What Your Music Taste Says About You

By Vicki Santillano, DivineCarolineWhich came firstthe music or the melancholy? In the movie High Fidelity, the narrator, Rob, thinks about the countless people out there listening to songs of heartbreak and loneliness. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music? he wonders. Given how certain personality types seem drawn to particular kinds of music, its a fair question to ask. For example, Id probably look and feel out of place at an Insane Clown Posse concert, but plop me down in the middle of a Death Cab for Cutie crowd, and Id blend right in. Our taste in music can influence everything from the way we act to the way we dressor is it that the music we choose to listen to reflects our personalities?Most well-rounded people enjoy a variety of music, their MP3 players a highly individualized assortment of multiple genres. But they also have a particular genre or two that speaks the most to them. And those genres, according to some studies, speak the most about them, too.Different Musical Tastes, Similar Personality Traits
Think about a time when someone insulted your favorite musician or band. Did it feel like a personal attack? Professor Adrian North, of Scotlands Heriot-Watt University, believes thats because we use music as an extension of our personalities. Were drawn to certain genres because we relate to them in some way. Over the past few years, hes conducted a worldwide study linking musical taste to personality traits. In an online survey, North asked participants to rate more than one hundred genres and then answer personality-based questions. Hes used the thirty-six thousandplus responses hes received so far to form a few hypotheses about fans.Norths findings reveal some truth in stereotypes, such as that dance fans are creative and classical fans are introverts, but they also challenge a few. For instance, rock/heavy metal ! people a re often thought to be rough around the edges, but surveys suggest theyre actually gentler and calmer. There are also quite a few similarities between genres that arent thought to mesh well, like rock/heavy metal and reggae. The genre types may vary wildly, but that doesnt mean their fans cant find some common ground, at least personality-wise.
  • <
  • 1 of 3
  • >

Popular posts from this blog

Red Wine Reduced Breast Cancer Cells

Spiritual Quantum Physics and Insanity

Get Married, Live Longer?