Asking for a raise any time soon? Or doing anything at work (or in life) that requires a litte extra confidence?
Science has just the songs for you. New research has shown that certain types of music helps us feel more empowered, in control, and even helps improve our abstract thinking.
And that music is (drumroll please)….50 Cents’ “In Da Club,”Queen’s “We Will Rock You,” and 2 Unlimited’s “Get Ready for This.”
[So that’s the reason all high school sports teams blast “We Will Rock You” on the way to games!]
But really, any music with heavy bass will do.
“Just as professional athletes might put on empowering music before they take the field to get them in a powerful state of mind you might try [listening to bass-heavy music] in certain situations where you want to be empowered,” says Derek Rucker, professor at Kellogg School of Management and co-author.
The study was published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, and was based on experiments conducted with two different groups of participants. As one group listened to “high power” music like Queen’s “We Will Rock You”, the other group listened to songs with less bass like Baha Men’s “Who Let The Dogs Out.” Results show that the participants with the “high power” music were more focused, came up with power related words in a world-completion exercise, and were willing to go first in a debate twice as much as the participants with “low-power” music.
“One thing we know from prior research is that people who feel powerful tend to make the first offer in negotiations. Essentially, power is a propensity to act, to take charge of the situation,” says Rucker. So this is great information for those about to go to an important business meeting, job interview or negotiation.
Just make sure you listen to a high power song before walking in!
