Sexuality is another common theme in music. We see in the songs studied testosterone and estrogen, the sexual response cycle, psychosexual images and sexual orientation issues. These treatments of the same basic thing are again complex, ranging from purely physical explorations of the subject to the deep-rooted psychological attributes of sex. Self-esteem and denial are also wrapped up in this subject in some of the songs. This again reflects our need to understand our sexual selves, in particular as distinct from our emotional/loving selves.
In the other category, power proved a major theme. Self-esteem, self-serving bias, defense mechanisms, ego, superego, the spotlight effect, achievement motivation and projection are all components of this theme that emerge in the music. The need for power reflects a desire for achievement that we all have and the need to feel important in this world, perhaps explaining why this theme is so popular. Its popularity in this form of music dominated by African-Americans could reflect the opportunity to achieve the American dream after centuries of being...
It is an important aspect of the culture.
The other themes were less popular. What the study shows, in particular the use of the frequency distribution and the measures of central tendency, is that the themes in popular music today largely reflect the desires of young people to forge their own identities in this world -- emotional, sexual and achievement-related identities in particular. The lack of interest in other categories, such as food, reflect that there is little psychological complexity to the subject for the generation to whom this music appeals. We like food, but it is not a major part of our psychological selves at this stage of our lives.
Appendix A: Frequency Distribution
Theme
Occurences
Mean
Median
Mode
Love/Emotions
48
Sex
14
Food
0
Work
6
Stress
11
Other
27
Total
17.66667
12.5
#N/A
