The Effects of Background Music on the Level of Conversation
in an Eating Establishment
Stephenie C. Doss
Missouri Western State College
December 5, 1995
Abstract
A study was conducted in the cafeteria of a Midwestern college to
determine if the type of music played influences the level of
conversation among patrons. Three types of music with different
styles, perceived loudness, and beats were used for this study.
The different types of music were presented to the patrons over a
public address system instead of the radio station usually heard.
Three readings were then taken in ten minute intervals to measure
the decibel level of conversation among the subjects in the
cafeteria. A significant difference was found between the
different types of music and the levels of conversation
associated with each type of music.
Introduction
The effect of music on behavior is a topic that has received much
attention. There have been studies done to determine what
effects it has on different behaviors under different conditions.
A review of the literature shows that this area of interest has
been the subject of research for over four decades.
The earlier studies focused on the effectiveness of music in the
psychiatric hospital setting (Sommer, 1957) and on group
psychotherapy (Dollins, 1956). Both of these experiments showed
a significant increase in verbal interaction with background
music present.
Bonny, Cistrick, Makuch, Stevens, and Tally (1965) used the same
idea, but placed in a more social setting when they studied the
effects of music on verbal interaction among groups of college
students in structured class settings. However, their findings
did not show a significant increase in verbal interaction. There
were many recommendations that came from this study that would
increase the likelihood of finding a significant interaction in a
similar study. The suggestions included an extended time for
gathering data, an altered to design to allow for the effects on
groups of varying sizes, a more efficient means of classification
for measuring interactions, and a recategorization of music to
allow for criteria other than "sedative" and "stimulative" music,
as was restricted in their study.
In 1984, Stratton and Zalanowski also conducted a study using
college students in large groups and two set types of background
music: "soothing" and "stimulating". The results of this study
showed that the "soothing" music affected an increase in verbal
interaction, thus supporting the hypothesis that music does have
an effect on behavior. The experimenters were able to apply the
findings by postulating that the "soothing" music helped the
group to better focus on the task at hand and increase their
functioning, which included verbal interaction.
In the latter half of the 1980s, the focus shifted to the effect
background music had on consumer behavior. Foremost among these
behaviors were those that involved food. Roballey (1985)
studied the effects of music on eating behaviors. This study was
conducted in the cafeteria of a university and utilized 11
subjects from the school, who were not aware of the study as it
was conducted. It was found that the presence of background
music significantly increased the average number of bites taken
per minute, which again supports the hypothesis that music
affects behavior.
One of the foremost names in the research of the effects of music
on behavior is Ronald Milliman. His study in 1986 looked at the
effects of background music on the behavior of restaurant
patrons. He broke the different behaviors down to approach or
avoidance behaviors. Verbal interaction was listed as an
approach behavior. His conclusions showed that slower music
increased the rate of approach behaviors, thus resulting in an
increase in verbal interaction.
Most of the studies on music and behavior have involved humans,
but Peretti and Kippschull (1991) studied the effects of
different types of music on the social behaviors of mice. This
study utilized a wide range of music types: from classical music
on one end of the spectrum, encompassing country, blues, jazz,
and easy listening, and finally with hard rock at the other end
of the list. Once again, the results of the study supported the
supposition that music has definite effects on behavior. All
types of music showed to have some significant effect on an
aspect of social behavior in mice. The studies done to determine
the effect of music on behavior encompass many different designs,
subjects, group sizes, types of music and settings.
The purpose of this study is to verify a link between the type of
background music played in an eating establishment and the volume
of conversation among the patrons. This study will show that
music with a faster beat and a þlouderþ sound will result in a
rise in the level of conversation among the subjects, with the
other two types of music, which will have slower tempos and
þquieterþ sounds, will affect a drop in the level of
conversation. This link is particularly useful to business owners
wishing to create a more relaxed and profitable atmosphere for
their customers.
Methods
Subjects
The subjects for this study were students, faculty, and staff who
utilize the services of the campus cafeteria at Missouri Western
State College. More specifically, they are people who are
present between 11:00 and 11:30 on weekdays. These subjects
cover a wide range of demographics. They include both males and
females, subjects of varying age, race, and ethnic backgrounds,
as well as subjects with different types of music preferences.
Materials
The materials used in this study include the public address
system located in the cafeteria office, a portable stereo, a
microphone, three cassette tapes of hard rock music, country
music, and classical music, and a sound pressure level reader
that reads decibel levels from 0dB to 120dB. The tapes used to
represent the three different music types were Danzig, for hard
rock; Clay Walker, for country music; and a collection of
classical songs, for classical music.
Procedure
The procedure of this study involved presenting the subjects with
a 30 minute session of music over the public address system.
This music differed from the music usually played in cafeteria in
that these are three isolated types of music, as opposed to
varying radio stations usually played by the cafeteria staff.
Each of the three tapes, representing a different type of music,
were randomly assigned to played each day at 11:00 in the morning
each weekday for three weeks. The music was played on a portable
stereo at a constant level of loudness, as controlled on the
public address system. A reading was taken on the sound level
pressure reader in 10 minute intervals to record the level of
conversation among the subjects in the cafeteria. The music was
then set back to the radio station that was playing before the
set time of 11:00. The experimenter was seated at the back
center of the cafeteria, and attempted to be as unobtrusive as
possible. It was planned that the subjects will be unaware of
the readings being taken, with only the cafeteria staff and
management being aware of the study, however, a few of the staff
members did tell some students about the study. This
indiscretion seemed to have no effect on the students reactions
to the music played.
Results
The results of this study showed a direct link between the type
of background music being played and the level of conversation
among the cafeteria patrons. The hard rock music resulted in a
louder mean decibel reading (71.78 Db) for the level of
conversation. The next higher level of conversation was linked
with country music (66.78dB), and classical music resulted in the
lowest mean decibel reading (63.11dB). These means support the
hypothesis that faster paced music with a þlouderþ sound causes
an increase in the level of conversation among patrons in an
eating establishment.
A Oneway ANOVA was conducted on the data, resulting in a
significant difference between the decibel readings taken on each
type of music (F(2,51)=53.96,p<.05.) A Tukeys HSD
test showed that the significant differences occurred between
country music and classical music and differences between hard
rock music and both classical music and country music .
Discussion
Since an analysis on the data showed a significant difference
between the levels of conversation read for each type of data,
the hypothesis of this study was supported. This study did
indeed show a link between the type of background music played
and the level of conversation among the subjects. The results of
this study agree with and support other studies that reported
increases in verbal interaction when more "stimulating" music was
presented (Sommer, 1957; Dollins, 1956). This study does not
agree with other studies showing an increase in verbal
interaction in subjects exposed to "soothing" music (Bonny, et
al, 1965; Stratton & Zalanowsi, 1984) however, this discrepancy
may be attributed to the differences in setting. Many of theses
studies which disagree were done in a hospital setting, where the
aim was to relax the patients enough to engage in verbal
interaction. Milliman (1986) showed an increase in approach
behaviors among restaurant patrons under the influence of
"soothing" music, however, his study was not aimed exclusively
towards conversation levels, and therefore had different criteria
for measuring verbal interaction.
The results of this study can be useful to people in the
restaurant business to help create an atmosphere that most
benefit profit increase. Further studies done in this area would
also be useful if done in different types of restaurants, so to
better gauge the study to the pre-existing atmosphere of the
establishment. Other studies would also be better served if
readings could be taken at varying times of the day, thus
controlling for differing moods of the patrons that may arise
because of time constraints, etc. It would also be beneficial to
conduct this study on weekends to include a wider range of
subjects, including children and family groups. A study
incorporating each of these suggestions cold conceivably produce
results that would prove to be very beneficial to the field of
consumer psychology.
References
Bonny, H.L., Cistrunk, M., Makuch, R., Stevens, E., & Tally, J.
(1965). Some effects of music on verbal interaction in groups.
Journal of Music Therapy, 2, 61-63.
Dollins, C.N. (1956). The use of background music in a
psychiatric hospital to increase group conversational frequency.
Music Therapy, 6, 229-230.
Milliman, R.E. (1986). The influence of background music on the
behaviors of restaurant patrons. Journal of Consumer Research,
13, 286-289.
Peretti, P.O., & Kippschull, H. (1991). Influence of five types
of music on social behaviors of mice. Indian Journal of
Behavior, 15, 51-58.
Roballey, T.C. (1985). The effect of music on eating behavior.
Bulletin of The Psychonomic Society, 23, 221-222.
Sommer, D.T. (1957). The effect of background music on
frequency of interaction in group psychotherapy. Music
Therapy, 7, 167-168.
Stratton, V.N., & Zalanowski, A. (1984). The effect of
background music on verbal interaction in groups. Journal of
Music Therapy, 21, 16-26.
Back to MWSU Psychology
Research Page
Back to PSY302
Research Page