Thursday, February 23, 2006

You Are What You Listen To??

Have you ever wondered if there is a correlation between the music you listen to and the type of person you are? Musical tastes often come up in conversation, but does it reveal anything about that individual’s personality?

According to psychologists Jason Rentfrow (University of Cambridge) and Sam Gosling (University of Texas), knowing an individual’s musical likes can provide for accurate personality profiling.

Strangers can accurately assess another person's level of creativity, open-mindedness and extroversion after listening to his or her top 10 favorite songs. Rentfrow thinks that personality clues are conveyed in the music's tempo, rhythm and lyrics.

Some of the more interesting observations in the article from Psychology Today include:

Drama Queens
Compared with other music fans, opera aficionados are three times more likely to endorse suicide as a solution to family dishonor, says Steven Stack, a psychologist at Wayne State University in Michigan. Don't blame Madame Butterfly. Stack says dramatic personalities are drawn to opera, not influenced by it.

Parental Advisory
Parents often worry that music—whether it's Elvis or Eminem—promotes sexual or aggressive behavior in teens. Rentfrow's work has found no direct link.

In fact, fans of gangsta rap or heavy metal are often more timid and shy than other kids, he says.

Boom Town
Extroverts gravitate to music with a heavy bass line, according to a Northeast Louisiana University study.

Check out the rest of the profiles. I thought a lot of them made sense, but some may surprise you.

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