Music is in Your Mind

Prelude

What kind of music do you like? Pop? Rock? Classical? Do you think that says anything about your personality? A lot of people do.

            According to psychologists at the University of Cambridge in the U.K. and at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, you can tell a lot about someone’s personality based on what music they listen to.

            In fact, people could figure out someone’s personality by listening to their top ten favorite songs. These were not close friends at all, or even acquaintances! They used people who didn’t know each other at all!

            Now, before you start thinking that it can’t get any better, keep reading! It was determined that your preferred genre music can be used to tell how confident, creative, hardworking, outgoing, gentle, and at ease a person is. Researchers think that personality traits corresponds to each.

Some parents (and other adults) worry that music may have a negative impact on teens’ behavior, making them act more sexually or aggressively. However, this probably isn’t true because kids who like the music that parents tend to think “makes kids violent” (rock) tend to be shy and gentle.

            On the other hand, people who like opera tend to be more likely to think that suicide is a reasonable solution to family dishonor. However, this is not any fault of the genre itself. More dramatic personalities, it seems, are drawn to opera music.