“Effects of Aggressive and Nonaggressive Rock Songs on Projective and Structured Tests,” C.E. Wanamaker and M. Reznikoff, Journal of Psychology, vol. 123, no. 6, November 1989, pp. 561-570. The authors, at Fordham University, Bronx, NY, conclude that:
“The findings are congruent with other investigators’ reports that subjects do not pay attention to rock lyrics. ”
Read that and more, in the column “Music and Noise Research—Explorations of artistic and other vibrations” [free, downloadable PDF], in the special NOISE issue of the Annals of Improbable Research.
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