Background

1
Frustration and Embodiment Influence the
Relationship Between Aggressive Music and
Aggression
William Langston and Justin Higgs Middle
Tennessee State University

• Background
• The research reported here was designed to
  address two main questions
• What is the effect of frustration on the
  relationship between aggressive music and
  aggression?
• What is the effect of embodying an aggressive
  action on the relationship between aggressive
  music and aggression?
• Anderson, Berkowitz, et al. (2003) in a
  comprehensive review of the literature on media
  and violence declared that the scientific debate
  over whether media violence increases aggression
  and violence is essentially over (p.81).
  However, the section of their review devoted to
  the effects of aggressive music on aggression
  suggests that that particular area has received
  less research attention. Anderson, Carnagey, and
  Eubanks (2003) concluded with a call for
  additional research on the relationship between
  music and aggressive behavior (they describe
  research on the effects of violent lyrics as
  being in its infancy, p.969).
• In fact, a review of the literature reveals a
  mixed bag
• Violent or misogynistic music has an effect
• Anderson, Carnagey, and Eubanks (2003) Effects
  of violent lyrics on hostility and aggressive
  thoughts.
• Barongan and Hall (1995) Effects of misogynistic
  lyrics on mens choice of a vignette to show to a
  female confederate.
• St. Lawrence and Joyner (1991) Effects of
  misogynistic lyrics on sex-role stereotyping,
  attitudes towards women.
• Fischer and Greitmeyer (2006) Effects of
  misogynistic lyrics on amount of hot sauce picked
  for a female confederate, number of negative
  attributes of women produced, feelings of
  vengeance, and time selected for a female target
  to hold her hand in an ice water bath some
  effects of man-hating lyrics on female
  participants.
• Wester, Crown, Quatman, and Heesacker (1997)
  Effect of misogynistic gangsta rap lyrics on an
  adversarial sexual beliefs scale.
• Ballard and Coates (1995) Effect of lyric
  content on Beck Depression Inventory scores (the
  nonviolent rap song produced the highest scores,
  possibly because the negative rap songs made
  participants feel relatively good about their
  own lives, p.164) rap music produced higher
  anger measures than heavy metal music on some
  scales.
• Violent or misogynistic music does not have an
  effect
• Wanamaker and Reznikoff (1989) No effect of
  aggressive music on hostility.
• St. Lawrence and Joyner (1991) No effect of
  heavy metal misogynous lyrics on acceptance of
  interpersonal violence, adversarial sexual
  beliefs, and acceptance of rape myths.
• Wester, Crown, Quatman, and Heesacker (1997) No
  effect of misogynistic lyrics on an attitude
  toward women scale, a sexual conservatism scale,
  or a sex-role stereotyping scale.
• Ballard and Coates (1995) No effect of music or
  lyrical theme on suicidal ideation or anxiety.
• A number of explanations have been proposed to
  explain the discrepant results

• Results
• Experiment 1
• Hostility. The main effect for music was
  significant, F(3,374) 10.30, MSE 476.21, p lt
  .01, ?2 .08. Tukey post hoc comparisons
  indicated that the two heavy music means did not
  differ and both were significantly higher than
  the control music and no music groups. The
  control music and no music groups did not differ.
  The main effect for frustration was significant,
  F(1,374) 111.31, MSE 476.21, p lt.01, ?2
  .23. The interaction between music and
  frustration was also significant, F(3,374)
  2.83, MSE 476.21, p .04, ?2 .02. Separate
  one-way ANOVAs (for either frustrated or
  non-frustrated participants) revealed that there
  was not a significant music effect for frustrated
  participants, F(3,192) 0.97, MSE 618.70, p
  .41, ?2 .02, but that there was a large music
  effect for non-frustrated participants, F(3,182)
  16.85, MSE 325.90, p lt .01, ?2 .22.
• Experimenter evaluation. The main effect of music
  was not significant, F(3,374) 1.71, MSE
  22.62, p .16, ?2 .01. The main effect for
  frustration was significant, F(1,374) 32.31,
  MSE 22.62, p lt.01, ?2 .08. The interaction
  between music and frustration was not
  significant, F(3,374) 0.81, MSE 22.62, p
  .49, ?2 .01.
• Experiment 2
• Hostility. The main effect for music was
  significant, F(1,124) 7.41, MSE 358.96, p
  lt.01, ?2 .06. The main effect for movement type
  was significant, F(1,124) 4.89, MSE 358.96, p
  .03, ?2 .04. The interaction between music
  and embodiment was not significant, F(1,124)
  0.52, MSE 358.96, p .47, ?2 .004.
• Experimenter evaluation. The main effect of music
  was not significant, F(1,124) 0.02, MSE
  14.46, p .89, ?2 .00. The main effect for
  embodiment was marginally significant, F(1,124)
  3.90, MSE 14.46, p .05, ?2 .03. The
  interaction between music and embodiment was not
  significant, F(1,124) 0.19, MSE 14.46, p
  .67, ?2 .002.

• Discussion
• The data from two experiments showed that music
  can have an influence on hostility. There is no
  evidence of an effect of music on the
  experimenters evaluation.
• We replicated some effects that have been
  reported previously (e.g., an effect of music on
  hostility as in Anderson, et al., 2003). We also
  extended the results of previous studies by
  demonstrating that an explicit focus on the
  lyrics is not necessary for music to produce an
  effect, and by finding an influence of other
  variables on the relationship between music and
  aggressive thoughts and actions. For aggressive
  actions in particular (the experimenter
  evaluation), frustration and embodiment produced
  effects, but music did not.
• The effects of music on hostility might be
  qualified by music preference. Gowensmith and
  Bloom (1997) found that country music fans
  listening to heavy metal and heavy metal fans
  listening to country music produced higher levels
  of anger (and equal to one another) than heavy
  metal fans listening to heavy metal and country
  music fans listening to country music (again,
  equal to one another). In other words, heavy
  metal music increased anger, but only when it was
  being listened to by country fans. It did not
  increase anger for heavy metal fans. There is
  some support for an effect of this sort in the
  data from Experiment 1. Participants listening to
  music were asked whether or not they typically
  listen to this kind of music. Overall, the main
  effect of preference on hostility was significant
  (listen M 80.66, dont listen M 91.75),
  F(1,278) 6.70, MSE 568.52, p .01, ?2
  .02. There was no evidence of a preference effect
  on the hostility scores in Experiment 2.
• Even if the effect on hostility is due to the
  music, Anderson, et al. (2003) showed that these
  effects are relatively short-lived.
• In conclusion, the results from the studies
  suggest that, whereas music may have some effect
  on hostility, variables such as frustration and
  embodiment have stronger effects and also
  influence aggressive behavior.

• Experiment 1
• Will frustration influence whether or not
  aggressive music has an effect? It is possible
  that there is an interaction between aggressive
  music and frustration such that aggressive music
  by itself has little or no effect, but that with
  frustration the music will increase aggression.
• The first independent variable was the music
  type Heavy (a driving beat, distorted guitars,
  and violent, screaming vocals), e.g., Born to
  Crush You (Icepick, Violent Epiphany, 2006)
  Christian heavy (similar music to heavy, but with
  a Christian theme), e.g., Resistance to
  Resistance (Seventh Star, Brood of Vipers,
  2005) heavy metal, e.g., Shout at the Devil
  (Motley Crüe, Shout at the Devil, 1983) or no
  music.
• The second independent variable was frustration.
  Half of the participants listened to the music
  while working on math problems that couldnt be
  solved in the allotted time, half were allowed to
  use a calculator to solve the problems.
• The dependent variables were hostility (the State
  Hostility Scale, Anderson,Deuser, DeNeve, 1995)
  and an experimenter evaluation used to measure
  aggression towards the experimenter (similar to
  Rohsenow Bachorowski, 1984).
• The participants were 382 students from the
  psychology department research pool. Of the 284
  listening to music, 62 reported that they
  listened to the type of music to which they were
  assigned.
• The results of Experiment 1 are presented in
  Figures 1 and 2.
• Experiment 2
• Will embodying an aggressive action influence
  whether or not aggressive music has an effect?
  Recent research on the effects of embodiment on
  variables such as stereotype activation
  (Mussweiler, 2006) suggest that embodiment might
  have an influence. Aggressive music by itself may
  have little or no effect, but, when paired with
  an aggressive action (e.g., dancing or gestures),
  there might be an effect.
• The first independent variable was the music
  type Heavy, e.g., Born to Crush You (Icepick,
  Violent Epiphany, 2006) and jazz, Mack The
  Knife (Louis Armstrong, Golden Legends, 2006).
• The second independent variable was embodiment.
  Half of the participants snapped their fingers in
  time to the beat while listening to the music
  (appropriate for the jazz selection) and half of
  the participants ground their teeth while
  listening to the music (appropriate for the heavy
  music).
• The dependent variables were hostility and an
  experimenter evaluation.
• The participants were 128 students from the
  psychology department research pool. Twenty-four
  reported that they listened to the type of music
  to which they were assigned.
• The results of Experiment 2 are presented in
  Figures 3 and 4.

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