Universals and variations in musical preferences: A study of preferential reactions to Western music in 53 countries.

Abstract

Are there universal patterns in musical preferences? To address this question, we built on theory and research in personality, cultural, and music psychology to map the terrain of preferences for Western music using data from 356,649 people across six continents. In Study 1 (N = 284,935), participants in 53 countries completed a genre favorability measure, and in Study 2 (N = 71,714), participants in 36 countries completed an audio-based measure of preferential reactions to music. Both studies included selfreport measures of the Big Five personality traits and demographics. Results converged to show that individual differences in preferences for Western music can be organized in terms of five latent factors that are invariant (i.e., universal) across countries and that generalize across assessment methods. Furthermore, the patterns of correlations between personality traits and musical preferences were largely consistent across countries and assessment methods. For example, trait Extraversion was correlated with stronger reactions to Contemporary musical styles (which feature rhythmic, upbeat, and electronic attributes), whereas trait Openness was correlated with stronger reactions to Sophisticated musical styles (which feature complex and cerebral attributes often heard in improvisational and instrumental music). The patterns of correlations between musical preferences and gender differences, ethnicity, and other sociodemographic metrics were also largely invariant across countries. Together, these findings strongly suggest that there are universal patterns in preferences for Western music, providing a foundation on which to develop and test hypotheses about the interactions between music, psychology, biology, and culture.

Personality Computing With Naturalistic Music Listening Behavior: Comparing Audio and Lyrics Preferences

“…Furthermore, our sample was exclusively representative of Western society even though music preferences may depend upon cultural context (e.g., Liu et al, 2018;Park et al, 2019). While recent findings indicate that personality patterns in Western musical style preferences generalize across countries (Greenberg et al, 2022), our approach of studying low-level musical attributes may also be transferred to non-Western musical styles in more inclusive future studies. Finally, our study's scope was limited to users of Android smartphones, excluding those owning iOS devices.…”

The Influence of Background Music on People’s Judgment of others on Social Media

“…In the same vein, based on questionnaire data from 341 respondents, Chamorro-Premuzic et al (2010) showed that the relationship between individual differences and specific uses of music, where open and intellectually engaged individuals, and those with higher IQ scores, tended to use music in a rational/cognitive way, while neurotic, introverted and non-conscientious individuals were all more likely to use music for emotional regulation. Greenberg et al (2022) investigated whether there are universal patterns in musical preferences, especially for Western music. They included self-report measures of the Big Five personality traits and demographics.…”

Emotional Temperament and Character Dimensions and State Anger as Predictors of Preference for Rap Music in Italian Population

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