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 Office Hours With Dr. Jim
by James
Houran, Ph.D
In
this column, "Dr.
Jim"
honestly and candidly answers your questions about
dating, love and sexuality. He doesn’t tell
you what you want to hear – he tells you what
you need to hear. Dr. Jim is committed to offering
you guidance based on responsible clinical practice
and hard data from the latest scientific studies. Send
Dr. Jim your questions today for consideration
in an upcoming issue.
What
Does Taste in Music Tell Us About Others?
Quick
Access:
Taste in Music
Can
you tell anything about other people by their taste
in music?
This
I’ve heard it said that you can tell a lot
about people from their music collections. Well,
my good friend Dr. Jason Rentfrow’s published
research(1) seems to bear that out. He kindly gave
me permission to present some interesting findings
from his article. You might wonder what this has
to do with online dating. My answer is that lately
music seems to be a useful tool in the compatibility
game.
Consider
Last.fm, the popular music recommendation engine.
The service reads the list of songs you play in iTunes
and creates a profile used by Last.fm to recommend
other people and music you may like based on where
you’ve been and what you’re
listening to. Aside from Last.fm and other music
recommendation services like Pandora, there’s
also the iTunes Signature Maker.
iTunes
Signature Maker (iTSM) analyzes your music collection
and creates a short audio signature to represent
who you are and what you listen to. After it checks
your system configuration and asks you a few simple
questions, iTSM will spend a few minutes analyzing
your collection and generating the audio signature.
The
website for the service even states:
“Maybe you'll load
your iTunes signature onto your iPod, e-mail it to
some friends, share it in our signature gallery,
or stick it on your home page. Maybe it will help
you gauge your compatibility with your next blind
date: "She seems nice enough, but her iTunes
signature is just so atonal! Should I go with my
heart or with my ear?”
Hmmm…I guess
Steve Jobs at Apple Computer is joining the ranks
of compatibility gurus like Drs. Glenn Wilson, Pepper
Schwartz and yours truly! That may not be too far
of the mark. A person’s music preferences speak
to “real world psychology,” and can help
you sharpen your person perception skills and learn
how to “read between the lines.” After
all, one of the most common questions people ask
one another online and offline is “What kind
of music do you like?”
There
are intriguing links between music preferences and
personality. As Dr. Rentfrow notes, the music that
people listen to is related to their basic personality
characteristics, values, self-esteem, intelligence
level and even political orientation.
Dr.
Rentfrow’s study
was based on over 50,000 people worldwide, and it
revealed that people who like certain styles of music
also tend to like certain other styles of music.
For instance, some people like:
» Classical,
opera, jazz, blues, and folk
» Rock,
punk, alternative, and heavy metal
» Country,
religious, pop, soundtracks, and oldies
» Rap,
electronic, funk, soul, and R&B
Many
people like styles of music in at least two of these
broad categories. What these categories really mean
is that if people like one of the music genres within
a broad category (e.g., rock), they also tend to
like genres within the broader category as well (e.g.,
alternative).
At
a deeper level of analysis, Dr. Rentfrow also found
that people who like music with certain musical features
have the following characteristics:
» Music
that is complex and “brainy” tends to
be preferred by people who are conscientious, hardworking,
yet depressed and unhappy.
» Music
that is very dream-like is preferred by people who
are conscientious, depressed and open-minded.
» Music
that is very upbeat and enthusiastic tends to be
liked by people who are sociable, calm, emotionally
stable and open to new ideas and experiences.
» Energetic
music is liked mostly by people who are sensation
seekers and extraverted.
» Music
that’s very happy and optimistic is
liked by people who are extraverted, friendly and
caring.
» Angry
and rebellious music is liked by people who are disagreeable,
aggressive people.
» Music
that is sad is liked by introverts and depressed
people.
» Highly
emotional music is liked by unconventional people
who are also depressed and lonely.
» Music
with arrogant, bragging lyrics is popular among people
who are emotionally stable and have narrow interests.
» Reflective
music is liked by people who are unconventional and
unhappy.
» Fast
music is liked by extraverts and thrill seekers.
» People
who like music with lots of singing tend to be extraverted
and friendly.
Interestingly,
people untrained in the social sciences or the Arts
are actually able to form reasonably accurate impressions
of what people are like based solely on their music
preferences! There are two types of cues that people
use to form these impressions…
1)
Music stereotypes -- people tend to use stereotypes about
what people who listen to certain styles of music
are like to form impressions of others.
2)
Musical cues -- people use specific “clues” in
the music to infer personality, such as the amount
of singing, tempo and emotional valence.
With
this background in mind, keep in mind how people
perceive your personality from the musical tastes
you give in your online dating profile or during
your online conversations. Likewise, referring to
certain musical genres or citing lyrics from specific
songs can be a creative and influential way to make
a specific impression on others.
References:
1
Rentfrow, P. J., & Gosling, S. D. (2003). The
do re mi’s of everyday life: The structure
and personality correlates of music preferences.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84,
1236-1256.
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