Abstract
This study examined how rap music with encouraging lyrics affected the mood of 145 college students. Previous studies on the effect of music on mood largely focused on the effect of music as a whole, rhythm, and tempo, and not on lyrics. In addition, regarding the study of lyrics, pain relief and stress reduction have only been investigated. Therefore, effects on motivation to be “encouraged” and “to feel positive” have not been known. The present study used several pieces of music to examine rap music with positive lyrics and the same music without lyrics to examine whether the lyrics improved “motivation” of college students. Participants listened to the music with three conditions, and completed two scales at pre and post the music. Results of one-way ANOVA on the scales showed that there were main effects on motivation. Above results indicate that music with positive lyrics increased “motivation” of college students. Future directions point to the need to consider the inclusion of biological markers, and the inclusion of different age groups.
