1. De-loathing the GRE: Music’s Influence on Mood and GRE performance
Kelsey A. Owen, Shannon N. Davis, & Leilani B. Goodmon, Ph.D.
Abstract 
Listening to preferential music (devoid of lyrics) will elevate mood and arousal, ultimately resulting in improved GRE test scores.
Hypothesis 1 2 4
Results
The purpose of this study was to determine if positive/negative mood induced by an auditory stimulus can improve performance on the Psychology GRE. These results could inform improvements for standardized test performance. Studies on the benefits of music reveal that cognitive performance improves when exposed to preferred auditory conditions or when the auditory stimulus induces a positive mood, perhaps because of increased arousal (Nantais & Schellenberg, 1999; Thompson, Schellenberg, & Husain, 2001). Past studies examined the impact of classical music and short stories on spatial task performance. However, it is unclear whether the benefit of music generalizes to other genres of music (e.g. country, hip-hop, classic rock, or atonal music), or to other measures of cognitive performance specifically relevant to psychology majors, such as the Psychology GRE. To determine if these generalizations can be made, the first experiment consisted of tests of the Psychology GRE and mood before and after exposure to one of four auditory conditions (i.e. silence, atonal, preferred music genre, or non-preferred genre). Data reveal that regardless of genre or preference, participants in the music conditions (compared to silence) exhibited poorer GRE performance. There was no significant difference in mood between the music and silence conditions. However, mood elevation in the preferred condition approached significance despite no improvement in GRE scores, suggesting that positive mood may not be related to higher scores on the GRE. Some studies of thinking and mood support this finding by showing that negative moods enhance critical thinking, but positive moods enhance creative thinking (Alloy & Abramson, 1979; Estrada, Isen, & Young, 1997). However, the results of the prior experiment do not completely support the negative mood – enhanced GRE performance account because participants in the silence condition exhibited better GRE scores than those in the music conditions but did not exhibit more negative moods. Perhaps the preferred music condition was distracting to the participant (i.e. they paid more attention to the lyrics) causing a detriment in performance while improving mood. The purpose of the current study was to replicate the first but with music that was devoid of lyrics. However, the results do not support the notion that the lyrics were distracting because GRE performance did not vary as a function of exposure to music vs. silence. As in the first experiment, these results suggest that an increased mood induced by preferred music devoid of lyrics does not lead to improved GRE performance. These present results partially support the previous finding that negative moods (not positive moods) lead to more critical thinking (Alloy & Abramson, 1979; Estrada, Isen, & Young, 1997). However as in the first experiment, the present results also do not completely support the negative mood – enhanced GRE performance account because there was no music condition that resulted in higher GRE performance coupled with significantly lower levels of mood on the post-test (compared to the silence condition). Despite the unclear findings with regard to the relationship between mood and cognitive performance on the GRE, the results do reveal that it may not be useful to use auditory stimuli to overcome the detrimental impact of taking the GRE.
Methods
Participants:
A total of 57 upper level psychology students (18 to 26 yrs of age), who have taken a common set of core psychology courses.
Instruments/Measures:
Procedure:
Participants completed a pre-test of 10 GRE questions in silence along with a pre-test of mood and arousal (POMS). The STOMP was then administered along with a list of four genres (Country, Classical, Classic Rock and Rap/Hip-Hop) with instructions to rank order based on preference (to determine their genre preference). Following the pre-test phase, participants were then exposed to five minutes of silence, atonal music, their preferred genre, or their non-preferred genre. The music was devoid of all lyrics. While the music (or silence) continued, participants completed another set of psychology GRE questions. Upon completion of the final battery of Psychology GRE questions, the mood survey was re-administered.
F(3, 53) = 1.83,
p = .15 3
Profile of Mood States (POMS) –
Music from different genres
Short Form
Country
Two sets of 10 GRE questions
Classical
Pre-test
Classic Rock
Post-test
Rap/Hip-Hop
Short Test of Music Preference
Atonal
(STOMP)
p = .051
F(3, 53) = 1.62,
p = .20
F (1, 53) = 15.13, p = .000
Discussion 5
Although the music (in this case devoid of lyrics), regardless of genre or preference, resulted in poorer GRE performance from pre- to post-test (-11% decrement in the music conditions vs. -8% decrement in the silence condition), these differences were not significant. There was also no significant difference in mood as a function of the music conditions (except between atonal and the preferred condition, with higher mood scores in the preferred condition). In the preferred condition, there was a significant elevation of mood (+8% increase) despite a significant decrement in GRE performance (-8% decrement from pre to post-test). As in the first experiment, these results suggest that an increased mood induced by preferred music devoid of lyrics may not necessarily lead to improved GRE performance. In the previous experiment, it was hypothesized that this lack of positive relationship between mood and performance in the preferred condition was due to the possible presence of distracting lyrics. In the present experiment the music was devoid of all lyrics, however the results were the same. These results partially support the finding that negative moods (not positive moods) lead to more critical thinking (Alloy & Abramson, 1979; Estrada, Isen, & Young, 1997). However, the results of the current experiment do not completely support the negative mood – enhanced GRE performance account because there was no music condition that resulted in higher GRE performance coupled with significantly lower levels of mood on the post-test (compared to the silence condition). Despite the unclear findings with regard to the relationship between mood and cognitive performance on the GRE, the results do reveal that it may not be useful to use auditory stimuli to overcome the detrimental impact of taking the GRE.
F < 1
Further Analysis
References
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Of additional interest was whether the detrimental effect of music varied as a function of individual differences in study habits (studies with music vs. without). Unlike experiment 1, there was no main effect of music condition (music vs. silence) on GRE performance, F < 1, nor was there an interaction between music condition and test (pre, post-test of GRE), F < 1. Results revealed a -10% decrement in GRE scores from the pre-test to the post-test when participants took the test in the presence of either music or silence. There was also no significant interaction between music condition and study habits, F (1, 52) = 1.03, p = .32, nor was there a three-way interaction between music condition, study habits, and test (pre, post-test of GRE), F < 1. Regardless of study habits and music condition, participants still exhibited a decrement in GRE performance [-15% decrement (with music study habit) vs. -7% decrement (without music study habit)] in the music conditions, and in the silence conditions [-12% decrement (with music study habit) vs. -7% decrement (without music study habit)]. The data was further analyzed to determine if mood varied as a function of study habit (with vs. without) and music condition (music vs. silence). Unlike experiment 1, there was no main effect of music condition (music vs. silence) on mood, F < 1, nor was there an interaction between music condition and test (pre, post-test of mood), F < 1. Results revealed a +1% increase in mood scores from the pre-test to the post-test when participants took the test in the presence of either music and there was a -4% decrement in mood in the presence of silence. There was also no significant interaction between music condition and study habits, F < 1, nor was there a three-way interaction between music condition, study habits, and test (pre, post-test of mood), F (1, 52) = 1.52, p = .22. Regardless of study habits and music condition, participants still exhibited no significant change in mood from pre-test to post-test of mood [0% change (with music study habit) vs. 0% change (without music study habit)] in the music conditions, and in the silence conditions [-9% decrement (with music study habit) vs. +1% benefit (without music study habit)].
F < 1
= Significance, p<.05