What Does Your Taste in Music Reveal About Your Personality?

Overview

• Musical tastes can potentially reveal personality traits.
• Research on the links between personality and musical taste is limited but suggests some connections exist.

Personality Traits and Musical Preferences

• Study with over 36,000 participants linked personality traits to musical styles.
  • Pop: Extroverted, honest, conventional but less creative and more uneasy.
  • Rap/Hip Hop: High self-esteem, outgoing.
  • Country: Hardworking, conventional, stable, less open to experience.
  • Rock/Heavy Metal: Gentle, creative, introverted, with low self-esteem.
  • Indie: Introverted, creative, but less hardworking, passive, anxious.
  • Dance: Outgoing, assertive, open to experience, less gentle.
  • Classical: Introverted, creative, healthy self-esteem.
  • Jazz, Blues, Soul: Extroverted, creative, intelligent.
• People use music to define themselves and relate to others.

Big Five Personality Traits and Musical Preferences

• 2018 study: Facebook likes related to music can predict personality traits.
  • Openness: Classical, jazz, opera.
  • Extraversion: Country, folk.
  • Agreeableness: Enjoy music generally.
• 2022 study: Musical preferences and personality connections are universal.
• Breakdown of preferences: arousal, valence, depth.
  • Neuroticism: High arousal, low valence.
  • Extraversion: Lower arousal.
  • Openness: High valence, depth.
  • Agreeableness: Lower arousal, valence, higher depth.
  • Conscientiousness: Lower arousal, high depth.
• Diverse musical preferences linked to extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness.

Influence of Age on Musical Preferences

• Musical tastes form during adolescence.
• Preferences often remain tied to music from teen years.
• Music from ages 10 to 30 is most memorable.

Cognitive Styles and Musical Taste

• Two response styles to the world: empathizing (social cues) vs systemizing (preset conceptions).
  • Empathizers: Prefer mellow, emotionally rich music.
  • Systemizers: Prefer complex, energetic, structural music.

Music's Psychological Functions

• Music is linked to health, arousal, mood, social connection, relaxation, cognitive functions.
• Engaging in musical activities provides various benefits:
  • Listening: Pain reduction.
  • Sharing: Enhanced social connection.
  • Playing instruments: Positive mental and cognitive effects.

Takeaways

• Personality and musical taste connections are being explored.
• Trying new music styles can positively impact the brain.

Further Reading

• Studies and articles on musical preferences and personality traits.