Music At Work Can Help Workers Work Better With Each Other

Does the boss let you play music at work? If not, perhaps they should.  (we would suggest NewsTalk radio!) Researchers at Cornell University have found that music can have important effects on the cooperative spirits of those who listen.

In the study, participants were grouped into teams of three and were given opportunities to either contribute a token to the team's value using tokens or keep the tokens for person use. When happy music was played, participants were more likely to contribute to the group's value. When music that wasn't quite so upbeat was played, participants were more likely to keep tokens for themselves.

Study authors say music is a pervasive part of much of our daily lives, whether we consciously notice or not. Music might melt into the background in places like supermarkets or gyms and other times it's very prominent like places of worship or presidential nominating conventions.

The study indicates that people seem more likely to get into sync with each other if they're listening to music that has a steady beat to it. (Eureka Alert)