Effect of Musical Accompaniment on Attitude: The Guitar as a Prop for Persuasion

This study examined the effects on attitude, mood, and recall of embedding a communication in different musical art forms. Subjects listened to four folk songs, each of which either had or did not have guitar accompaniment, and which were either sung or dramatically spoken. Results indicated greater positive emotional arousal and greater persuasion with the presence of guitar accompaniment. The sung‐spoken variation had few effects. The results were interpreted as supporting a conclusion of Dabbs and Janis (1965) that a pleasant activity such as eating creates a momentary mood of compliance toward a communication's recommendations. The present study generalized Dabbs and Janis' conclusion to a stimulus situation involving instrumental music. An alternative interpretation that the music inhibited counterargument production was discussed and rejected. The implications of the study for a more general arousal‐persuasion model were noted.