How do you choose the music you listen to?

Personal musical tastes may fluctuate over time, but scientists think that a person’s empathy levels and cognitive (thinking) styles can predict a person’s preferred music genre. In other words, music is a mirror of the self. Music is an expression of who we are emotionally, socially, and cognitively, maintains Dr. Jason Rentfrow at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, author of a 2003 study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Medical Daily, July 27, 2015). But we knew this anyway because this study is more than 10 years old. However, a new study, undertaken this year, confirms the results.

The 2003 study found that people who were open to new experiences tended to choose music that was from the blues, jazz, classical, and folk genres. Extraverts tended to choose music such as pop, soundtracks, religious, soul, funk, electronic, and dance.

The 2015 study investigated cognitive styles. Over 4,000 participants were asked to take a selection of psychology-based questionnaires. The participants were subsequently asked to listen to, and rate, 50 musical pieces from 26 genres.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge’s department of psychology tested the theory of empathizing-systemizing to test cognitive styles. Empathizers are people who want to understand the thoughts and feelings of others, which means that they react emotionally and physiologically to music that they listen to or perform. Systemizers are people who want to analyze and deconstruct sonic features (sounds) and interpret how detailed elements in a song relate to it as a whole when they listen to or play music.

The findings revealed that high empathizers (partipants who scored highly in the series of psychological tests) tended to choose music that was mellow (R&B-rhythm & blues, soft rock, and adult contemporary genres), as well as ‘unpretentious’ music (country, folk, and singer/songwriter genres), and contemporary music (electronica, Latin, acid jazz, and Euro pop). Empathizers did not like punk and heavy metal genres.

The most chosen songs by high empathizers (of the 50 songs played to them) were:

‘Hallelujah’ by Jeff Buckley

‘Come Away With Me’ by Norah Jones

‘All of Me’ by Billie Holliday, and

‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ by Queen.

Systemizers tended to choose music that was intense and ‘sophisticated’ jazz (i.e. complex and avant-garde jazz). They also preferred music with a high degree of cerebral depth and complexity (that made them think about the lyrics or musical composition).

The most chosen songs by high systemizers (of the 50 songs played to them) were:

‘Concerto in C’ by Antonio Vivaldi

‘Etude Opus 65 No. 3’ by Alexander Scriabin

‘God Save the Queen’ by The Sex Pistols, and

‘Enter Sandman’ by Metallica.

The researchers believe the findings on cognitive styles are ‘true and better predictors of musical tastes than previous predictors.’ They are particularly interesting in exploring the links between medicine and music. Next for the researchers is to test whether music with emotional depth can actually increase empathy, which could be used for music therapy.

http://www.medicaldaily.com/psychology-music-choice-cognitive-thinking-influences-preference-music-genre-empathy-344774

Baron-Choen S, Kosinski M, Greenberg DM et al. Musical preferences are linked to cognitive styles. PLOS ONE. 2015.

Gosling SD and Rentgrow PJ. The do re mi's of everyday life: the structure and personality correlates of music preferences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 2003.

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass

The Beggars' Strike by Aminata Sow Fall: book review

The Beggar’sStrike (1979 in French and 1981 in English) is set in an unstated country in West Africa in a city known only as The Capital. Undoubtedly, Senegalese author Sow Fall writes of her own experiences. It was also encapsulated in the 2000 film, Battu , directed by Cheick Oumar Sissoko from Mali. Mour Ndiaye is the Director of the Department of Public Health and Hygiene, with the opportunity of a distinguished and coveted promotion to Vice-President of the Republic. Tourism has declined and the government blames the local beggars in The Capital. Ndiaye must rid the streets of beggars, according to a decree from the Minister. Ndiaye instructs his department to carry out weekly raids. One of the raids leads to the death of lame beggar, Madiabel, who ran into an oncoming vehicle as he tried to escape, leaving two wives and eight children. Soon after, another raid resulted in the death of the old well-loved, comic beggar Papa Gorgui Diop. Enough is enou

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog