Can musical preference really predict your personality and political beliefs? As it turns out, musical taste may reveal a lot more than most of us thought.
A new study conducted by Adrian North and his team from Curtin University concludes that you are what you listen to. North reported that there is very likely a link between musical taste, personality traits and political orientation in a recent publication in Psychology of Music.
Predicting Musical Taste
157 Australian students ranging in age from 17 to 55 were surveyed in the study. Researchers gathered statistics about musical tastes, personality, and political orientation.
In the study, they found a significant relationship between musical preference and personality. Aspects of personality traits and not personality domains were found to predict a person’s musical preference and musical taste. The study was based on the Big Five model.
- Openness to experience (inventive/curious vs. consistent/cautious)
- Conscientiousness (efficient/organized vs. easy-going/careless)
- Extraversion (outgoing/energetic vs. solitary/reserved)
- Agreeableness (friendly/compassionate vs. challenging/detached)
- Neuroticism (sensitive/nervous vs. secure/confident)
Personality Aspects And Political Orientation
If a person has a preference for rhythmic music like rap, hip-hop or reggae and R&B they were found to have aspects of agreeableness, but not as a broad domain. These candidates tend to score higher for traits related to compassion. Furthermore, they tend to score lower on politeness.
When it comes to their political orientation, candidates who prefer intense music like punk, rock, metal and indie, jazz, blues and classical are more likely to lean to the liberal side of the political spectrum. These candidates tend to advocate for social change and equality.
Aspects of intelligence, openness, compassion, assertiveness, politeness and political orientation are predictors of music tastes and vice versa. In conclusion, personality aspects rather than complete personality domains were reasonably predictive of musical preference. This adds to the body of research, involving over 20,000 participants that indicate personality influences musical taste, and this current study will surely not be the last.
