You are reading into something that isn't there. The study doesn't have to do with music making you more capable of socializing.
The hypothesis being tested is that in the absence of social interaction, people will turn to surrogates in order to make up for the perceived lack. Specifically, they test if music can be such a surrogate. They do some surveys and a kind of silly experiment to provide evidence that yes- it can.
The reason it is rightly called pointless is that it brings nothing actionable to the table.
You cannot extract advice from showing evidence for a common-sense observation: If you feel a certain lack, activities you find pleasurable can diminish that lack.
And look at the experimental setup: They make people play an online game with others where certain people are excluded from playing. It turns out that people who are hyped from listening to their favorite song found this less jarring, hence showing that music can be a "social buffer", i.e. make up for a perceived social exclusion.
Let everyone individually conclude how insightful this experiment is.
EDIT: Misunderstood the nature of the "Cyberball" experiment, fixed
The hypothesis being tested is that in the absence of social interaction, people will turn to surrogates in order to make up for the perceived lack. Specifically, they test if music can be such a surrogate. They do some surveys and a kind of silly experiment to provide evidence that yes- it can.
The reason it is rightly called pointless is that it brings nothing actionable to the table.
You cannot extract advice from showing evidence for a common-sense observation: If you feel a certain lack, activities you find pleasurable can diminish that lack.
And look at the experimental setup: They make people play an online game with others where certain people are excluded from playing. It turns out that people who are hyped from listening to their favorite song found this less jarring, hence showing that music can be a "social buffer", i.e. make up for a perceived social exclusion.
Let everyone individually conclude how insightful this experiment is.
EDIT: Misunderstood the nature of the "Cyberball" experiment, fixed