Along with visual media (such as television and books), music is one of the most popular forms of entertainment today, with people in the western hemisphere intentionally listening to an average 18 hours of music per week (Rentfrow, 2012). One would find a long road trip almost unbearable if they couldn’t listen to their favorite mix-tape on the way. However, surprisingly little research has gone into specifically what types of music people enjoy and why they do so and, more importantly: what the music they prefer says about their personality.
Music preference levels are highest among young adults (LeBlanc, Sims, Siivola, & Obert, 1996), but even among those whose lives aren’t as strongly touched by music, their preference still says a lot about what that person is like (Craik, 2000, Rentfrow & Gosling, 2003). Research has even gone as far as to say that the music someone likes has the remarkable ability to “provide unique information about personality that is unavailable through other cues” (Rentfrow & Gosling, 2006). Music preference is affected by several parameters, …show more content…
Francis Galton laid the foundation for this research in 1874 (citation) by observing the community of English scientists and finding an abundance of first-born sons. Later, Alfred Adler(Also citation) expanded this research to look at individual personality traits, and suggested that first-borns are more likely to display signs of neuroticism and later-borns to lack social empathy. More recently, research has found that intelligence and intellect are both significantly affected by the order of one’s birth (Damian & Roberts, 2015; Rohrer, Egloff, & Schmukle, 2015). The current study attempts to bridge the gap between these two areas of literature, birth order and music preference, and identify which may be a more accurate predictor of personality
Music preference levels are highest among young adults (LeBlanc, Sims, Siivola, & Obert, 1996), but even among those whose lives aren’t as strongly touched by music, their preference still says a lot about what that person is like (Craik, 2000, Rentfrow & Gosling, 2003). Research has even gone as far as to say that the music someone likes has the remarkable ability to “provide unique information about personality that is unavailable through other cues” (Rentfrow & Gosling, 2006). Music preference is affected by several parameters, …show more content…
Francis Galton laid the foundation for this research in 1874 (citation) by observing the community of English scientists and finding an abundance of first-born sons. Later, Alfred Adler(Also citation) expanded this research to look at individual personality traits, and suggested that first-borns are more likely to display signs of neuroticism and later-borns to lack social empathy. More recently, research has found that intelligence and intellect are both significantly affected by the order of one’s birth (Damian & Roberts, 2015; Rohrer, Egloff, & Schmukle, 2015). The current study attempts to bridge the gap between these two areas of literature, birth order and music preference, and identify which may be a more accurate predictor of personality