Stereotypes define our musical tastes and emotions

Music evokes a host of emotions. Although we cared more about the melody than the lyricsa finding that applies equally well to adults than in newbornswe love music for the emotions it gives us, up to shiver sometimes. Researchers at Flinders University (Australia) have found that we appeal to stereotypes and experiences we’ve already had to react emotionally to music. The findings of their study were published on November 18, 2020 in the journal Plos One.

We are conditioned by the music

The emotions provoked by music do not only come from the sound or the lyrics, but also from the prejudices we have about a musical style. To figure this out, the researchers used snippets of original lyrics, which they labeled differently from the original genre to which they belong. These genre labels were helpful in influencing the emotional responses that the music elicits from the participants. The idea behind this maneuver would be to prove that the feeling we have for music depends on the label to which it is attached, and not on its content.

For this experiment, 276 Cuban and Australian participants were asked to name the emotion that best describes the excerpts of written lyrics from eight different musical styles. In order to sow doubt, some lyrics were presented with a genre label, others were not.

The researchers found that for the same lyrics, emotional reactions could change depending on the label with which they were presented. This underlines, according to the researchers, that extra-musical cues – stereotypes – are at the origin of these choices. Prior knowledge elicited by lyrics and labels of musical genres are able to affect the emotional response that music can communicate, independent of the emotion brought by psychoacoustic characteristics.

Stereotypes before emotion

“Thanks to this research, we can now predict that someone is going to have emotional responses to music not only because of musical characteristics, but also because of the cultural stereotype they may have about music.”, explains Emery Schubert, professor of music and psychology.

For example, without music being required, lyrics labeled “heavy metal” produced a completely different emotional response than when those same lyrics were described to listeners as “Japanese Gagaku.”

“The Japanese music used in the study was associated with much softer emotions, although the message was not softemphasizes Emery Schubert. In a previous study, we had noted the same stereotypes concerning hip-hop music or heavy metal music, these genres being associated with anger, fear and disgust. They were perceived to have negative values ​​relative to the same lyrics when labeled as ‘pop music’. Some people seem to have already tuned in to their emotional reactions without even hearing the music, relying on prejudices or stereotypes around certain genres of music.”