INTREPID researchers are constantly finding differences in how men and women respond to everything from drugs to exercise. Now James Kellaris, a professor of marketing at the University of Cincinnati, reports that the sexes respond differently to onhold music.
Kellaris tested 41 men and 30 women, letting them think they were trying to reach a customer support line and subjecting them to four different types of music while they waited. The 71 unfortunates had to listen to six minutes of either light jazz, classical, rock or "adult alternative"a "blend of contemporary styles".
Kellaris gauged how aggravating or bearable the music was for his subjects by asking them to estimate how long they had been forced to listen to it. Rock, with its "driving beat," was judged the worst overall. But men preferred classical, while women believed their waits were shortest during light jazz.
The subjects were also asked to evaluate ...
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