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Violent music leads to violent behaviour?

Deeya Biswas



Music has been proven to have numerous positive traits and especially taken to be extremely helpful towards therapy. Numerous psychologists believe in music therapy and the multiple positive affects it has on the human mind and behaviour. However, Violent music in recent studies has shown opposing affects on the human psychology and mental health. Music plays in imperative role in the socialisation of human beings especially adolescents and children and is present in many aspects of an individuals life. In todays day and age, music has taken a turn towards aggressive and violent music that focuses on topics like women objectification, sex, drugs etc. and research on popular music has shown its effects on schoolwork, mood, social interactions and behaviour. According to  numerous studies, violent songs increase negative emotions and thoughts that can lead to aggressive behaviour.


Most researchers define violent media as ‘those that depict intentional attempts by individuals to inflict harm on others’ . A few specific genres of music for example rap, metal, hip hop are often attached with violent and aggressive lyrics, sound, and music videos. It is said to be that long term exposure to violent media has high chances of decreasing sensitivity to depictions of violence on individuals.


The ancient Greek “Catharsis hypothesises” claims that expressing aggressive emotion later decreases this behaviour and releases emotions. However, a study in Iowa State University and the Texas department of human services found that aggressive music lyrics increase aggressive thoughts and feelings, which might perpetuate aggressive behaviour and have long-term effects, such as influencing listeners' perceptions of society and contributing to the development of aggressive personalities. Author Craig Anderson of Iowa state University says "This [study] provides the first clean demonstration of violent lyric effects,”

The results show a relationship between violent song lyrics and increased aggressive thoughts and feelings of hostility. According to Anderson, relative to humorous nonviolent songs, humorous violent songs are also shown to increased levels of aggression. The findings remained intact even after the researchers controlled the personality differences and the listeners' gender, along with their reactions to the contrasting artists and musical styles. Anderson believes that while more research on effects of violent lyrics should be done, yet another category of entertainment media, when referring to violence, "now has been demonstrated to have some negative effects.”

According to a new study by the American Psychological Association contradicts popular notions of positive catharsis or venting effects of listening to angry, violent music on violent thoughts and feelings. It is found that violent music and its lyrics increases aggressive feelings and thoughts and 
according to lead researcher it could also have implications for violence in the real world.

Another study conducted by Eliana Tropeano from the Western Connecticut State University Eleven participants watched a violent music video, 11 participants watched a non- violent music video, and 11 participants were in a control group and were not allowed to watch any of the videos. It was discovered that watching the violent music video containing violent lyrics, aggressive behaviour, and degrading behaviours toward women did make an individual feel and react more violently with regards to responses to questions about fictitious scenarios. The conclusion was that watching violent music videos does negatively affect behaviour.
Recently, there has been an increase in music that promotes violence and at the same time there has been an increase in the number of shootings, instances of harassment, rape and arson. These can be interpreted as having a strong correlation, which suggests that violent music elicits violent behaviour. 




References: 


(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2003/05/violent-songs.

Brooks, A. M. (2006). How Violent is Rap Music: A Content Analysis of Popular Rap Music. PsycEXTRA Dataset. doi: 10.1037/e579322006-001
Council on Communications. (2009, November 1). 

Impact of Music, Music Lyrics, and Music Videos on Children and Youth. Retrieved from https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/124/5/1488.

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/monitor/julaug03/violent.

Violent music lyrics increase aggressive thoughts and feelings, according to new study; Even humorous violent songs increase hostile feelings. (2003, May 5). Retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/05/030505084039.htm.

Yanan, S., Lu, X., Lu, X., Williams, M., Williams, M., Thompson, W. F., … CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health. (2019, March 13). Implicit violent imagery processing among fans and non-fans of music with violent themes. Retrieved from https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.181580.

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