In some instances the participants even reported seeing it in a positive light.Īnother set of studies, published in the journal Psychology of Music, pushed the participants further – by asking them to be callous to another human being. In both cases, those who listened to the advert with the background music tended to be more accepting of the unethical, cheating behaviour encouraged in the adverts. Again, half of those who listened to the advert also heard James Brown’s I Got You (I Feel Good) playing in the background. Similarly, a separate group were asked to listen to another advert describing how participants could cheat on a seminar paper for college using a website.

Half of those who listened to the advert also heard Mozart’s Allegro from A Little Night Music playing in the background, while the other half had no music.

She asked a group of volunteers to listen to a fictional radio advert for a website that claimed to be able to create false documents so people can receive a higher pension. In 2011, for instance, she found that music has the power to alter people’s moral judgements. Ziv’s research would instead suggest that “easy listening” tunes carry the most danger. “Listening to extreme music may represent a healthy way of processing anger for these listeners,” said Dingle. After listening to the music, the participants reported far more positive emotions than those who sat in silence.

Genevieve Dingle and her colleagues deliberately antagonised people by asking them to talk about an event involving a friend or a colleague that made them angry before allowing them to listen to hardcore metal music. In fact, psychologists at the University of Queensland in Australia would suggest that this music may, in fact, soothe our angrier urges.

Happy music no copyright