Can you put yourself in someone else’s shoes? Then it is highly likely that you are into R&B. If you have an inquisitive mind and are more prone to take things apart, it is highly likely that you like punk music.
This is what a new study about the relation of musical tastes and cognition suggests. The study that was published recently by the online journal ‘PLOS ONE’ depicts the relationship between someone’s way of thinking, cognitive style and the songs they’ll likely prefer.
Psychological studies are commonly used to measure personality. There are five major personality traits: “conscientiousness”, “agreeableness”, “extraversion”, “openness to experience” and “neuroticism”. Previous research on music has focused on these characteristics.
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Another way of comprehending the people’s minds is via cognitive style that varies from empathetic to systemizing. If we talk about empathizers, they are strongly interested in emotions and thoughts of others. While, systemizers are skilled in identification of patterns and system analysis.
A study was conducted on over 4000 participants that contained such statements as “I can pick up easily when someone says something and means something else.” Or “If I would buy a mobile phone, I would like to know its exact technical specifications.” Participants were ranked between a spectrums of empathizer to systemizer based on their answers.
After that, the participants heard 50 music excerpts from different types and genres of music. Then their preferences were recorded.
It was found that empathizers enjoyed mellow music like R&B (soul), adult contemporary, soft rock etc. Systemizers on the other hand were attracted to intense music like punk, hard rock & heavy metal.
The findings lead us to the conclusion about how we relate to music, both connecting emotionally with it & analyzing the composition. Empathizers were more inclined to songs that were melancholy and relaxing while systemizers were more into fast-paced and complex songs.The findings give us an outlook of how our artistic inclinations are influenced by personal qualities.
Michelle Koh