Via de New York Times kwam ik op dit onderzoek uit van DeWall et al.:

“American culture is filled with cultural products. Yet few studies have investigated how changes in cultural products correspond to changes in psychological traits and emotions. The current research fills this gap by testing the hypothesis that one cultural product—word use in popular song lyrics—changes over time in harmony with cultural changes in individualistic traits. Linguistic analyses of the most popular songs from 1980–2007 demonstrated changes in word use that mirror psychological change. Over time, use of words related to self-focus and antisocial behavior increased, whereas words related to other-focus, social interactions, and positive emotion decreased. These findings offer novel evidence regarding the need to investigate how changes in the tangible artifacts of the sociocultural environment can provide a window into understanding cultural changes in psychological processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)”

De stelling is: in de songteksten nu staat het ik meer centraal dan het wij. Zeg maar het verschil tussen ‘we are family’ en “I’m bringing sexy back,” van Justin Timberlake.

Het is een interessante stelling, maar lijkt wat vergezocht. Je kan in teksten, en in de selectie van teksten, veel terugvinden. De onderzoekers verwijzen echter naar andere onderzoeken die aantonen dat jongeren meer narcistisch werden. Dat jongeren meer narcistisch zijn is niet nieuw, hoort bij de ontwikkeling en zit zelfs in het brein (zie hier), maar toch zou meta-onderzoek van Twenge en Foster aantonen dat doorheen de voorbije decennia het narcistisch zijn van jongeren toegenomen is:

“Previous research produced conflicting results on whether narcissistic personality traits have increased among American college students over the generations. Confounding by campus may explain the discrepancy. Study 1 updates a nationwide meta-analysis of college students’ scores on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) and controls for campus (k = 107; N = 49,818). In Study 2, the authors examine NPI scores among the students on one university campus, the University of South Alabama, between 1994 and 2009 (N = 4,152). Both studies demonstrate significant increases in narcissism over time (Study 1 d = .37, 1982–2008, when campus is controlled; Study 2 d = .37, 1994–2009). These results support a generational differences model of individual personality traits reflecting changes in culture.”