Musical tastes reveal personality type

I don’t take much heed to this study because I could have told you in what type of person you are by your music choice just by generalization of the sub-culture. Every type of music has a set of values that we call a sub-culture, and if you listen to any certain type of music chances are in general that you also identify with the values that the sub-culture of the type music you listen to also.

The music you hear, Reveals your Personality or does it Change your Personality?

I"m confused - I like some music from every category - so I guess I'm at least very outgoing (and confused).

Which genre means 'paranoid schizophrenic - approach with extreme caution'? Because that's the one my shrink would put me in, plus I'd love to find a genre that fits me to a T. ^_^

That picture makes me want to vomit.

One thing the study does not touch on is if the personality attracted the music or if the music attracted the personality.

I would find that much more interesteing.

ALSO i think its hilarious that INDIE kids apparently all have "low self-esteem". I've known that for years

Think this would only work if generalizing the personalities of people who only listen to one genre.
Inaccurate.

What about polka?

I needs tah know what those polka-geeks are like.

(who dis nigg@h in chains?!#)

Though there are those who do not fit into the marketing categories. I for one, am outgoing and confident, but people are amazed when they find out that I am not into Rap. However, I do like blue. I like a lot, but Metal and Classical are my preference. Perhaps, that is the reason they are unsuccessful, and also because we can see through their marketing attempts.

Professor North could have conducted a better study. This is bogus...too many variables are missing.Sorry Professor.

no just no thats stupid and wrong

what if you were an eccleticist? then what would you be?

this is just another way to give people a reason to judge one another.... ugh...

What about people who listen to different types of music in different situations...So, they change personality all the time? I agree with those who say that this categories are way too generalising... and I don't think it's a good way to classify people.

I just saw this on current. It is very true. Music is a form of self expression. How you express yourself in your lyrics, music, and the artform shows who you really are. I believe music is a window to the soul and if music does not move you then you have no soul. Thanks current! John

This is a completely bogus study. Not only are they trying to lump groups together, they're pushing ideas about stereotypes. This is similar to people reading horoscopes. Why is this even news worthy? it's interesting, but not newsworthy.

This is a great study but what about the people that have an affinity for more then one genera?

I think it's fair to say that this study is a failure.

The results seem odd to me. I listen to Reggae, Indie and Dance. They have some things in common, but others that are opposite. I suppose I am gentle and not gentle?

music has apart to play with the type of person you are, but we live in a world were people listen to different genres of music.it has effectively unitied some people together becaue of this even if our personalities are different

what about classic rock, is it under classical?

uh... if you listen to bollywood, you are creative and outgoing... so that describes at the very least the majority of an entire race? i dont think so. the interesting thing is that they're saying it flat out that people who listen to ____ are more likely to be ____. but they dont mention what the exact correlations were. a 50.5% majority for a trait is nothing like a 98.9% majority... and anyway, 36000 people being used to represent the entire world? not exactly representative.

I must be one schizophrenic mo fo.
Also, they left out quite a few; but such is the crippled nature of breaking music down into genres.

And still no cure for cancer....

This reminds me of astrology and people wanting to hear nice things about themselves. I take issue with trying to categorize the music itself. For example, I like rap beats but the majority of lyrical content on the radio these days is such garbage that I rarely listen to it.

Where does that line between the music and the lyrics get drawn in this study?

Hitler liked opera, especially Wagner. "High self esteem, creative, and gentle?" Yeah. So much for this bogus waste of time "study." But hey, it's news.

P.P.S.

Yes, I realize I made a generalized statement with my first comment. However, I feel it is fact. Also, "chart pop", should automatically show you have "no personality and are impressionable".

P.S.

It is also interesting that the genres that came about from painful lives and strifeful situations, such as Blues, Jazz, Reggae, and Rap, are the ones that show you have "high self esteem", and the ones that came about because the artists were saying "fuck you, I am my own person", such as Indie and Rock/Heavy Metal, are the ones that show you have "low self esteem".

It makes sense if you apply that to kids who have no direction or a sense of who they are, however, it is pretty sad that we would generalize the personalities of people.

i like kate perry's i kissed a girl and rihanna's disturbia- that makes me............(fill in a word of your choice)

i love rock/metal - i guess i'm not a hard-worker after all!

Yeah most people have shitty taste in music and shitty personalities.

Wait, so I'm both introverted and outgoing...

Actually, that kinda makes sense. Strange.

great, just one more way to pigeon hole someone.

I dont think this is quite accurate...

I didn't realize how many people are outgoing these days.

crap.

Another superficial study created for those who enjoy being prejudiced. A person's personality is extremely complex. It develops through past experiences, beliefs, attitudes, values, etc. To assume that the kind of music they enjoy is properly represented by these extremely broad and biased categories is inappropriate & absurd. Never stereotype!

I don't like how the creative goes hand in hand with 'low self esteem and not hard working'. Its basically calling all rock/alt/indie lovers bum's. You can be creative and take it places, we see it on current tv everyday. Its a cool study, I just don't agree.

I think they need to stop giving research grants to Ms. Cleo. This study is LAMMMMEEEEEEEE!

pretty vague personality traits but i'll play along
REGGAE High self-esteem, creative, not hardworking, outgoing, gentle and at ease

C'mon humans, this survey is garbage and a waste of time and money. Only 36,000 people were asked and how many are on the planet? How many of the surveys you've taken are one-sided? And, as you all have pointed out, that the list is incomplete, people don't know the genre of the music they listen too, it's way too general, too many are the same, soul music hasn't been produced since the '80s blah, blah. I listen to music that make me feel better when I am down, or angry, or happy. Music fits mood more than personality, and "moods are ever swingin' cause I ain't on no ridlin.

Go to www.pandora.com and you can get a better musical profile by clicking "why is this song being played"

I found out that I like allot of music with a breathy female voice, repetitive song structure and upbeat lyrics. Which I think means I like girl music =/ lmao.

BLUES High self-esteem, creative, outgoing, gentle and at ease

RAP (not the Dirty South crap; more along the lines of Common, Del, Mos Def, etc.) High self-esteem, outgoing

REGGAE High self-esteem, creative, not hardworking, outgoing, gentle and at ease

INDIE Low self-esteem, creative, not hard working, not gentle

ROCK/HEAVY METAL Low self-esteem, creative, not hard-working, not outgoing, gentle and at ease

I have 3 high self-esteems and 2 lows; 4 creatives; 3 not-hard workings; 3 outgoings and 2 not; 3 gentle and at eases and 1 not.

I guess I'm an enigma.

That's cool, it's like the zodiac of music.

lol I like multiple styles a lot and they all contradict each other

RAP High self-esteem, outgoing

COUNTRY AND WESTERN Hardworking, outgoing

REGGAE High self-esteem, creative, not hardworking, outgoing, gentle and at ease

DANCE Creative, outgoing, not gentle

INDIE Low self-esteem, creative, not hard working, not gentle

BOLLYWOOD Creative, outgoing

I guess the only common thread is that Im creative and outgoing :/ which is true....OMG this totally got me right! just like that quiz I took in Seventeen magazine!!!

/sarcasm

i like classical, some heavy metal, some rap. apparently im a mix of introverted and extroverted. id say this study was about as accurate as the weekly horoscope

Yeah this study is not specific enough, I could have made this results up in the shower if I wanted to. Not to mention that there are sooo many genres left out. And what if I fit into multiple categories that contradict each other?

These aren't hard, fast rules on music and personality. They were just patterns that the observers noticed. Just because some of you don't happen to fit exactly in those categories, that doesn't mean that this whole study is wrong and invalid.

great, another reason for people to look at u and judge u just because u rather listen to ludacris or nas over white snake, even though there are some similarities in mine and my mother's personality (to a T), and i just so happen to choose nas over white snake (the song i was born too). hmm..

I love studies like this that are based on, well, nothing. How does one determine if someone has high self esteem, is gentle, at ease, hard working, not hard working??? Obviously the prof had to rely on peoples opinions of themselves which are often (always?) biased and skewed to one degree or another. Using anothers opinion of someone else is even worse. Since it's literally impossible to get any objective data to work with it's impossible to get an accurate answer.

By the way, I like a little of each category of music (except rap) but not a lot of any particular type so what does that make me?

I do believe there is a link between personality and music tastes.
Obviously what is stated here is a bit sketchy, but anyone could do they're own study about this.
I started doing it, a while ago, with a friend of mine. We analyzed the music we like, the interest we have in researching for the sake of it, and we also analyzed the difference between male and female tastes.
One of the clearest conclusions, or so I believe, is the fact that people who have a thirst for searching music, and listening to anything else than mainstream genres seem to be more interested in what happens around them, seem to be more spiritual, and also seem to be paying more attention to details.
I'm not going to write down all the conclusions that I came to, but it is really easy and fun to try and figure it out by yourself. Test it on your friends!
For me,it was and it still is interesting to do that.

what does it say about me if i like raggaeton and duranguense(my friends call it mexican polka)?

What about those of us who traipse outside the mainstream? We can they say about people who listen to experimental, improvisational, or chance music (think John Cage)? What about hybrid genres (jazz-metal, folk-metal, symphonic rock, African blues, Brazilian samba-rock, roots-rock, Hindustani reggae, etc.)?

This is bullshit. I guess there isn't a single person who could possibly enjoy more than one of these genres. I listen to more than 2/3 of the generalized genres used in this experiment. I guess I"m: Creative with high/low self-esteem, outgoing but not, hard working but lazy, and kinda gentle.

LOL. Reggae listeners apparently aren't hard workers. REAlly???? I listen to Bob Marley and I STILL have a job.

shit, i have to work and its 4:20??

Not today, Safeway. I Gots a bong to hit.

What about electronic music?

I call BULLSH*T

This is interesting. May explain why some people's taste in music changes throughout their life.

I wish this had more genres like Hip-hop, Punk or Techno. But I get the idea, its cool.

Yea, it might not all be true or be true 100% of the time, but I do agree with some of the categories. You can't deny there's something to that idea. What makes us listen to certain kinds of music? Do we listen because we can identify, or do we identify because we listen?

Here's one they missed out:

OH, A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING A bit of a twat. Liar. Wants to please everyone. Probably wont be able to talk to you about any musical act that isn't on famous.

I don't think they cancel each other out. There are different degrees of "liking" a genre. So if you are not die hard about a certain genre but you still like it, then perhaps you only retain certain attributes....?

Slow news day?

I love how every genre that isn't rock says "HIGH SELF-ESTEEM"

Though I'm an indie lover,
what does this "not gentle" crap mean?

I don't agree. Why is rock/metal the worst one? Seems a bit stereotypical to me.

out of the genres to choose from, i have to say i'd be part of "indie"

I feel as though the low self-esteem could be true. i know alot of people who enjoy the same type of music as me, and although they are not suicidal, they can get a little emo at times.

Creative is definitely something I notice with kids who like this type of music.

not hard working in certain respects...i know kids who just hang around and do nothing with each other all day, but most of them have jobs and work hard at that...so its here and there with that trait...

not gentle is also give/take...alot of kids are rough and loud, but a good percentage of them are quiet and mild...

cool article either way.

So my preferred genre isn't even listed; what's that say about me?

No, don't. Never mind.

So by bridging a number of genres - rock/indie/dance and classical music..some of my character traits must cancel each other out. Either that or I have multiple personalities.

What I'm really interested is how they defined the music because people would say 'i like indie' but really the indie music they like is actually pop.

Furthermore, only 36,000 across the world was asked so I don;t think it is very comprehensive.

However, I do agree with some of the descriptions of those type of people.

It's an interesting study, but another of those 'why bother?' situations. What do we actually learn from lumping certain kinds of music lovers into one personality box or another? The categories are way too generalising. And anyway, where's folk music on that list?

At first I thought, no way this doesn't match my personality. But then, I thought, if you like more than one category, do the contradictory traits cancel each other out? If you do that, then I'm gonna say it kind of matches. But what's up with the personality types they mention? Surely there are more.