Personality and masculinity-femininity traits as predictors of music preferences

Abstract

Music is a powerful tool for emotional and social communication. It connects and brings people together, and serves as a medium to express their emotions. Music listening is a ubiquitous leisure activity and is used by people for different purposes. For years, researchers have studied the psychological aspects of music and its impact on people. The current study focuses on exploring a correlation between music genre preferences and personality traits in young adults (18-30 years, N=120). It also tries to find a possible relationship between music preferences and masculinity-femininity traits. Since the previous studies have majorly been conducted in Western countries, the current study examines the individual differences and their impact on the choice of music in the Indian population. Standardized tools were used for the assessment. The findings corroborated the earlier studies and observed a relationship between individual differences and music preferences. A positive correlation was found between Extraversion and Energetic & Rhythmic music (i.e., dance/electronic and hip-hop music). Agreeableness was found to be negatively correlated with Intense & Rebellious music (i.e., heavy metal, rock music). A relationship between masculinity-femininity traits and music preferences was also determined.  Expressive traits were negatively correlated with Intense & Rebellious music and instrumental traits were found to be positively correlated with Energetic & Rhythmic music. The results also revealed some gender differences. Future investigations are required to determine the extent to which music listening behaviours serve as a reflection of personality.