IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/osf/osfxxx/nmruj_v1.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

People Prefer Simpler Content When There Are More Choices: A Time Series Analysis of Lyrical Complexity in Six Decades of American Popular Music

Author

Listed:
  • Varnum, Michael E. W. PhD

    (Arizona State University)

  • Krems, Jaimie

    (UCLA)

  • Morris, Colin
  • Grossmann, Igor

    (University of Waterloo)

Abstract

Song lyrics are rich in meaning. In recent years, the lyrical content of popular songs has been used as an index of shifting norms, affect, and values at the cultural level. One remarkable, recently-uncovered trend is that successful pop songs have increasingly simple lyrics. Why? We test the idea that increasing lyrical simplicity is linked to a widening array of novel song choices. To test this Cultural Compression Hypothesis (CCH), we examined six decades of popular music (N = 14,661 songs). The number of novel song choices predicted greater lyrical simplicity of successful songs. This relationship was robust, holding when controlling for critical ecological and demographic factors and also when using a variety of approaches to account for the potentially confounding influence of temporal autocorrelation. The present data provide the first time series evidence that real-world cultural transmission may depend on the amount of novel choices in the information landscape.

Suggested Citation

  • Varnum, Michael E. W. PhD & Krems, Jaimie & Morris, Colin & Grossmann, Igor, 2019. "People Prefer Simpler Content When There Are More Choices: A Time Series Analysis of Lyrical Complexity in Six Decades of American Popular Music," OSF Preprints nmruj_v1, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:osfxxx:nmruj_v1
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/nmruj_v1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://osf.io/download/5defe6ea9bd131000c12fb09/
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.31219/osf.io/nmruj_v1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hobday, Mike, 1998. "Product complexity, innovation and industrial organisation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 689-710, February.
    2. Joshua Conrad Jackson & Michele Gelfand & Soham De & Amber Fox, 2019. "Publisher Correction: The loosening of American culture over 200 years is associated with a creativity–order trade-off," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 3(7), pages 759-759, July.
    3. Iyengar, Sheena S. & Kamenica, Emir, 2010. "Choice proliferation, simplicity seeking, and asset allocation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(7-8), pages 530-539, August.
    4. Mason Youngblood, 2019. "Cultural transmission modes of music sampling traditions remain stable despite delocalization in the digital age," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(2), pages 1-12, February.
    5. Ben Lambert & Georgios Kontonatsios & Matthias Mauch & Theodore Kokkoris & Matthew Jockers & Sophia Ananiadou & Armand M. Leroi, 2020. "The pace of modern culture," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 4(4), pages 352-360, April.
    6. Joshua Conrad Jackson & Michele Gelfand & Soham De & Amber Fox, 2019. "The loosening of American culture over 200 years is associated with a creativity–order trade-off," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 3(3), pages 244-250, March.
    7. Brand, Charlotte Olivia & Acerbi, Alberto & Mesoudi, Alex, 2019. "Cultural evolution of emotional expression in 50 years of song lyrics," SocArXiv 3j6wx, Center for Open Science.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Acerbi, Alberto & Sacco, Pier Luigi, 2022. "The self-control vs. self-indulgence dilemma: A culturomic analysis of 20th century trends," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    2. Ma, Mac Zewei & Chen, Sylvia Xiaohua & Wang, Xijing, 2024. "Collective pronouns, collective health actions: Predicting pandemic precautionary measures through online first-person plural pronoun usage across U.S. states," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 357(C).
    3. Varnum, Michael E. W. PhD & Krems, Jaimie & Morris, Colin & Grossmann, Igor, 2019. "People Prefer Simpler Content When There Are More Choices: A Time Series Analysis of Lyrical Complexity in Six Decades of American Popular Music," OSF Preprints nmruj, Center for Open Science.
    4. Barber, Luke & Jetter, Michael & Krieger, Tim, 2024. "Foreshadowing Mars: Religiosity and pre-Enlightenment conflict in Europe," VfS Annual Conference 2024 (Berlin): Upcoming Labor Market Challenges 302355, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    5. Céline Flipo & Pier Vittorio Mannucci & Kevyn Yong, 2023. "The impact of cultural tightness on the relationship between structural holes, tie strength, and creativity," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 54(2), pages 332-343, March.
    6. Luke Barber & Michael Jetter & Tim Krieger, 2023. "Foreshadowing Mars: Religiosity and Pre-Enlightenment Warfare," CESifo Working Paper Series 10806, CESifo.
    7. Giulia Andrighetto & Aron Szekely & Andrea Guido & Michele Gelfand & Jered Abernathy & Gizem Arikan & Zeynep Aycan & Shweta Bankar & Davide Barrera & Dana Basnight-Brown & Anabel Belaus & Elizaveta Be, 2024. "Changes in social norms during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic across 43 countries," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    8. Ho Fai Chan & Jordan Moon & David A. Savage & Ahmed Skali & Benno Torgler & Stephen Whyte, 2020. "Can Psychological Traits Explain Mobility Behavior during the COVID-19 Pandemic?," CREMA Working Paper Series 2020-08, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    9. Shuhei Kitamura, 2023. "Quantifying the Influence of Climate on Human Mind and Culture: Evidence from Visual Art," Papers 2307.15540, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2024.
    10. Jetter, Michael, 2024. "On the Post-Enlightenment Evolution of Moral Universalism," IZA Discussion Papers 16947, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. T. Gries & R. Grundmann & I. Palnau & M. Redlin, 2017. "Innovations, growth and participation in advanced economies - a review of major concepts and findings," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 293-351, April.
    12. Ralph Stevens & Jennifer Alonso Garcia & Hazel Bateman & Arthur van Soest & Johan Bonekamp, 2022. "Saving preferences after retirement," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/342267, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    13. João Caraça & João Lobo Ferreira & Sandro Mendonça, 2007. "A chain-interactive innovation model for the learning economy: Prelude for a proposal," Working Papers Department of Economics 2007/12, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa.
    14. Salva Duran-Nebreda & Michael J. O’Brien & R. Alexander Bentley & Sergi Valverde, 2022. "Dilution of expertise in the rise and fall of collective innovation," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-10, December.
    15. Prencipe, Andrea & Tell, Fredrik, 2001. "Inter-project learning: processes and outcomes of knowledge codification in project-based firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(9), pages 1373-1394, December.
    16. Choi, James J. & Haisley, Emily & Kurkoski, Jennifer & Massey, Cade, 2017. "Small cues change savings choices," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 378-395.
    17. Gürdal, Mehmet Y. & Kuzubaş, Tolga U. & Saltoğlu, Burak, 2017. "Measures of individual risk attitudes and portfolio choice: Evidence from pension participants," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 186-203.
    18. Gholz, Eugene & James, Andrew D. & Speller, Thomas H., 2018. "The second face of systems integration: An empirical analysis of supply chains to complex product systems," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(8), pages 1478-1494.
    19. Hobday, Mike & Rush, Howard & Tidd, Joe, 2000. "Innovation in complex products and system," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(7-8), pages 793-804, August.
    20. Fabrice Le Lec & Marianne Lumeau & Benoît Tarroux, 2016. "Choice or information overload ?," Economics Working Paper Archive (University of Rennes & University of Caen) 2016-07, Center for Research in Economics and Management (CREM), University of Rennes, University of Caen and CNRS.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:osf:osfxxx:nmruj_v1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: OSF (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://osf.io/preprints/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.