‘Heal the world’: Can prosocial music reduce customer aggression in call centres?

Could listening to songs with prosocial lyrics, like Michael Jackson’s ‘Heal the world’, make people act less aggressively? Although laboratory research has shown promising results, it has yet to be determined whether such music can reduce everyday instances of naturally-occurring aggression in occupational settings. In call centres, where customer anger is high in prevalence, with significant health implications for employees, a low-cost, simple music intervention could provide a huge benefit. The present research aimed to test whether using prosocial songs as ‘hold music’ can reduce customer anger and improve employee well-being and performance in a call centre.