Can music move people? The effects of musical complexity and silence on waiting time

Previous research has suggested that music might influence the amount of ti me for which people are prepared to wait in a given environment. In arm att empt to investigate the mechanisms underlying such effects, this study empl oyed three levels of musical complexity and also a "no-music" condition. Wh ile one of these played in the background, participants were left to wait i n a laboratory for the supposed start of an experiment. The results indicat ed that participants waited for the! least amount of time during the no-mus ic condition, and that there were no differences between the three music co nditions. Other evidence indicated that this may be attributable to the mus ic distracting participants' attention from an internal timing mechanism. T he re suits are discussed in terms of their implications for consumer behav ior and research an the psychology of everyday life.