words (86 positive, 86 negative) were selected from Warriner et al.’s (2013) database and incorporated into the three song pairs. The track order was counterbalanced between participants. After each song, perceived emotions were reported using the three-dimensional model (Schimmack & Grob, 2000). Participants also responded with felt levels of prosocial (or antisocial) sentiment induced by the stimuli. Intended music emotions were accurately perceived by participants. Importantly, songs with negative lyrics led to lower feelings of prosociality than songs with positive lyrics. This is the first empirical demonstration that lyrics have an effect on felt emotion above and beyond music category. By using such stimuli in future research, along with the use of more subconscious measures, the effects of music and lyrics could be harnessed to facilitate emotions associated with wellbeing and prosocial behaviour. Keywords: music, lyrics, pop, emotion, valence, stimuli, prosocial