What does it really say about you if you love pop hits or prefer to chill out with some bass-heavy or heavy metal dance tracks?
It’s probably not what you expect.
Multiple scientific studies have investigated the personality traits associated with different musical genres and have discovered some unexpected facts, such as the fact that psychopaths are more likely to enjoy Blackstreet’s No Diggity.
If you like popular, chart-topping music, you’re more likely to be a likable person.
Meanwhile, people who listen to extreme heavy metal about violence are actually no more likely to be violent (and in fact, they simply find “joy” in the music).
And if you like exaggerated bass in your music, that could be bad news.
Listening to Eminem Could Mean You’re a Psychopath (YouTube)
We listen to music from people like us.
When we choose music, we often choose music from people we think are like us, a 2020 study showed.
So, for example, David Bowie fans are attracted to him for his slight weirdness and neuroticism, and Radiohead fans are attracted to the band for his “open” and experimental nature.
People who listen to David Bowie are similar to his public image (and neurotic)
The research, based on 80,000 fans and 50 famous musicians, asked fans to rate each artist’s public persona and found that people naturally gravitate toward artists who are similar to them.
Thus, Marvin Gaye fans tend to be likable, much like the musician’s public persona, while Ozzy Osbourne fans tend to be more unpleasant and “unlikable,” the researchers say.
Dr David Greenbeg, from Bar-Ilan University, said: “In today’s world, where social divisions are increasing, our studies show us how music can be a common denominator to bring people together.”
Ozzy Osbourne fans tend to be ‘nasty’ and rebellious, study finds
Study co-author Dr Sandra Matz of Columbia Business School said: “The findings may pave the way for record companies or music management to use new approaches to target and create their audiences.”
Do you like big bass and don’t know how to lie?
Great bass lines are an inevitable feature of modern music, but you might be surprised what a love of bass lines says about your personality.
A 1997 study in the journal Personality and Individual Differences found that men are more likely than women to enjoy music with “over-the-top” bass.
So are extroverts and so are psychotic people.
Bass-heavy songs like Still DRE by Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre could be linked to psychosis
The researchers, led by William McCown, wrote: “Personality was measured with the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire.
The results showed that psychoticism, gender, and extraversion are positively related to the preference for enhanced bass.
Music to be murdered?
Real-life psychopaths are not like classical music-loving Hannibal Lecter and are actually more likely to enjoy retro rap, according to a study.
No Diggity and Eminem’s Lose Yourself were enjoyed by people with the highest psychopathy scores in a 2017 study.
The less psychopaths enjoyed Sia’s Titanium and My Sharona by The Knack.
The less psychopaths enjoyed Sia’s Titanium
The research was part of an unpublished preliminary study from New York University in 2017, which hoped to find a way to identify psychopaths without their consent, and which focused on 260 songs and 200 volunteers who had also self-administered a test of psychopathy.
Study leader Pascal Wallisch said in 2017: “The media portrays psychopaths as ax murderers and serial killers, but the reality is that they are not obvious; They are not like Batman’s Joker.
‘They may be working alongside you and they blend in. They are like psychological dark matter.
‘We don’t want to have these people in positions where they can cause a lot of harm. “We need a tool to identify them without their cooperation or consent.”
Empathic people prefer soft music.
A 2015 study by musician and researcher Dr. David Greenberg, who has conducted multiple studies on musical preferences but also performs as a jazz musician, found that the way we think is strongly tied to musical tastes.
Research with volunteers found a stark divide between empathetic people and “systematizers” who think about things in a more mechanical way.
Soft music (like Marvin Gaye) attracts more empathetic people
Research found that the most empathetic people prefer soft music: R&B, soul, soft rock.
People who are more systematizing (i.e., less emotional) tend to prefer intense music, such as punk, heavy metal, and hard rock.
Violent music does not mean you are violent
Listening to violent music like extreme heavy metal doesn’t mean people are violent, but rather it’s a geeky pastime like battle reenactments.
One study played a particularly horrible song to listeners and then assessed how desensitized they were to the violence; He then compared the results to what happened when they heard Pharrell Williams’ ‘Happy’.
Researchers compared violent songs to Pharrell Williams’ ‘Happy’
Viewers were shown images related to violence to see if they were desensitized by the song Eaten by Blood Bath, which revolves around a real-world case in which a man killed and ate a willing victim in Germany in 2001.
The researchers found no evidence that the music desensitized listeners.
Professor Bill Thompson of the Australian University said: “Fans are nice people. They’re not going to go out and hurt anyone.”
‘The dominant emotional response to this music is joy and empowerment. And I think listening to this music and transforming it into a beautiful, empowering experience is an amazing thing.”