What's Your Tune?

Music and its effects on human behavior have been studied for some years now. From playing Bach for an unborn child in the hopes that it be brighter, (which has since been debunked) to the effects of music in the workplace and how productivity increases as a result.

But personally, one of the most interesting areas of music psychology for me is the study of how your musical selections play a part in determining your personality.

Now, please keep in mind that the following are very general and broad brush strokes and you will very likely not fit every description listed. And although I play a psychologist on TV, I'm not attempting to "diagnose" you in any way. I'm just having some fun with it. I hope that you will as well.

So here we go......

Research conducted by psychologists Sam Renfrow of Cambridge University, and Sam Gosling at the University of Texas at Austin give some insight to the link between what we like musically, and our personalities.

Jazz: The people who typically enjoy jazz are creative, complex, and more extroverted, with higher than average intelligence.

Pop: These listeners are conventional, extroverted, and hard-working. They are generally honest in nature, and have high self-esteem. (Just know that as you listen to Justin Beiber, your losing IQ points by the second)

Rap/Hip Hop: Going against the stereotype of aggressive behavior, the people that prefer the genre are typically outgoing and have a high level of self-esteem.

Country: Hard-working, conventional, and (amazingly) emotionally stable; since it seems that most country songs center on heartbreak and "who 'dun shot my dawg". (I'm from Tennessee, I can make jokes!)

Rock/Heavy Metal: This is my genre of choice, mainly because I play the drums and I utterly enjoy those drummers who stand out from the rest of the band. According to the research, Metal Heads are quite gentle, somewhat creative, and often introverted. Hmmmmmm.

Indie: The "obscure" bands that aren't part of "the norm" typifies this genre. Those who seek after the holy grail of obscure, non-top-40 tunes are intellectual and creative. They also tend to be passive, and hard-working.

Dance: House music, dub-step et.al. Assertive and outgoing. Get out of their way when the party gets going!

Classical: Introverted, at ease with themselves, and good sense of self-esteem.

So there you have it, in a nutshell. Which category so you fall into?

For more on this topic, check out www.psychologytoday.com