Personality Secrets in Your Mp3 Player
Once past saying 'hello' and 'how are you?' to someone you've just met, what is next? How do we make friends and get to know other people? Psychologists have talked about the importance of body language, physical appearance and clothing but they've not been so keen on what we actually talk about. A recent study put participants in same-sex and opposite-sex pairings and told them to get to know each other over 6 weeks (Rentfrow & Gosling, 2006). Analysing the results, they found the most popular topic of conversation was music. What is it about music that's so useful when we first meet someone and what kind of information can we extract from the music another person likes?
The number of people who talked about music was surprisingly high. In the first week on average 58% of the pairs discussed music compared to 37% of all the other categories of conversation combined. Other categories included books, movies, TV, football and clothes.
Why then do we use music as a first port of call in getting to know another person? We probably think that music is indirectly telling us something about the other person's personality. For this reason, the second question this study tried to answer was: how good is music as a measure of personality?
Top 10 personalities
To measure this, participants were asked to judge people's personality solely on their top 10 list of songs.
This was compared to participants results on a standard type of personality test measuring the big five personality traits: openness to experience, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and emotional stability. Overall the results showed that music preferences were reasonably accurate in conveying aspects of personality. Of the five traits, it was a person's openness to experience that was best communicated by their top 10 list of songs, followed by extraversion and emotional stability. On the other hand, music preferences didn't say much about whether a person was conscientious or not.
What some music preferences mean for personality:
- Likes vocals: extraverted
- Likes country: emotionally stable. On the face of it, this is bizarre really because country music is all about heartache. Either the emotionally stable are attracted to country music or it has a calming effect on the unstable!
- Likes jazz: intellectual
This raises the question of why people listen to particular types of music. One theory is that people simply find some music more pleasant for aesthetic or cognitive reasons. Another is that people use music to regulate their mood: I want to get hyper for a night out so I put on some dance music. Another is that music is related to identity; people listen to music that expresses they way they see themselves. It seems likely that a combination of all these theories is probably true.
One really important caveat for this study was that the average age of the participants was around 18 so this finding might not hold in different age-groups. My experience is young people talk about music much more than older people. This raises the question of what, for example, might be the most common topic of conversations for other age-groups getting acquainted. Any suggestions?
Despite this limitation it seems that talking about music might be a very powerful way to make a connection with another person.
» This post is part of a series on the psychology of relationships.
References
Rentfrow, P.J., & Gosling, S.D. (2006). Message in a Ballad. The Role of Music Preferences in Interpersonal Perception. Psychological Science, 17(3), 236-242.
Join 22301 readers
Groups defined by music is both a good and bad thing. I have started in a new school and it is one of the first thing you talk about about. Because of this these groups that barely socalize with eachother form. Rockers stick with rockers, rave with rave ect. Differnt musical tastes also cause groups to dress different, but as someone who's best friends from childhood no longer listen to the same genres as myself i often wonder am i missing out on great friendships because of the difference in musical taste and if i were to meet my best friends now rather than early in life would we have become such good friends or even friends at all!
Anon (just above), I think you raise a really good point about how we are quick to make judgements about people on the basis of their musical preferences, especially when we are young. I'd guess (although I don't know) that this decreases with age. Young people perhaps have more invested in their musical preferences as their identities are more fluid.
I know it's a cliche but there really are only two types of music: good and bad. There's something to love in (almost) every genre.
In my opinion, individuals listen to different types of music because it resonates with them better by relation. I tend to like music which I can relate to; afterall, one can percieve any song in a way in which it relates to them.
There are tons of other factors such as the majority of music you listened to as a child, that would deeply affect your preference of the music you like as an adult.
As I said, there is a countless ammount of other different factors that play into the music you like.
I enjoyed the article, and I generally agree with everything that was stated. But I think there's always going to be more to it in summing up a person based on the music they listen to.
they shoulda analyzed more types of music. like rock music! what does that say about me?
ya...they should. I was hoping to find a connection with pop/rock/R&B music.
Not long ago, I read an article in which the author declared that our music taste is determined even before we are born!
Anonymous #3 suggested that the living environment affects the genre we listen but that wasn't true for me. I grew up in a family where country music was played non-stop and I hated it since the day i heard it. I am into rock/R&B.
"we are quick to make judgements about people on the basis of their musical preferences, especially when we are young. I'd guess (although I don't know) that this decreases with age."
No, it doesn't decrease with age. If anything I judge people on what they listen to more now than ever, and I am 46. I do the playlist.com thing and am religious about changing my music weekly. I am bored to death with the 70s, 80s, and 90s and am looking for something fresh! I will spend hours looking for a new favorite song. Here is my current playlist:
http://www.playlist.com/node/31885291
Two things:
1) I have never met anyone who has said they don't like music. I've met numerous people who have said they don't like reading, and a couple who have said they don't like art. My mom and dad, in their 60s, are happy to share their musical tastes. Music truly does seem to be a sort of universal human impulse.
2) I agree that as I've gotten older (I am 36) I tend to listen to the same music over and over. I do have to make an effort to go find new music and artists. Pandora really is fantastic. Just surfing music videos at YouTube is fun too. The other day I found Rihanna's "Don't stop the music" and it made me feel young - unlike Madonna, who makes me feel old....
Cheers
I believe that musical tastes are a good measure of someone's personality. I personally use music as a personality test myself :P Maybe the iPod will become the new BigFive test :P I found some new research concerning this subject. It was about musical tastes and personality traits in teenagers. I wrote my opinion on the subject if you want to see it at http://encefalus.com/cognitive/music-personality-traits/
I love to sing and have a bit of musical training, so I find that I really enjoy music which is complex, in a wide variety of styles. Vocally, like Queen or Sondheim, or, great country western duets,, or instrumentals, mainly classical. The complexity seems to induce a kind of euphoria, and I love it that other people get this same wow feeling from it.
On the other had, it seems that different styles of music also have the ability to play out moods, or induce moods, and tend to choose music to bring these on either the energetic, or the rested, and all the variables in between. I think it is too simplistic to identify people by one type of music.
Violetaqua
The real question is: How does music produce physical as well as psychic reactions. Why do certain melodies bring tears to my eyes and others make the hair on the back of my neck stand-up? I'm talking here about chromatic constructions, not lyrics or popular melodies. What part(s) of the brain are activated by music and how do they cause physical reactions?
People identify with their music. Music has a "coolness" factor to it. Like- "I listened to that band so 5 years ago". Today bands are like brands or tattoos one can tag under their myspace or facebook music taste section. It can quickly identify themselves with a group to gain some ...status? People do honestly like bands but here is a good example of how i used a band a "cool factor". I was playing guitar in 7th grade for my church youth group and bought a Korn sticker to put on my amp. I had never even heard Korn, i just knew some kids at school listened to them and wanted to identify with them. ... I don't listen to korn. I promise.
t!
On my opinion, music has a diverse effect on one's personality and also intelligence. For example, rap and hip hop styles of music have rhythmic sound waves which can easily be interpreted by the human mind. In other words, this style of music is simpler and for us to listen to. However, more complex styles, such rock, have far more fluctuating sound waves and their rhythm is also more difficult to interpret. People who have a tendency of listening to these styles may thus have different abilities, levels of IQ, personality etc.
I find that we have a predictable pattern in our music tastes regardless of the genres that we listen to. In other words, it's more than just about the genre. We're drawn to a more specific quality/qualities that certain sounds give out. I'll use me and my friend as an example.
We both can listen to just about all types of genres but our fave is rock. Although we're both rock lovers, the rock music that we listen to are so different. Then we realized she's drawn to pure, organic tones like the sound of a simple guitar. I on the other hand look for a more sonic,atmospheric, synthetic sound. The more layered the background noise, the more texture, the better sounding it is for me. So she would opt for a punk rock and funk types like jamiroquai and the clash while I would be more into electrorock like radiohead, pink floyd, or industrial like nine inch nails... very different sounds although they are all rock.
It goes for all genres too, in folk music she would be into tracy chapman or jack johnson while I would choose a more hybrid form of folk like Beirut. In pop she would listen to the cure while I'm more into depeche mode. That's just one quality.
Then we delved into the mood of the song, or more accurately how it affects our mood. Turned out she likes songs that calm her or even out her emotions while I like songs that intensify whatever I'm feeling, be it sadness or joy. I don't just want something that makes me sad, it has to make me feel strong alienation and melancholia. If I want to get hyper, I don't want a song that will just make me tap my fingers.. it has to make me jump up and down and make my head bang. I want it to be dynamic.
So that's just an example of how genres really don't have anything to with it. You can be so diverse but still retain the predictable qualities in your song preferences. What that tells you about your personalities is what makes it interesting to study.
Music tells the truth about us.
I believe music is the best predictor of our personality because it's everywhere and we all listen to it, unlike our experience with books and films which can be less available due to educational and economic barriers.
But, I think the music itself plays only a small role in revealing our personality. My theory relies on a person's interest in music as the critical piece of information that reveals personality and predicts compatibility with other people.
People who are passionate about music listen to a broad range of artists and genres. It's almost impossible to peg the personality of this kind of listener.
The Gosling/Rentfrow study was a great introduction for the correlation between music and personality to be taken seriously. I believe the study participants (freshman) were too young to make a definitive statement (it's not usually until we are through with college that we have our "music chops.") But, this study was a great start. They have published a few other papers on the topic, too.
You can fake the music you like (I use the faux Korn fan here as an example), but you can't fake how much you like it. When two people like music a similar amount they also tend to have common personality traits and social behaviors, and therefore, have a higher likelihood of compatibility.
I believe in this theory so strongly I researched it for years and developed a compatibility system (a music quiz) for singles. It's free and called A Sound Match.
This was an extremely innovative study. We often think about personal areas of our life such as iPod playlists as a personal reflection of our likes and/or dislikes. However, it is rare that we think about how this would reflect on us when placed into a public sphere. This is a true testimony to the fact that the music we are interested in reveals the intricacies of our personality, whether we want it to or not. Essentially, it all makes sense: music comes from what we like, what we like comes from our charactersitcis, our characteristics come from our personality. At the end of the day, our musical selection is a direct function of our personalities. So what would the boys at the office think if they knew you listened to Britney Spears in the morning on your way to work? What would your "crew" think of you if they knew that there was really a Jonas Brothers' CD hiding inside of that Lil' Wayne "Tha Carter III" CD case? What I also found fascinating about this study was that people were so quick to judge on stereotypes of what a certain genre of music implies (jazz music is more intellectual), however, I was even more fascinated to learn that these judgements were essentially true! I would like to see a study on how people would arrange their playlists if they knew that someone would judge them on it. Would they still have the same music? Or would they simply choose songs that made them look better? Next time I choose a song on my iPod, I just might stop and think what that songs says about my personality!