Can Soothing Music Increase Helping?
You have been listening to soothing music while reading a book. You go to answer the phone. It is a volunteer who is asking you to donate to a nonprofit. You are feeling happy and relaxed. You agree to donate 10 dollars to the organization. Did listening to the soothing music influence your decision to donate to the organization? Fried and Berkowitz (1979) investigated the influence of music on helping behavior. The participants were college students. There were four groups in their experiment. One group did not listen to music. The other groups listened to either soothing music, aversive music, or stimulating music. In this experiment, the participants first completed a mood questionnaire. For the participants in one of the three music conditions, they completed the mood questionnaire before and after hearing the music. In the no music condition, the participants also completed the mood questionnaire twice, but sat in silence for seven minutes. After this, all participants were asked
