Psychology of Music Preference

Psychology of Music Preference

                                                                                             Facts about individual music preference:

•  Most people listen to a wide range of musical genres, especially now that music has become more accessible (cheap downloads, free streaming, easy sharing, youtube videos, etc).

•  The choice of a particular musical genre is driven mostly by our social-identity (e.g., if you think of yourself as an intellectual you will like Jazz or Classical, if you see yourself as a rebel you will like Rock or Heavy Metal, although preference for Rock and Heavy Metal is more common today in middle aged IT programmers than in youth in revolt, and the intellectuals of tomorrow will probably listen to 50cc and Jay Z).

• Age, sex, and socio-economic status are more relevant than personality when it comes to explaining any genre-based preferences.
• The major function of music is emotional, but psychologists have yet to understand the connections between different songs and different emotions.

Could the playlists lurking on your iPod really reveal information about your personality? Research conducted by psychologists Jason Rentfrow and Sam Gosling suggests that knowing the type of music you listen to can actually lead to surprisingly accurate predictions about your personality.