Contemporaries, an increasing body of research has indicated Music-listening as a behavior having significant corresponding psychological aspects, linking it to implicit and explicit Personality traits (Chattel & Anderson, 1953; Little & Ackerman, 1986), Social Behavior (Harvested & North, 1997, 1999), as well as Social Identity (North, Harvested & O’Neill, 2000). More gently, research in I-J on ‘Uses of Music’ has established certain Music Preferences to be an indicator of higher cognitive ability (Camphor-Prejudice & Burnham, 2007).
Personality and Music Preferences First to theorize on this was Raymond Chattel, stating that preferences for certain types of music reveal key information about unconscious aspects of personality overlooked by personality inventories (Chattel & Anderson, 1953; Chattel & Saunders, 1954; Reenters & Gosling, 2003). Many have now deemed music preferences as an expression of more explicit personality traits. Camphor-Prejudice and Burnham (2007) established that Personality and Intelligence factors provide central cues as to “why’ and “how’ people choose the music they listen to.
Most concepts in this regard are rooted in different ways individuals “use” their music. The ‘Uses and Gratification’ 2007) has ascribed music choices to the personality needs that this communication media alternative satisfies. Music preferences have also been attributed to individuals’ tendency to seek levels of optimal arousal (Yorkers & Dodson, 1908; Camphor-Prejudice & Burnham, 2007). Another use of music made by persons that can be explained by theories of Personality is Emotional regulation/ coping (Camphor-Prejudice & Burnham, 2007).
The preliminary extensive research on the psychology behind music preferences was accomplished by Reenters & Gosling (2003) on a large sample of undergraduate college students in the United States. They determined the four chief dimensions of music preferences employing Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis, beginning by condensing music preferences to the level of genres as that is how individuals tend to state and discuss music. This resulted in a list of 14 (later revised to 23) genres and 66 sub-genres.
SFA on this list led to the emergence of four larger music categories- Reflective & Complex, Intense & Rebellious, Upbeat & Conventional and Energetic & Rhythmic. Subsequently, correlation between these and the Big Five Personality traits was examined. Aims of this Study The above-mentioned study was executed on an all-American sample. It’s unclear how far the structure of correlations between personality and music preferences generalizes to other cultures or countries, especially an Eastern country like India. The present study aimed at addressing these empirical gaps.
Another objective was to find out if the stereotypes prevalent about certain music preferences hold true. Method Sample The incident sample used here consisted of 175 individuals, male and female dwelling in urban settings in the cities of Punk, Changing and Durance. Age ranged from 18 to 28 years (mean age = 20. 95 yr). The variables controlled were Age (from 18-28 yr), Life setting (urban life setting), and educational qualification (minimum undergraduate academic qualification). Table 1 depicts sample striation in terms of age and sex.
