Terry F. Pettijohn

The Language of Lyrics An Analysis of Popular Billboard Songs Across Conditions of Social and Economic Threat

The lyrical content of Billboard No. 1 songs for each year from 1955 to 2003 was investigated across changes in U.S. social and economic conditions. Consistent with the environmental security hypothesis, popular song lyrics were predicted to have more meaningful themes and content when social and economic conditions were threatening. Trends for more meaningful, comforting, and romantic lyric ratings were observed in more threatening social and economic times. Using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software, songs with more words per sentence, a focus on the future, and greater mention of social processes and intergroup themes were popular during threatening social and economic conditions. Limitations and possible implications are discussed.

Tough times, meaningful music, mature performers: popular Billboard songs and performer preferences across social and economic conditions in the USA

The Billboard number 1 songs for each year from 1955 to 2003 were investigated across changes in US social and economic conditions. Study 1 investigated song characteristics and ratings and found that when social and economic times were relatively threatening, songs that were longer in duration, more meaningful in content, more comforting, more romantic, and slower were most popular. Study 2 explored popular performer facial feature characteristics and found that performers with more mature facial features, including smaller eyes, thinner faces, and larger chins, were popular during relatively threatening social and economic conditions. These facial feature preferences were more pronounced with the onset of music television in the 1980s. Results of the two studies are explained within the context of the Environmental Security Hypothesis.

The Role of Mood and Personality Type on Creativity

148 COPYRIGHT 2013 BY PSI CHI, THE INTERNATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY IN PSYCHOLOGY (VOL. 18, NO. 4/ISSN 2164-8204) *Faculty mentor Creativity in problem solving is a major area of study (Vosburg, 1998a). Every day people are faced with problems they must solve, and sometimes people have to be creative when they need to solve a problem (George & Zhou, 2002). It would be beneficial to know what factors influence creativity in problem solving. Two studies were conducted to investigate the factors that influence creativity. In both studies, mood and personality were examined as two potential creativity influences. The goal of these studies was to learn more about the interaction between mood, personality type, and creativity in problem solving. In both studies, creativity was measured by four divergent problem solving tasks. Divergent problem solving is a measure of fluency and creativity where participants are asked to come up with as many solutions or answers to a problem as possible (Vosburg, 1998a). For example, one divergent problem solving task given to participants is, “a classmate is constantly talking during an important lecture, and therefore you are unable to concentrate. What are all the different solutions you can think of to solve this problem?” Showing that there are multiple answers to a problem, not just simply one solution, demonstrates creativity (Vosburg, 1998a). Creativity itself may be affected by mood. Vosburg (1998b) tested the effects of positive and negative mood on divergent thinking performance. First, mood was assessed, and then participants went on to complete four real-life divergent tasks. Two of the tasks involved problem solving, where participants were to produce as many solutions to a problem as possible. The other two tasks tested problem finding, where participants were asked to come up with as many problems involved in the question as possible. The tasks were graded simply on ideational fluency, which is the number of items produced for each task. Results showed a significant positive relationship between positive mood and task performance, meaning participants had a higher fluency of responses to the task when they were in a positive mood. There was also a significant negative relationship between negative mood and task performance, meaning that participants in a ABSTRACT. Research generally supports the view that positive mood results in higher creativity. The purpose of these two studies was to examine the effect of mood and personality type on creativity in problem solving. Mood was manipulated (positive versus negative) differently and personality type was measured (extravert versus introvert) consistently in both studies using a sample of undergraduate college men (n = 16) and women (n = 57). An interaction effect between mood and personality type was hypothesized. Extraverts in a positive mood were predicted to have higher creativity scores, but introverts in a negative mood were predicted to have higher creativity scores. Results supported the hypothesis. Extraverts in a positive mood had higher scores of creativity and introverts’ scores were higher when in a negative mood for both Study 1 (p = .02) and Study 2 (p = .01). These results are useful in understanding how mood and personality can influence creativity. The Role of Mood and Personality Type on Creativity