As society advances into the digital age, it becomes increasingly important to educate people on a variety of topics using different methods. One of the most prominent methods is entertainment media, which is becoming more diverse in its offerings, and therefore is attracting a broader range of consumers. However, to promote social justice and change on a large scale, we must make mass efforts towards ethical decision-making. Therefore, it is critical to determine which form of media provides the most effective prosocial education on target outgroups, if any.

Research Question:

Does exposure to entertainment media with prosocial messages about a target outgroup influence attitudes towards that outgroup?

Literature Review:

The purpose of this study is to explore the connection between prosocial messaging, through media, and prosocial education. The primary aim is to determine if media provides any prosocial education, and if so, to what degree we can use it to combat biases. Prosocial messaging can be understood as behavior that is positive, helpful, and intended to promote social acceptance and allyship. Scrutinizing the effects of this messaging on the attitudes of people towards outgroups is crucial to promote social justice and eradicate biases. The independent variable in this study is exposure to prosocial song lyrics about an outgroup, while the dependent variable is the attitudes towards that outgroup. The independent variable is measured in two groups: those exposed to prosocial song lyrics and those exposed to neutral song lyrics. The dependent variable is measured by recording prosocial thoughts and emotions.

Background Research:

Music is one of the most powerful methods of messaging. It is universal, serving to link different groups of people worldwide through a language common to all. Music has been a formidable medium for distributing prosocial and antisocial messages for other centuries. The degree to which music influences listeners varies and is primarily dependent on the content of the lyrics. Studies have demonstrated that music with prosocial messages can significantly influence the emotions and actions of its listeners towards an outgroup. Positive emotions towards a target outgroup were found to have increased after the participants listened to music with prosocial messages.

Prosocial Messaging:

Prosocial messaging has proven to be a viable tool for bringing about positive change, with demonstrated ability to influence audience’s actions or emotions. However, the messaging must be tailored towards a specific target audience to yield effective results. This is demonstrated in studies on the effectiveness of prosocial messaging regarding COVID-19. Specifically, messaging focused on self and family-centric values is significantly more effective than messages focused on community-centered values. The power of prosocial messaging cannot be underestimated as can be seen from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal (ASCPA) commercial with Sarah McLachlan, which raised over $30 million for the cause.

Attitudes:

The attitudes of people towards an outgroup or idea can have a monumental impact on society. Scrutinizing those attitudes and investigating the ways in which they are influenced is critical to our efforts to promote social justice and reduce biases. The research study aims to discern the impact that exposure to entertainment media with prosocial messages has in modifying attitudes towards a target outgroup. It is hoped that the findings from this research will aid future researchers in using prosocial messaging to discourage biases, encourage positive emotions and interpretations of a wide variety of topics, and promote social justice.

Research Hypothesis:

The research proposed that positive attitudes towards a target outgroup can be increased through exposure to prosocial messaging. The study aimed to investigate whether the exposure to prosocial messaging could influence the attitudes towards a target outgroup.

Methodology:

To test the research hypothesis, pretest and posttest questionnaires were given to participants in this experimental study. The study had two variables- one dependent variable which was the attitudes towards a target outgroup, and the other independent variable is the exposure to prosocial messages. The previous research that supports the influence of prosocial messages on attitudes was used as a criteria for this study.

Sampling:

For this study, 200 college students between the ages of 18 to 22 were chosen to participate to determine the relationship between increased exposure to prosocial messaging and attitudes towards a target outgroup. The participants were chosen from volunteers in the University of Alabama's research participant pool. The participants were randomly assigned to either the experimental or control groups. The study consisted only of women, so the data may not be fully representative of the population. Other factors to consider are the historical social climate and priming through pretesting. The study was conducted in a time with moderate social climate and used proven scales for the questionnaires.

Variables:

The dependent variable (interval) is attitudes or emotions towards a target outgroup, measured through the thought-listing technique and self-rating techniques. The independent variable (manipulated, nominal with 2 categories) is exposure to a song with a prosocial message or a song with a neutral message. The thought-listing technique consists of writing down the first 10 words that come to mind after listening to the songs. The self-rating technique required the participant to rate how a specific word related to their emotions (1 = not at all, 5 = a lot). Both techniques would create interval data on attitudes towards the target outgroup.

Analysis:

Data was collected using the thought-listing technique (Cacioppo, Hippel, and Ernst, 1997) to measure prosocial thoughts and the self-rating technique (Schmidt-Atzert and Hüppe, 1996) to measure the effect of prosocial messaging on participants' attitudes. Participants were taken to a room with headphones to listen to a song with a prosocial message and a song with a neutral message. A pretest questionnaire measured an attitude baseline and a posttest questionnaire after listening to the songs, allowed for changes in attitudes to be measured. Two T-Tests were performed, one for the ages of the participants and the other for the given responses. The t-value was calculated to test the null hypothesis, which was rejected.

References:

Banker, S., & Park, J. (2020). Evaluating prosocial Covid-19 messaging frames: Evidence from a field study on Facebook. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3684901

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In their 2012 study, Joyce and Harwood explored the potential of televised vicarious intergroup contact to positively influence intergroup attitudes. Through this method, individuals observed positive interactions between members of different groups, which led to improved attitudes towards those groups.

Meanwhile, Kwon and Nayakankuppam investigated the role of implicit self-theories in shaping attitudes. Their study found that individuals with a fixed mindset were more likely to hold and access strong attitudes, even without elaboration.

More recently, Ruth and Schramm conducted research on the effects of prosocial lyrics and musical production elements on emotions, thoughts, and behavior. Their study showed that these elements can foster positive emotional response and behavior among listeners.

Lastly, a Science article delves into the universality and diversity of human song, exploring the various forms and cultural meanings of music across the world. This highlights the significance of music as a universal means of expression and communication among humans.