New research shows that a person’s musical preference has a lot do with their personality. Scientists from the universities of McGill, Cambridge, and Stanford collaborated on a new method for coding and categorizing music. These researchers believe that their findings hold important implications for both industry and health professionals.
While there are a plethora of adjectives and genres that people use to described music, the research team mapped musical attributes to numerous songs using a statistical procedure that grouped them into clusters. They discovered the musical attributes could be grouped into three clusters that they labeled Arousal, Valence, and Depth. Arousal describes the energy and intensity in music; Valence describes the spectrum of emotion in the music (from sad to happy); and Depth describes intellect and sophistication in music.
These findings, which were presented in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, suggest that this statistical categorization may be a useful alternative to grouping music into genres, which is often based on social connotations rather than the actual attributes of the music. Musical psychologist Dr. David Greenberg and the research team suggest that those in the music industry (e.g. Spotify and Pandora) that are already coding music using a multitude of attributes might save time and money by coding music around these three composite categories instead.
The researchers also conducted a second study of nearly 10,000 Facebook users who indicated their preferences for 50 musical excerpts from different genres. Using the three categories, the researchers then mapped preferences onto five personality traits and 30 detailed personality assessments. Their findings indicated, for example, that people who scored high on ‘openness to experience’ preferred Depth in music, while ‘extraverted excitement seekers’ preferred high Arousal in music. Further, those who scored high on neuroticism preferred negative emotions in music, while those who were more self-assured preferred positive emotions.
As this research now suggests, the music that we like and gravitated towards might actually tell us something about ourselves. This study holds various implications. It could inform treatment protocols for music therapy. It could transcend genres in the music industry and move towards categorizations based on actual people preferences and emotional reactions. Lastly, it could enhance the music making process itself.