Your taste in music defines you more than you might realize. In a study published in the journal PLOS ONE, a team of psychologists assert they can tell what kind of person you are just by knowing whether you prefer Norah Jones to Iron Maiden or "Casey Jones" to "My Iron Lung."
Previous research has been done on personality and age preferences. "For example, people who are open to new experiences tend to prefer music from the blues, jazz, classical, and folk genres, and people who are extraverted and 'agreeable' tend to prefer music from the pop, soundtrack, religious, soul, funk, electronic, and dance genres," according to PsyPost. However, the researchers from the University of Cambridge decided to explore cognitive styles, rather than behavioral traits.
The researchers looked at two categories of people: "empathizers" and "systemizers." An empathizer is in tune with and responsive to the emotions of others. A systemizer analyzes, enjoys rules, patterns and structure.
During the study, one group of participants ranked their musical preference between 26 genres. Another group was asked to rank their preferences within single genres, like jazz or rock. "Results across samples showed that empathy levels are linked to preferences even within genres and account for significant proportions of variance in preferences over and above personality traits for various music-preference dimensions," study authors wrote.
"Although people's music choices fluctuates over time, we've discovered a person's empathy levels and thinking style predicts what kind of music they like," said study author and Ph.D student David Greenberg. "In fact, their cognitive style - whether they're strong on empathy or strong on systems - can be a better predictor of what music they like than their personality."
People who scored high on empathy overall disliked intense music like punk or heavy metal, and instead preferred:
- mellow music (R&B, soft rock)
- "unpretentious" music (country, folk, singer/songwriter genres)
- contemporary (electronica, Latin, acid jazz and Euro pop)
Conversely, people who scored high on systemizing preferred intense music and disliked mellow styles.
However, when asked to rank music within a single genre - for example, jazz - empathizers preferred mellow, "unpretentious" jazz while systemizers went for intense, complex and avant-garde jazz.
As researchers dug even deeper, they found that "those who scored high on empathy preferred music that had low energy (gentle, reflective, sensual, and warm elements), or negative emotions (sad and depressing characteristics), or emotional depth (poetic, relaxing, and thoughtful features)," according to PsyPost. "Those who scored high on systemizing preferred music that had high energy (strong, tense, and thrilling elements), or positive emotions (animated and fun features), and which also featured a high degree of cerebral depth and complexity."
Based on their findings, the following are songs that the researchers believe are likely to fit particular cognitive styles:
High on empathy
"Hallelujah" - Jeff Buckley
"Come Away with Me" - Norah Jones
"All of Me" - Billie Holiday
"Crazy Little Thing Called Love" - Queen
High on systemizing
"Concerto in C" - Antonio Vivaldi
"Etude Opus 65 No. 3" - Alexander Scriabin
"God Save the Queen" - The Sex Pistols
"Enter Sandman" - Metallica
What does your iPod shuffle say about you?
