Music Preference is Personality Key

hornplayer · June-24th-2003, 07:56 PM

Interesting....

What Your Taste in Music Says About You

Musical Styles and Preferences Reveal Personality Traits

By_Jennifer_Warner
WebMD Medical News_
Reviewed By_Brunilda _Nazario,_MD
on Tuesday, June 10, 2003

June 10, 2003 -- Whether you're a little bit country or a little bit rock and roll, the type of music you listen to may say a lot about your personality.

A new study shows there's a good reason why the question, "So, what kind of music do you listen to?" comes up often during first dates -- the answer may speak volumes about another person's personality traits, interests, and outlook on life. And it turns out that classical music aficionados may have a lot in common with die-hard heavy metal fans.

The study, published in the June issue of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, analyzed the musical tastes of more than 3,500 individuals and found the musical styles people favor are closely linked to their personalities.

It showed that musical preferences could be organized into the following four general dimensions according to the level of complexity, emotion, and energy found in each musical style:

* Reflective and complex - classical, jazz, blues, and folk
* Intense and rebellious - alternative, rock, and heavy metal
* Upbeat and conventional - pop, religious, country, and soundtracks
* Energetic and rhythmic - rap/hip-hop, soul/funk, and electronica/dance

Researchers say each of these broad categories of musical preferences was also closely linked to an individual's personality traits, self-perception, and cognitive ability or intelligence.

For example, people who preferred classical music or other types of music classified as reflective and complex were likely to be open to new experiences, intelligent, politically liberal, and less athletic.

Heavy metal fans who liked intense and rebellious music also tended to be open to new experiences and consider themselves intelligent, but they were also curious about different things, enjoy taking risks, and physically active.

Researchers say their analysis suggests that people who enjoy upbeat and conventional music styles like popular and religious music are cheerful, socially outgoing, reliable, enjoy helping others, view themselves as physically attractive, and be relatively conventional.

But rap fans and others classified as listening to musical styles considered as energetic and rhythmic literally followed the beat of a different drummer. The study showed these people tend to be talkative, full of energy, forgiving, and eschew conservative ideals.

The participants believed that musical preferences revealed as much about their personalities as their hobbies did. And when it came to sizing up others, musical preferences ranked second only to hobbies in terms of what the participants felt revealed the most about others' personalities -- more than what kinds of books or magazines they read.

Researchers Peter J. Rentfrow and Samuel D. Gosling of the University of Texas at Austin say many questions remain before any concrete theories on musical preferences can be made. But their results show that, "It is clear to us that music can contribute much to the understanding of many psychological phenomena."
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SOURCE: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, June 2003.

Squaredancecalling Steve · June-24th-2003, 08:31 PM

>>*Reflective and complex
* Intense and rebellious
* Upbeat and conventional
* Energetic and rhythmic<<

RHYTHMIC???

patricia · June-24th-2003, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Squaredancecalling Steve
>>*Reflective and complex
* Intense and rebellious
* Upbeat and conventional
* Energetic and rhythmic<<

RHYTHMIC???

YEAH. I like that.

I must confess, though, that I have a strange attraction to Hank Williams Sr.'s music, though no other Country. I suspect it has more to do with the association with my late dad, who listened to the radio, early in the morning and that's what was playing.

Squaredancecalling Steve · June-24th-2003, 08:38 PM

Patricia -- when I started getting into Hank Sr., after I started calling, I was amazed at how many of his songs I knew, almost certainly from pop covers I'd heard over the years.

Gentle Giant · June-24th-2003, 09:53 PM

Well, I think that study is a big pile of poop.

In any given day, I can listen to Black Sabbath, the Carpenters, Archie Shepp, Erik Satie, the Swan Silvertones, and Johnny Cash, and enjoy each one immensely. Does this mean I have multiple personalities? No, it means I have multiple moods, and an open mind, and a love of musical expression created with some level of discernible quality.

This reminds me of a book I bought at the height of New Age called The Healing Power of Music. Turns out that only some classical (Bach and Mozart yes, Bartok and Stravinsky no) music and any New Age recording were capable of being healing; anything else, no matter how good it may feel to listen to, is not. Such gross generalities are irresponsible and ridiculous.

patricia · June-24th-2003, 10:23 PM

Squaredancecalling,
Re Hank Sr.
I think that it's a subversive subliminal thing. We're powerless against it's influence.

G.G.
Any cut and dried system of character and personality analysis is flawed. We're all as different as snowflakes. However, what brings us together, here on JC is that we, along with all our other characteristics, love JAZZ.
But, I love biographies, not just JAZZ biographies and I could live on tropical fruit and good coffee. Scary movies and film noir are my favourites and I'm only moderately comfortable in large crowds. I don't like dogs, usually, but am strangely drawn to fluffy cats. I know dozens of people, but consider only a handful friends and treasure every one of them. I'm afraid of death. What if they're right and there really IS a Hell?? You know. Like that.
No small, concise catagorization can truly pinpoint anyone's personality, any more than the daily horoscope can.
But, it's kind of fun to think that some total stranger has figured you out, with ten questions and a list of possible personality profiles. Thank God, it's not that easy.

jazzfiend · June-24th-2003, 11:00 PM

Yeah, but not liking dogs is a rather serious transgression.

jazzfiend · June-24th-2003, 11:59 PM

Yo Mo, thanks for the support!

Hey, who's the new avatar? Much more appealing than skinny Annie.

patricia · June-25th-2003, 12:12 AM

Well Jazzfiend and Scott, the secret is out. Dogs and me. Oil and water. Now you know. I would only admit it here, among friends. Don't tell anyone. I'm kind of ashamed.

Salvador Dali Lama · June-25th-2003, 12:51 AM

agreed on the dogs. you've got to be quite some kind of degenerate fuck-up to not like dogs.

and that avatar is kickass. daniel carter for president!

Vince Kargatis · June-25th-2003, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Gentle Giant
In any given day, I can listen to Black Sabbath, the Carpenters, Archie Shepp, Erik Satie, the Swan Silvertones, and Johnny Cash, and enjoy each one immensely. Does this mean I have multiple personalities?

No, it means you're INDECISIVE AND WISHY-WASHY AND NO ONE WILL WANT TO DATE YOU.

shrugs · June-25th-2003, 08:21 AM

And customers who bought Peter Brotzmann Die Like A Dog also bought..........

Aggie87 · June-25th-2003, 09:31 AM

You can listen to (and enjoy?) the Carpenters? I don't think that falls in any of the four categories.

My favorite Carpenters is when David Spade and Chris Farley sing that song in that movie. You know the one.

tippy · June-25th-2003, 10:52 AM

It is possible to not like dogs and not be a degenerate fuck-up. Dogs are great if you are looking for a friend (and if you have a yard), but not everybody has to love them. She didn't say she hated dogs. I know people who are afraid of dogs because they were bitten as children. Dogs sometimes kill children and other dogs too. It is conceivable to not trust them...some dogs are mysterious. Some are naughty and sneaky and threaten you if you try to take the butter they have stolen from the counter. They drool. Some dogs stink. I mean domestic dogs are as good as the care they get, like any animal. I like dogs but not sneaky ones. I don't like sneaky anything. Pets can be nice but they die before you do and that is pure misery.

Brian Olewnick · June-25th-2003, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by tippy
It is possible to not like dogs and not be a degenerate fuck-up.

C'mon, Tip, you know that's simply not true!!

tippy · June-25th-2003, 11:01 AM

I know Patricia and she is NOT a degenerate fuck-up. Far from it, Brian. And truth be told, I liked dogs more as a child than I do now. If I had one, of course I would become bewitched and love the little devil, but I really don't want one and by admission I am degenerate but in no ways a fuck-up.

tippy · June-25th-2003, 11:02 AM

Brian that's my cousins' dog, Pixie. She's been missing for 25 years dammit give her back.

jazzy mary · June-25th-2003, 11:02 AM

Ahh, that's such a cute little doggie! According to that article, my personality traits are all of the above. Hank Williams (no Sr. necessary, there really is only *one* Hank) is the man. The show on of-B-way now "Lonesome Highway" is great. My whole family loved it. We've been Hank Weeliams (that's how my younger daughter Liz pronounced his name) fans for a loooong time. Oh, btw, her band concert was great. She did a solo on "Shoo Fly"!!

For other great country artists (the real deals) check out George Jones, one of the all time great vocalists and songwriters, Roy Acuff, Patsy Cline and Lorretta and of course the Johnnie and June Cash.

Brian Olewnick · June-25th-2003, 11:05 AM

That's actually a reasonable approximation of my own beloved Nanook whom, you may remember, is quite possibly the Second Coming (I think she's still a miracle or two short of confirmation).

OK, I'll cut Pat some slack. You have to make allowances for Canadians, after all. There are exceptions to every rule. But it's still a rule dammit!

stonemonkts · June-25th-2003, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Scott Dolan
Jazzfiend, I'm glad you asked. That , my friend, is the extraordinary Daniel Carter.

And lay off my Annie dammitt!!

I was gonna offer you cash money to get rid of that avatar....double if you went back to the shitstain.

I vote Annie as the worst avatar to date on this BBS. Annoyed the crap out of me. . .

almost literally.

mke · June-25th-2003, 11:24 AM

Who is this "Annie"?

clinthopson · June-25th-2003, 11:34 AM

Horny's original post showed the type of horseshit that comes out of the academic mind.

Take me for instance: lover of big bands, hard bop, the standard repitoire, old blues, the Chambers Brothers, Creedence and Mexican Norteno music and at the same time being cynical, witty, irreverent, peppy (sometimes) and responsible where the hell do I fit into those eggheads' universe?

patricia · June-25th-2003, 11:50 AM

Hey Tip!!! You're right, I didn't say I "hated" dogs. I just don't have an affinity for them. Heck, my "baby", until I had my girls, was a 200 pound St. Bernard, named Pansy. Of course, as you say, you have to have a yard and I lived in a log-house at a lake, with a three acre yard then. I really prefer cats and still miss my two, which I had to leave in CA, when I moved back to Canada.

Brian, thank you for cutting me some slack as a Canadian.

Agreed on the advisability of torpedoing the Ann Coulter avatar.

JM, forgot about George Jones. "He Stopped Loving Her Today" breaks my heart, no matter how many times I hear it. In fact, I can't listen to it if I'm feeling down. My girls think I'm a sentimental twit, but I don't care. Rips out my heart, no kidding.

jazzy mary · June-25th-2003, 11:53 AM

George is great!! I got to see him live once here in NYC at Tramps, that cat don't need no rockin' chair!!!!

patricia · June-25th-2003, 11:58 AM

JM,
Re George. Absolutely. The Man still has whatever it is that he has, and he ain't lettin' it go.

Earlier, I differentiated between Hank and Hank Jr., lest anyone think that I see any connection at all between the raw, viceral talent of the elder Williams, compared to the pale imitation that Jr. is, sharing only the genetic heredity and little, if any of the talent which was Hank Williams.

stonemonkts · June-25th-2003, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Scott Dolan
Stonemonkts, only because I feel you are a little too full of shit, I offer you some more assistance with your problem:

Not bad! I gave you that one on a platter (poo poo).

June-25th-2003, 01:13 PM

Just reading posts of all the alleged "jazz lovers" on this BBS is enough to refute the bullshit in that Post #1 quoted article.

Nothing like a published "New Truth" to try to make a scientfic reputation. Sometimes the "publish or perish" condition would be better served by the latter choice.

Just in passing, ol' buddy Clint posted:"Take me for instance".

No, hoss, sometimes a price *is* too high to pay! ;-)

tippy · June-25th-2003, 01:43 PM

The point of this thread, for me, is that if Brian comes over to your house, make sure you lock up your dog.

Brian Olewnick · June-25th-2003, 01:48 PM

Watch it there, Tipster....

tippy · June-25th-2003, 01:51 PM

Okay, Brian, so where'd you pick up "Nanook's" friend?