Does your musical taste define your personality?

[Otokichi]

Musical taste "defines personality" - Reuters

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Fans of classical music and jazz are creative, pop lovers are hardworking and, despite the stereotypes, heavy metal listeners are gentle, creative types who are at ease with themselves.

So says Professor Adrian North of Scotland's Heriot-Watt University who has been studying the links between people's personalities and their choice of music.

"People often define their sense of identity through their musical taste, wearing particular clothes, going to certain pubs, and using certain types of slang," North said. "It's not surprising that personality should also be related to musical preference."

In what North said was the largest study ever conducted into individuals' musical preference and character, researchers asked 36,518 people from around the world to rate how much they liked 104 different musical styles before taking a personality test.

"Researchers have been showing for decades that fans of rock and rap are rebellious, and that fans of opera are wealthy and well-educated," North said. "But this is the first time that research has shown that personality links to liking for a wide range of musical styles."

The study concluded that jazz and classical music fans are creative with good self-esteem, although the former are much more outgoing whereas the latter are shy. Country and western fans were found to be hardworking and shy; rap fans are outgoing and indie lovers lack self-esteem and are not very gentle.

Those who like soul music can take heart as the research concluded they are creative, outgoing, gentle, at ease with themselves and have a high self-esteem.

And if you've ever wondered why people driving expensive sports cars often have music blaring from their vehicle, North could have an explanation. Those who choose to listen to exciting, punchy music are more likely to be in a higher earning bracket, he says, while those who go for relaxing sounds tend to be lower down the pay scale.

North is still looking for volunteers to take part in the research.

http://www.peopleintomusic.com/

Edited September 6, 2008 by Guest
Link added

[Batman]

I think the answer for everyone is "yes" whether they realize it or not.

[edna]

Didn´t we have a thread about this long ago?

I´m sure we dicussed this...

[Kevin]

How could it not ?! Who would listen to something repeatedly that doesn't strike some chord within their soul ? Jazz and classical fans , in my experience , are usually laid back, somewhat reclusive , and show wisdom only when they feel the need to speak up . Pop fans are undecided and all over the place usually , contrary to these findings . Rock and rap fans are outspoken , often , whereas country/soul fans tend to also have a strong point of view , which they will drop on you after you've finished with your B.S.

However , how many people are exclusively one type of music listeners ?! They would strike me as elitist and stand-offish .

This 'study' , for what it may have cost , could have been hypothesized accurately by 3 kids in a dorm room .

[Farin]

Didn´t we have a thread about this long ago?

I´m sure we dicussed this...

we once had a thread about the question whether musical taste defines your personality, or whether your personality defines your musical taste

as in "does somebody listen to Jazz because he's creative, or is he creative because he listenes to Jazz?"

here it is

rap fans are outgoing and indie lovers lack self-esteem and are not very gentle

Indie seems to be the worst kind of music you can listen too, even though it's one of the broadest...

and as Kevin already said, almost nobody only listenes to one style, what if somebody likes Indie and Metal?

PS Rap isn't a musical style

[Ombre Vivante]

Rap is very much a musical style. It just hasn't been a good one for the past 18 years.

The music I listen to defines my personality? How so? Everyone has different personalities they project to different people and individuals. How would one define going from late 19th century Classical to late 20th century Electronic, or whether I'd listen to downbeat and upbeat instrumentals, or maybe I feel like listening to some Bob Dylan or Facundo Cabral. I've yet to pop in the Ethiopiques compilation I recently got because I'm still caught up on a Korean Pop Rock compilation I made for myself

[Farin]

Rap is very much a musical style. It just hasn't been a good one for the past 18 years.

"Rap" is "the rhythmic spoken delivery of rhymes, wordplay, and poetry."

the musical style where this is used most often is called "Hip Hop"

[Ombre Vivante]

Rhythmic spoken delivery of rhymes, wordplay, and poetry sounds like music to mine ears. When I first heard Rap and heard it all through the late 80s, I seldom heard the phrase "Hip Hop." It existed, but Rap was the most common used word to define the style.

[Farin]

well, I guess everybody can use the term as they think... I only use "rapping" to distinguish from "(normal) singing"

[Kevin]

Oooh ! Good shot !

[Farin]

umm, thanks?

that wasn't meant negatively though

[Shawna]

And if you've ever wondered why people driving expensive sports cars often have music blaring from their vehicle ... are more likely to be in a higher earning bracket...

I wonder about those who drive piles 'o crap beaters that have music blaring out of their cars. Typically rap or heavy metal, at the outside decibels the speakers will allow.

[Kevin]

umm, thanks?

that wasn't meant negatively though

No problem. I didn't take it as such.

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=1fuDDqU6n4o

[Foolonthehill]

I really don't think that music by genre is related to personality, though the music that a person listens to certainly is. This study seems to get ideas from stereotypes of certain genres; classical is relaxing, rock is rebellious and loud, etc. I disagree with these and feel that any genre can do any emotion.

[Lucky]

I suppose some individuals that listen to just one type of music could be defined by their music taste, but people are for the most part much more complex than that. I think the reverse, that your different personality traits influence your musical tastes. That would acount for diverse tastes, rather than pigeon holing people as this seems to do. Does that make sense? Or am I having a blonde moment?

[Batman]

I wonder about those who drive piles 'o crap beaters that have music blaring out of their cars. Typically rap or heavy metal, at the outside decibels the speakers will allow.

i always bump that hyphy ******* in my scraper

[Tony Baloni]

What's hyphy??

I'm a big fan of DnB music.

[Batman]