TEXT A Violent lyrics in songs
increase aggression-related thoughts and emotions and could indirectly create a
more hostile social environment, a study released on Sunday by a U.S. psychology
association found. The Washington D. C.-based American Psychological Association
(APA) released the study, resulting from five experiments involving over 500
college students, in the May issue of the Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology. The violent songs increased feelings of hostility
without provocation or threat, according to the study. It said the effect was
not the result of differences in musical style, specific performing artist or
arousal properties of the songs. Even the humorous violent songs increased
aggressive thoughts, the study said. The group said the study
contradicts a popular notion that listening to angry, violent music actually
serves as a positive catharsis for people. The music industry
came under criticism from lawmakers in October for failing to use more
descriptive parental advisory labels that specify whether the music contains
sex, violence or strong language: But the Recording Industry
Association of America (RIAA) has said that current CD labels give parents
enough information without violating the right to free expression. The RIAA is
the trade group for the world’s five big labels, including AOL Time Warner Inc.,
EMI Group Plc, Bertelsmann AG, Vivendi Universal’s Universal Music and Sony
Corp. Results of the APA’s experiments showed that violent songs
led to more aggressive interpretations of ambiguously aggressive words and
increased the relative speed with which people read aggressive versus
non-aggressive words. "Such aggression-biased interpretations can, in turn,
instigate a more aggressive response, verbal or physical, than would have been
emitted in a nonbiased state, thus provoking an aggressive escalatory spiral of
antisocial exchanges," said researcher Craig Anderson, in a statement.
While researchers said repeated exposure to violent lyrics could
indirectly create a more hostile social environment, they said it was possible
the effects of violent songs may last only a fairly short time. It can be concluded from the passage that ______.
A．some musical styles would lead to a short period of increased social hostility B．researchers were divided about the fundamental causes of aggressive emotions C．parents needn’t worry a lot about their kids’ occasional exposure to violent songs D．music industry would have to be more alert to violent words in its music