You Are what you Beat
This just in: "people consider music an important aspect of their lives." No surprise there, but some new research actually goes much further, correlating individual personality with musical preference. What are the underlying 4 dimensions that reveal what you like -- and who you are?

According to a June 6, 2003 Reuters article, "the music you listen to may say more about you than you think." Recently published research by a pair of Univ. of Texas scientists suggests that our choice in music and our personalities are closely linked.

In part, the research does simply document what casual observation has long suggested:

• fans of country & religious music tend to be cheerful, outgoing, reliable & conventional;
• alt-rock and heavy metal fans tend to be physically active, curious, risk takers;
• fans of jazz, classical, folk and blues tend to be intelligent, tolerant and politically liberal;
• rap, hip-hop and other dance music fans tend to be outgoing and agreeable, and definitely not conservative.

But this recent report, which combines a number of research project and analytical methods, has found that musical preferences can be boiled down into only four dimensions. That is, everyone's musical tastes can be summarized by a quantity of the following attributes:

• Reflective & Complex [vs. simple?]
• Intense & Rebellious
• Upbeat & Conventional
• Energetic & Rhythmic

Further, one's position on this 4-D map tends to be related to some of the specific traits that social psychologists use to define personality, self-perception (such as political affiliation), and cognitive abilities.

The work could help companies market their music; could it also help people find musical soulmates.

Read the June 6, 2003 Reuters account of the study

Here is the actual abstract of the research article

The Do Re Mi's of Everyday Life:
The Structure and Personality Correlates of Music Preferences
Peter J. Rentfrow and Samuel D. Gosling , University of Texas at Austin
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2003, Vol. 84, No. 6, 1236–1256,

The present research examined individual differences in music preferences. A series of 6 studies investigated lay beliefs about music, the structure underlying music preferences, and the links between music preferences and personality. The data indicated that people consider music an important aspect of their lives and listening to music an activity they engaged in frequently. Using multiple samples, methods, and geographic regions, analyses of the music preferences of over 3,500 individuals converged to reveal 4 music-preference dimensions: Reflective and Complex, Intense and Rebellious, Upbeat and Conventional, and Energetic and Rhythmic. Preferences for these music dimensions were related to a wide array of personality dimensions (e.g., Openness), self-views (e.g., political orientation), and cognitive abilities (e.g., verbal IQ).

Browse the Journal of Personality & Social Psychology