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Hate to be put on hold? It might be due to the music. In the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, study author Karen Niven notes that we learn to associate the typical “instrumental elevator music” with complaining and waiting. It’s thought if pop music was played instead, we’d get less irritated waiting. Niven writes, “When you have some pop music that you wouldn’t expect to hear, it doesn’t prime those same negative thoughts, it provides something of a buffer.” In experiments, callers that were played standard pop songs were happier than those who heard elevator music. Call center operators also reported feeling less emotionally exhausted when dealing with customers who heard standard pop music. What type of music would you prefer to hear when you’re on hold? (Time) (Image: en.wikipedia.org)