{"id":{"repo_id":"central-wash","oai_identifier":"oai:digitalcommons.cwu.edu:etd-2233"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/central-wash/oai:digitalcommons.cwu.edu:etd-2233","repository":{"repo_id":"central-wash","name":"Central Washington University","base_url":"https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/do/oai/"},"display":{"title":"Relaxing Music Effects on Implicit Racial Bias and Neural Activity","abstract":"Music therapy has been used to treat a number of behavioral and emotional problems, including reducing the undesirable effects of having negative and traumatic associations with something/someone (e.g., PTSD). However, there have been no studies that have shown music therapy being used to treat prejudiced beliefs and biases. It was theorized that if music therapy has been used to help treat PTSD symptoms with great success, it is possible that those therapeutic effects could positively extend out to racial bias as well. The purpose of this ERP study was to investigate whether relaxing music could reduce implicit racial bias, specifically examining P3 brain wave amplitude differences in individuals when looking at White and Black faces. Results showed significantly larger P3 responses when looking at Black faces, compared to White faces. Participants listening to relaxing music (<em>Gymnopédie</em> No. 1 by Erik Satie) had a significantly less enhanced P3 amplitude. All participants completed the following scales: Internal and External Motivation to Respond without Prejudice, Motivation to Control Prejudiced Reactions, and Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale.","abstract_html":"Music therapy has been used to treat a number of behavioral and emotional problems, including reducing the undesirable effects of having negative and traumatic associations with something/someone (e.g., PTSD). However, there have been no studies that have shown music therapy being used to treat prejudiced beliefs and biases. It was theorized that if music therapy has been used to help treat PTSD symptoms with great success, it is possible that those therapeutic effects could positively extend out to racial bias as well. The purpose of this ERP study was to investigate whether relaxing music could reduce implicit racial bias, specifically examining P3 brain wave amplitude differences in individuals when looking at White and Black faces. Results showed significantly larger P3 responses when looking at Black faces, compared to White faces. Participants listening to relaxing music (&lt;em&gt;Gymnopédie&lt;/em&gt; No. 1 by Erik Satie) had a significantly less enhanced P3 amplitude. All participants completed the following scales: Internal and External Motivation to Respond without Prejudice, Motivation to Control Prejudiced Reactions, and Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Broyan, Viktoriya Robertovna"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science (MS)","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":"Experimental Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Ralf Greenwald","Mary Radeke","Heath Marrs"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2019,"date_issued":"2019-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2019-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:37:37Z","subjects":["ERP","P3","relaxing music","racial bias","Music Therapy"],"languages":["English"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/etd/1191","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Ralf Greenwald","Mary Radeke","Heath Marrs"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Broyan, Viktoriya Robertovna"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2019-06-26T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Experimental Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["ERP","P3","relaxing music","racial bias","Music Therapy"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/etd/1191"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Music therapy has been used to treat a number of behavioral and emotional problems, including reducing the undesirable effects of having negative and traumatic associations with something/someone (e.g., PTSD). However, there have been no studies that have shown music therapy being used to treat prejudiced beliefs and biases. It was theorized that if music therapy has been used to help treat PTSD symptoms with great success, it is possible that those therapeutic effects could positively extend out to racial bias as well. The purpose of this ERP study was to investigate whether relaxing music could reduce implicit racial bias, specifically examining P3 brain wave amplitude differences in individuals when looking at White and Black faces. Results showed significantly larger P3 responses when looking at Black faces, compared to White faces. Participants listening to relaxing music (<em>Gymnopédie</em> No. 1 by Erik Satie) had a significantly less enhanced P3 amplitude. All participants completed the following scales: Internal and External Motivation to Respond without Prejudice, Motivation to Control Prejudiced Reactions, and Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Relaxing Music Effects on Implicit Racial Bias and Neural Activity"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Ralf Greenwald","Mary Radeke","Heath Marrs"],"dc:creator":["Broyan, Viktoriya Robertovna"],"dc:date.available":["2019-06-26T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Music therapy has been used to treat a number of behavioral and emotional problems, including reducing the undesirable effects of having negative and traumatic associations with something/someone (e.g., PTSD). However, there have been no studies that have shown music therapy being used to treat prejudiced beliefs and biases. It was theorized that if music therapy has been used to help treat PTSD symptoms with great success, it is possible that those therapeutic effects could positively extend out to racial bias as well. The purpose of this ERP study was to investigate whether relaxing music could reduce implicit racial bias, specifically examining P3 brain wave amplitude differences in individuals when looking at White and Black faces. Results showed significantly larger P3 responses when looking at Black faces, compared to White faces. Participants listening to relaxing music (<em>Gymnopédie</em> No. 1 by Erik Satie) had a significantly less enhanced P3 amplitude. All participants completed the following scales: Internal and External Motivation to Respond without Prejudice, Motivation to Control Prejudiced Reactions, and Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale."],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/etd/1191"],"dc:language":["English"],"dc:subject":["ERP","P3","relaxing music","racial bias","Music Therapy"],"dc:title":["Relaxing Music Effects on Implicit Racial Bias and Neural Activity"],"dc:type":["Text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Experimental Psychology"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:37:37Z"}