Abstract
Although it is frequently used and is highly valued in practice, background music in non-fictional media formats has shown a broad spectrum of ambiguous results in previous empirical research. Scholars have often even advised against the use of music in formats such as television news, news magazines, and documentaries. Discrepancies in the effectiveness of background music have also been found in film and advertising research. In these research areas, the congruence between music and medium has been shown to be especially relevant for predicting music’s effects. In this study, two experiments were conducted to investigate the influence of congruent and incongruent music in non-fictional media formats. The first experiment ( N = 92) focused on music’s expressed and induced emotions, recipients’ memory performance, and the perceived credibility and general evaluation of the media format. Experiment 2 ( N = 147) concentrated on attitude changes. As expected, carefully selected congruent background music (i.e., music expressing emotions and triggering associations fitting the media format’s topic) positively influenced recipients’ emotionalization, memory performance, and attitude change, as well as the perceived credibility and general evaluation of the media format. All of the measured effects can be considered medium or large ([Formula: see text]).
Highlights
It is frequently used and is highly valued in practice, background music in non-fictional media formats has shown a broad spectrum of ambiguous results in previous empirical research
In empirical studies focusing on these formats, background music has been shown to have no effect or very inconsistent effects—for example, regarding recipients’ memory performance—compared with no music (e.g., Boeckmann, Nessmann, Petermandl, & Stückler, 1990; Dillman Carpentier, 2010; Kopiez, Platz, & Wolf, 2013)
Scholars have often even advised against the use of background music in non-fictional media formats (Brosius, 1990; Kopiez et al, 2013; Schmidt, 1976)—a suggestion that is in contrast to music’s widespread use in practice and to its empirically tested positive effects in other audio-visual media contexts such as film and advertising (Cohen, 2010; Lipscomb & Tolchinsky, 2005; Shevy & Hung, 2013)
Summary
It is frequently used and is highly valued in practice, background music in non-fictional media formats has shown a broad spectrum of ambiguous results in previous empirical research. Carefully selected congruent background music (i.e., music expressing emotions and triggering associations fitting the media format’s topic) positively influenced recipients’ emotionalization, memory performance, and attitude change, as well as the perceived credibility and general evaluation of the media format. The aim of this study was to conduct two experiments to test whether carefully selected and edited background music can have positive effects in non-fictional media formats (if certain, influencing factors are considered). Simultaneously, their recall of verbally conveyed information declined—a very undesirable effect in a media format that aims to convey information
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