Rap Vs Narcissism
In the article “Rhythm and Lyrics of Rap Music Do Not Change Narcissistic Personality State”, the authors Kristen Craft and Robert Elsner share their opinion that there is not a direct connection between lyrics in rap and narcissistic behavior traits. While it could be easy to believe that modern rap music has more self centered themes in rap lyric content, Craft and Elsner make a case that the lyrics actually have very little to do with any of these traits and that it would be the other parts of music that are causing behavioral changes, since Craft and Elsner’s experiment showed no correlation of lyrics and narcissism. In order to establish grounds for the experiment, a good source of information is the DSM-5, more specifically the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the NPI which stands for the Narcissistic Personality Inventory based on a set of 16 criteria.
The main point of referring to the DSM-5 and the NPI-16 is to understand exactly what aspects of narcissism were going to be tested. They could also be used to compare the test results with previous data from other experiments to get a better perception of the data. Craft and Elsner saw in the DSM-5 that narcissism can be both healthy or pathological depending on how many narcissistic characteristics you possess. However, everybody exhibits at least a few qualities while they might not be unhealthy for your mindstate. Other information shared that narcissistic levels fluctuate on different days. Having these traits naturally programmed into the human species, Craft & Elsner initially hypothesized that “ following immediate exposure to a rap song, there would be an increase in participants’ composite NPI scores, and that gender and identification as a listener of the genre would be reflected in the change in scores”. (1) It would make sense that more antisocial lyrics would directly affect a person's NPI-16 scores. Knowing that we are all affected by subtle trials with narcissistic behavior that varies from day to day it shows just how easily we are influenced by the world.
The experiment Craft & Elsner created was designed to calculate only the shift in Narcissistic behavior. Throughout the course of the experiment, 112 students sat in front of computers which were hooked up to listen to the music with other factors kept constant to get a more isolated observation of the lyrical impact. This meant that every participant used the same computer with the same brand and model of headphones as well as the same music samples with only small changes. The music choices that each of these students listened to was a sample of a french song played to them normal and then again with antisocial and prosocial english lyrics written over top of it to test only the lyric content. After the experiment, the data showed that there was very little change in the personality states of the students who participated in the study at any point during testing. Since changing the lyric content matter seemed to have no effect on the NPI scores of the individuals in the experiment, Craft & Elsner suggested that any relationship between deviant behavior and rap music could be from “other components of music that either influence or reflect the personality state of individuals” (2). This information is important because the experiment was specifically designed to test the lyrical impact alone on behavior while keeping the backing instrumental as a control. Once they observed the data from the experiment, the numbers revealed that lyric content matter had no effect on the participants behavior throughout the study, providing an argument against narcissistic behavior being connected to lyrics.
It might be a little surprising to find out that lyrics have so little to do with our personality state but music is a very deep and complicated subject that is governed by many elements besides lyrics. Music is made up of combinations and variations of tones, instrument selection and many other factors. Previous studies have already related different genres with unique feelings and behaviors. If other genres which don't include voices are also able to shift us into different personality states, then we can assume that behavioral changes result mainly more from the music concepts rather than vocal delivery. Another piece of emotion in rap is communicated on the subconscious level where we can hear certain tone colors through the use of emotional cues used by advanced songwriters. While most people might think rap serves as a portal for narcissistic behavior, the most psychologically impactful part of music lies beyond just the lyrics inside the music itself.
Work Cited
- Craft, Kristen. Elsner, Robert. “Rhythm and Lyrics of Rap Music Do Not Change Narcissistic Personality State. ” Journal of Psychology & Psychotherapy, Vol. 7, No. 2, page 2. 10. 4172/2161-0487. 1000294. Accessed 27/01/2018
- Craft, Kristen. Elsner, Robert. “Rhythm and Lyrics of Rap Music Do Not Change Narcissistic Personality State. ” Journal of Psychology & Psychotherapy, Vol. 7, No. 2, page 1. 10. 4172/2161-0487. 1000294. Accessed 27/01/2018
