Music and Prosocial Behavior: Rhythm, Emotion, and Human Connection Untitled

Across cultures and throughout history, music has played a central role in social rituals, group identity, and emotional expression. Because of this, it’s increasingly recognized that music offers real social benefits. A growing body of research shows that music can powerfully encourage prosocial behavior—the impulse to help, share, and cooperate with others.

One research paper (Kim 2025) argues that music’s primary evolutionary purpose is to strengthen social bonds. Drawing on the idea that music evolved from early forms of communication, Kim explains how shared musical experiences promote empathy and connection. A key concept in Kim’s work is biobehavioral synchrony—the coordination of behavioral and physiological responses during social interaction—which has been linked to increased prosocial behavior. Kim suggests that music’s deeper evolutionary function lies in its ability to create a sense of unity and cooperation through shared rhythms and emotional experiences. This aligns with what many musicians report feeling during collaboration: a sense of closeness and mutual understanding.

This idea is backed by experimental research. For example, one study (Kirschner & Tomasello, 2010) found that making music together significantly increased prosocial behavior in 4-year-olds. In a controlled study with 96 participants, children who took part in musical activities were more likely to help spontaneously (p < .01) and to work cooperatively on problem-solving tasks than those in a non-musical control group. These results suggest that music supports empathy, teamwork, and social bonding from a young age.

Similar research (Wu et al., 2025) looked at how emotions triggered by music affect prosocial decision-making. In three experiments involving 42 participants, the researchers found that sad music significantly boosted the willingness to help others compared to happy music and white noise (p < .001). Further experiments showed that musical mode (major vs. minor) influenced prosocial responses, but tempo-induced arousal—where fast tempos increase alertness and slow tempos have a calming effect—did not (p < .001). These findings support the idea that certain musical features shape our emotional experiences, which in turn influence how we interact with others.

Taken together, these studies highlight music’s unique ability to influence social behavior and emotional connection. Moving forward, research should continue to explore how different elements of music interact with psychological traits like empathy to further uncover how music helps us connect with one another.

References

Kim, J. H. (2025). Music’s ability to foster prosocial behavior: A teleofunctionalist perspective. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, Article 1472136. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1472136

Kirschner, S., & Tomasello, M. (2010). Joint music making promotes prosocial behavior in 4-year-old children☆☆☆. Evolution and Human Behavior, 31(5), 354–364. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2010.04.004

Wu, H., Wang, D., & Zhou, L. (2025). Tunes that move us: the impact of music-induced emotions on prosocial decision-making. Frontiers in Psychology, 15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1453808