The music we listen to and our personalities

[c3LL]

Here's something I believe... in the right circumstances, with the right mind set, and with the right music - while we're listening to the music we become "the don juan." Any situation that approaches us can be handled "the don juan way" ...I guess.

Here's my study: Music DOES have an impact on our personalities, right? Yes it does. Ever notice how the more "hardcore" of a music genre an artist gets, the more of a "hard-ass" appearance that is put out, but their really weenies?

Lets think about it for a second. When you listen to a generic heavy metal song, the song is about love. Not being loved, losing love, basically b1tching about love. It shows their weekness and when we listen to it, we can in some way relate and become weakend ourselves.

Then they play the songs about "hope." "Things getting better" ...and so thus we can relate and for a brief moment, we ourselves feel that "hope."

Now I would take it into the aspect of hip-hop music as well - the rappers come off as "hard-asses" as well; so when we listen we can get into that groove and feel a little more independent; - but i don't want to go further into detail so as to not seem like I'm racist, or being hypocritical, or stereotypical, or whatever.

But I just wanted to state my observations. And I use rock and hip-hop music because thats basically what we see/hear/experience... everywhere. They're the most popular. Any club you walk into will have some type of hip hop playing. Any bar will have some rock. And you could ask: "Well what about country?" and really country is just another form of rock and roll.

People - especially teenagers - base their lifestyles around the media. If their wearing jerseys, baggy pants, and shoes with no laces - they listen to hip hop. It's that simple. You all know you think these types of things to yourselves when you see these kids walking around.

It all just shows how important the industry really is to our everyday lives. It's part of our growing up and our learning. And it all affects our attitude and how others perceive us and act towards us.

So I thought I'd try and explain my thoughts the best I could and wondered what others thought.

 

[Rockadeimis]

I agree with alot of what you said...

Good thing I like classical and jazz the most, hehe. For a long time I didn't listen to 'love songs' because I felt that I was weak for allowing love to have an effect on me.

Then I realized I was human and that the emotions are within me no matter what genre of music I listen to. The goal is to be able to express your emotions without letting it control you.

However, growing up watching my sister be a total female AFC, I realized all she did was play sappy love songs, and it kinda made her self-pity grow. So the occasional love song is ok, but as with everything in life, temperance is critical.

I try my best not to 'look' like I listen to any one style of music by the way I dress. I hate it when people automatically assume I'm into hip-hop just because I'm black. But they do assume, regardless of the fact that my personal style isn't anywhere near hip-hop.

My personal style is more of a cool, rustic, sophisticated, elegant, yet manly style (did I leave anything out?). So of course everyone says I'm 'jazzy'...pisses me off. I can't seem to escape the whole racial qualifier.

But anyway, the bottom line is that you wear what makes you comfortable the same way you listen to what makes you comfortable. Hopefully your style will be your own, not forced on you by someone else's idea of what and who you are.

 

[Mortukai]

You're right that music does have a relationship with our personalities. The music we choose to listen to reflects aspects of ourselves, and in turn, affects how we think. It's a two-way street.

But it's much more complicated than you make it out to be. I know you're simply making generalizations because it's too hard to try and develop a more robust theory, but when it comes to music and personality, such broad generalizations are even less accurate than usual. Especially when you consider that some people listen to multiple genres. Like myself. This is because music also has similar correlates with physiological arousal and social identity.

But a good paper to read if you can get your hands on it is:

Rentfrow, Peter J., Gosling, Samuel D. (2003). The Do Re Mi's of Everyday Life: The Structure and Personality Correlates of Music Preferences. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology. 84(6). p.1236-1256.

It covers many interesting aspects and goes into some detail on the correlations between different personality types and self-identities and music preferences. I can list some of the key results if anyone is interested?

 

[diablo]

AE...

Originally posted by Mortukai
I can list some of the key results if anyone is interested?

Sure, I'm interested.

 

[cant think of a user name]

What you are assuming is that people actually listen to the "message" of the song.

However you must also consider.... what if some people just want to enjoy the music, regardless of whatever message it is trying to send?

For example, heavy metal listeners may just want something to bang their head to, rock fans may just want to hear that awesome guitar solo, hiphop/club fans may just want something to dance/bop their head/pump out of their subwoofers etc.

In this respect, the messages sent out by the music may have a minimal effect on their mindset/personality, as they are only enjoying the musical aspect of it rather than the lyric.

I'm not disputing your point, though, I do agree with your main point, provided that people actually listen to the message of the song.

But I do pose a question. What about classical/symphony fans? What message is being sent there?

 

[c3LL]

Yea, I basically mean the mainstream music. Everyone on these boards seem to be well off with all different types of genres that they're into.

With myself I listen to everything about the music and lyrics together. But there are instances where I don't like the lyrics or just dont understand them - but I love the guitar riffs. (for example: Lamb of God - I dont really like the guys voice, and i can't understand him - but the guitar riffs are great!)

You can find people that dress a certain way and it parallels to a genre of music. There's a chance that they listen to all different types of music but I bet their heavily influenced by one genre more then another.

Like for me, I listen to a large variety of genres - but listen to metal the most. And it influences me - the clothes I wear, how I act, how I hold myslef. But I dont fully allow it to influence me because these personality and physical traits set socialized generalizations.

But I just realized its so easy to just look at a person and make all these judgements and it shapes and molds our attitudes. Goes to show you how first impressions make lasting ones.

To me a person that listens to classical music is layed back and has taste. The person savors the finer things in life.

 

[Mortukai]

diablo expressed interest in the results from the study I mentioned on music and personality correlations:

First, the researchers categorized music into four main types, based on shared factors across genres:

1. Reflective and Complex: Including classical, jazz, blues, and folk. This type is characterized by having lyrics which are dreamy, pleasant, romantic, depressing, emotional, and relaxed, and music which is clever, dreamy, pleasant, uplifting, romantic, depressing, emotional, and relaxed.

2. Intense and Rebellious: Including alternative, rock, and heavy metal. This type is characterized by having lyrics which are clever, reflective, bitter, angry, depressing, emotional, enthusiastic, energetic, and loud, and music which is clever angry, emotional, enthusiastic, energetic, and loud.

3. Upbeat and Conventional: including country, pop, religious, and sound tracks. This type is characterized by having lyrics which are simple, rythmic, direct, boastful, dreamy, pleasant, cheerful, uplifting, romantic, optimistic, reflective, relaxed, and enthusiastic, and music which is simple, cheerful, uplifting, romantic, and relaxed.

4. Energetic and Rythmic: Including rap/hip-hop, soul/funk, and electronica/dance. This type is characterized by having lyrics which are rythmic, direct, and boastful, and music which is rythmic.

It's best to bear in mind that the above descriptors were gathered through research, and so must necessarily be only a broad categorization of different genres of music and their commonly shared elements.

Anyway, here's how they relate to personalities, intelligence, and self-views:

1. The Reflective and Complex dimension is positively related to being open to new experiences, self perceived intelligence, verbal IQ, and political liberalism, but negatively related to social dominance and athleticism. Individuals who listen to reflective and complex music tend to be inventive, have active imaginations, value aesthetic experiences, consider themselves to be intelligent, tolerant of others, and reject conservative ideals.

2. The Intense and Rebellious dimension is positively related to openness to new experiences, athleticism, self percieved intelligence, and verbal IQ. Individuals who prefer intense and rebellious music tend to be curious about different things, enjoy taking risks, are physically active, and consider themselves intelligent.

3. The Upbeat and Conventional dimension is positively related to extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, conservatism, self-percieved physical attractiveness, and athleticism, and negatively related to openness to new experiences, social dominance, liberalism, and verbal IQ. Individuals who enjoy upbeat and conventional music tend to be cheerful, socially outgoing, reliable, enjoy helping others, see themselves as physically attractive, and tend to be relatively conventional.

4. The Energetic and Rythmic dimension is positively related to extraversion, agreeableness, blirtatiousness, liberalism, self percieved attractiveness, and athleticism, and negatively related to social dominance and conservatism. Individuals who enjoy energetic and rythmic music tend to be talkative, full of energy, are forgiving, see themselves as physically attractive, and tend to eschew conservative ideals.



If any of that doesn't make sense, just ask me a specific question and I'll answer it as best I can.

 

[diplomatic_lies]

I listen to classical mostly, but I will also listen to the occasional techno/emo, as long as it fits in with my mood. I find music is perfect for changing your mood. If I'm feeling depressed I throw in some fast techno/rave music, if I'm way too stressed out I throw in a bit of slow emo or classical.

I guess I fit into the classical/complex category, although I don't fit in perfectly (for example, I'm intolerant, politically conservative, not that much into aestethics, etc).

 

[EverywhereMan]

I think there is quite of a lot of validity in this idea. I've been thinking about it quite a bit recently.

There was a study done that basically discovered (in USA) that country music makes people depressed. Listening to country music, with it's sad tales of lost love and prison etc. really does have an effect on people. You could argue "but people who are depressed might listen to country music because they are sad! not the other way round!". That is a good point, but these researches accounted for that somehow (dont' ask me how: some statistical jiggery-pokery I guess).

I think that it goes both ways. People are affected by the music they listen to , but they also choose the music based on their mood and tastes. A bit like friends: we can be influenced (in mood) by friends, but we also choose friends who are somewhat like us, or we admire them.

So what can we take from this? Listen to upbeat music all the time, and therefore improve our overall outlook? That's one possibility, but then, whoever said the most interesting life was the happiest?

 

[So Many Ways]

Originally posted by Mortukai


4. Energetic and Rythmic: Including rap/hip-hop, soul/funk, and electronica/dance. This type is characterized by having lyrics which are rythmic, direct, and boastful, and music which is rythmic.

4. The Energetic and Rythmic dimension is positively related to extraversion, agreeableness, blirtatiousness, liberalism, self percieved attractiveness, and athleticism, and negatively related to social dominance and conservatism. Individuals who enjoy energetic and rythmic music tend to be talkative, full of energy, are forgiving, see themselves as physically attractive, and tend to eschew conservative ideals.

This is interesting, category 4 defines the music I listen to 98% of the time, hip hop mostly and at times soul/r&b. I'll listen to some trance every now and then.

Music does definitely affect my mood. When I'm in a club for instance and they play music I like, all of the sudden I feel more smooth and my game improves. When they play music I hate, my mood will do a complete 180.

Also my mood affects what music I listen too. If I'm in chill mode, nothing hits better than some 70's era soul or some smooth r&b slow jams. If I'm in the mood to party, time to put some hip hop on to get hype.

My personality doesn't exactly match the type exactly, only partially. I'm really laid back and I'm more of an observer type dude than an outgoing center of attention type cat.

 

[SELF-MASTERY]

Music chages a persons emotional state not their personality. When I want to get pumped up, I might listen to some heavy up beat music or an over confident rap track. The shift in emotional state from listening to a particular genre of music doesn't have a lasting affect on my core personality. Many younger people have subcultures that are built around music, and they often reflect some of the attitudes and dress of that culture. I do agree that music can have negative or positive a positive affect on a persons temporary emotional state.

For guys wanting to get into meditation research binaural beats.

 

[Fitch]

By listening to a certain genre of music, you are conforming to the artist's beliefs. In some way, or another.

Music is a defination of who a guy or a girl is. That is why the most common question asked when on a date is: "what type of music do you prefer?"

 

[SELF-MASTERY]

By listening to a certain genre of music, you are conforming to the artist's beliefs. In some way, or another.

I understand what your saying, but as a contrarian (spllng.) I have to disagree. I've listened to artist who have beliefs that are polar opposite to what I believe. I often listen to musicians and talk show host that regularly trash my beliefs: while still remaining steadfast in who I am.