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Post # 1
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Join Date: 15 May 2010
Location:  Saudi ArabiaPosts: 22 |
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Song Lyrics Influence Social Behavior Of People |
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It is a common knowledge that song lyrics actually affect moods and social behavior of people. There was recently a study that determined the effect of certain song lyrics to the social behavior of people. Many people have actually been surprised with the findings of the research. Song lyrics would effectively initiate unintentional attitudes. Thus, many people and organizations could use specific songs with specific categories of lyrics to invoke targeted and intended social behaviors and feelings.
A research was conducted by a sophomore pre-law student of Kansas State University, Eduardo Alvarado. He conducted a practical experiment that looked at possible behaviors that could be elicited from music lyrics of specific songs. Song lyrics combined with appropriate and fitting music could activate specific feelings in the subconscious of people, making them act accordingly with the environment sans deliberate intent. This way, music and song lyrics could be used to intentionally manipulate social behavior. The studys major goal was to find out if specific music lyrics could really activate pro-social and anti-social responses among individuals. It sought to prove that pro-social behaviors of empathy and anti-social behaviors like aggression could result from exposure to specific types of song lyrics. Particularly, songs used were patriotic and children-friendly, specifically, The Star-Spangled Banner and Itsy Bitsy Spider, respectively. The participants of the research were asked to fill out survey forms that asked questions to find out religion and attitudes toward diversity and other culture. For control purposes, half of the respondents completed the survey forms prior to the lyrics-experiment; while the remaining half did the survey forms post the exercise. The aim of this action is to directly gauge and find out immediate effects of song lyrics to social behaviors. Preliminary findings of the research showed that song lyrics actually create anti-social and pro-social responses and behaviors among participants. Songs with patriotic lyrics were able to bring about negative behavioral effects to the respondents, as shown by the way they responded to given survey questions that are about diversity and cultures. Overall, such song lyrics effectively made respondents assume prejudice and close mindedness. The researcher observed that once participants assumed a patriotic view of life, they tended to act less empathetically. Those respondents do not put themselves into perspectives of other people. On the contrary, childrens songs like Itsy Bitsy Spider set neutral behaviors. The respondents showed pro-social behaviors or responses. They exhibited positive behavior and openness to diversity and foreign culture. Such respondents became more empathetic and more accepting, as showed by the way they responded to survey questions. Organizations, schools, and people could use this knowledge for their own favors. |
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