Can you discern a persons nature from the genre of classical music they like ?

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

Most of the studies musicologists have undertaken are, and understandably so, culturally-based (eg: Japanese, Javanese, etc.)  Culturally-biased, if you will; how could they not be?  Although not specifically Classical genre-specific (other than distinguishing classical from operatic) a recent study offered one of the broadest, cross-cultural studies.  The results seem to me primitive at best but this could be the effect of the reporting source - http://psychcentral.com/lib/preferred-music-style-is-tied-to-personality/m  Still, there are elements herein that will resonate with many of us and you'll notice the significance of the self-identification I noted previously. 

"New research from around the world suggests that an individual's favorite music genre is closely linked to his or her personality.  Professor Adrian North of Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK, has undertaken the largest study so far of musical tastes and personality type. He is an expert on music psychology and has carried out extensive research on the social and applied psychology of music, in particular the relationship between pop music culture and deviant behavior in adolescence, music and consumer behavior, and the role of musical preference in everyday life.

Over the course of three years, Professor North asked more than 36,000 people in more than 60 countries to rate a wide range of musical styles in order of preference. Certain aspects of personality were also measured by questionnaire. The results showed:

Blues fans have high self-esteem, are creative, outgoing, gentle and at ease
Jazz fans have high self-esteem, are creative, outgoing and at ease
Classical music fans have high self-esteem, are creative, introvert and at ease
Rap fans have high self-esteem and are outgoing
Opera fans have high self-esteem, are creative and gentle
Country and western fans are hardworking and outgoing
Reggae fans have high self-esteem, are creative, not hardworking, outgoing, gentle and at ease
Dance fans are creative and outgoing but not gentle
Indie fans have low self-esteem, are creative, not hard working, and not gentle
Bollywood fans are creative and outgoing
Rock/heavy metal fans have low self-esteem, are creative, not hard-working, not outgoing, gentle, and at ease
Chart pop fans have high self-esteem, are hardworking, outgoing and gentle, but are not creative and not at ease
Soul fans have high self-esteem, are creative, outgoing, gentle, and at ease

[But are we hard-working? Z7 edit] 

North said he wanted to study why music is such a significant part of people's identity. "People do actually define themselves through music and relate to other people through it but we haven't known in detail how music is connected to identity," he said. "We have always suspected a link between music taste and personality. This is the first time that we've been able to look at it in real detail. No one has ever done this on this scale before."

People may define their musical identity by wearing particular clothes, going to certain pubs, and using certain types of slang. So it's not so surprising that personality should be related to musical preference. "We really got the sense that people were selecting musical styles to like that match their own personality," North said.  He believes that his results show why people can get defensive about what they like to listen to, as it is likely to be profoundly linked to their outlook on life. The study also demonstrates the "tribal function" of musical taste that can explain why people often bond over music.

North noted that classical and heavy metal music both attracts listeners with similar personalities but dissimilar ages. Younger members of the personality group apparently go for heavy metal, while their older counterparts prefer classical. However, both have the same basic motivation: to hear something dramatic and theatrical, a shared "love of the grandiose," he said." 

North, A. C. and Hargreaves, D. J. (2008). The social and applied psychology of music. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
North, A. C., Desborough, L., and Skarstein, L. (2005). Musical preference, deviance, and attitudes towards celebrities. Personality and Individual Differences, 38, 1903-1914.

[Jo498]

No, this is serious science and might get one tenure, eventually.

I am lazy, snarky, neurotic and love classical music.

@Todd: Sure, if you take elite students in Japan or Singapore the differences in musical style exposure will probably not differ than much from westerners (if anything, they will probably be more familiar with classical music). So this would be the same or a very similar bias.

[Todd]

North said he wanted to study why music is such a significant part of people's identity. "People do actually define themselves through music and relate to other people through it but we haven't known in detail how music is connected to identity," he said. "We have always suspected a link between music taste and personality. This is the first time that we've been able to look at it in real detail. No one has ever done this on this scale before."

What about people who don't really care for music?  What about people who generally like music in a basically indifferent way - you know, the "I like everything" type?

I have to say, I see quite a bit of bias in the results posted.  Are traits like "gentle" or "hard working" quantifiable and can they be measured in an unbiased, repeatable way, for instance?  Seriously, what does "hard working" mean, scientifically speaking?

And of course the studies are culturally biased.  Studies reliant mostly on college kids will also have whiffs of class bias.  Possibly even racial bias. 

[Todd]

@Todd: Sure, if you take elite students in Japan or Singapore the differences in musical style exposure will probably not differ than much from westerners (if anything, they will probably be more familiar with classical music). So this would be the same or a very similar bias.

Then why did Malaysians display a different outcome regarding "conscientiousness" (whatever that is, scientifically speaking)?

[NJ Joe]

This guy likes Bach's Goldberg Variations performed by Glenn Gould.  What does that tell you??

[PerfectWagnerite]

This guy likes Bach's Goldberg Variations performed by Glenn Gould.  What does that tell you??

Right. And Hitler likes Wagner and Beethoven, does that tell you anything? And does liking Wagner and/or Beethoven make you a neo-Nazi?

[ibanezmonster]

Classical music fans have high self-esteem, are creative, introvert and at ease
Rock/heavy metal fans have low self-esteem, are creative, not hard-working, not outgoing, gentle, and at ease

I have high self-esteem and low self-esteem at the same time? 

[some guy]

Well I know one thing for damned sure, someone should do a study of the kind of people who do studies of this sort.

[Florestan]

Blues fans have high self-esteem, are creative, outgoing, gentle and at ease
Jazz fans have high self-esteem, are creative, outgoing and at ease
Classical music fans have high self-esteem, are creative, introvert and at ease
Rap fans have high self-esteem and are outgoing
Opera fans have high self-esteem, are creative and gentle
Country and western fans are hardworking and outgoing
Reggae fans have high self-esteem, are creative, not hardworking, outgoing, gentle and at ease
Dance fans are creative and outgoing but not gentle
Indie fans have low self-esteem, are creative, not hard working, and not gentle
Bollywood fans are creative and outgoing
Rock/heavy metal fans have low self-esteem, are creative, not hard-working, not outgoing, gentle, and at ease
Chart pop fans have high self-esteem, are hardworking, outgoing and gentle, but are not creative and not at ease
Soul fans have high self-esteem, are creative, outgoing, gentle, and at ease

What balderdash!

[Florestan]

Depends - is he Romanian?

All I am saying is that there may be more there than a simple dismissal of the question. A lot of things in life seem random until you dig deeper. Some turn out to be random, others not. It doesn't seem unreasonable that there could be some commonalities. Or it could be a different type of response, for example, some sort of brain activity common to certain music. If the brain can react to colors, it can react to other things. Maybe this is too general, but still seems like this type of thing could be linked to one's character/nature/behavior/etc. That it could be doesn't mean it is, but neither does it mean we know it isn't.

Predictably, you didn´t answer my question but drowned it in a sea of generalities.

The guy´s name is Frank. Hans Frank.

[Florestan]

Oh, and I am (again) in complete agreement with Todd and (finally!) with some guy. 

[Jo498]

I think the classical music loving villain movie cliché might have several reasons. With Lecter it's just what one would expect because he is a super-intelligent upper class guy and listening (or playing) Bach strengthens the paradox of the cannibal with refined taste.

More generally, in the last decades (especially in the US) it's apparently enough that listening to classical is non-standard. The villain is *different*, he is also arrogant and decadent. (I've once seen a parodistic movie from the 80s or even 90s where the cops decided that someone had to be gay because they found a bottle of mineral water in his pack. Someone who drinks bottled water just has to be...)

[Florestan]

Dance fans are [...] not gentle

Why, sure, and the worst of them are the step dancers: they thread on the floor mercilessly. 

[Jo498]

The point is that those strange attributes probably all are "quantified" from some huge questionnaire the probands had to answer. So these people really believe they correspond to objectively measurable personality traits. (Some may do so, but I would not bet on it.) And then one does correlation with the musical preferences and gets some result.
It might be unfair or prejudice but my impression is that they are using scientific tools that do not work well in this particular domain. It's probably methodologically sound according to standard techniques in psychology but it does not seem very informative in the end.

[Florestan]

it does not seem very informative in the end.

OTOH, it is highly entertaining, just like everything that comes under the label "The British/German/Swiss/Whatever researchers have recently found that [insert hogwash here]". 

[EigenUser]

I think it is a fun question, although nothing I'd rely too much on (if at all).

Let's see...
Bartok, Ravel, Ligeti, Messiaen, Haydn, Beethoven, Feldman, Webern, Gershwin, Mahler, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Debussy...

My tastes would probably label me as sentimental with a strong pedantic streak. I like being moved, but I like it more when it comes with some sort of system of formal organization (be it a traditional classical form or something newer or abstract like Ligeti's micropolyphony or Messiaen's modes). Underlined composers particularly illustrate this, I think.

Come to think of it, that isn't too far off from my personality...

[SKYIO]

How about the connection of art and classical music ?
On this forum there's a choice of avatars to choose from, one of those choices is art. Now what on earth has that to do with music? Obviously  people who make an account like to pick pictures of art but why ? I don't see this trend on any other forum

[starrynight]

North said he wanted to study why music is such a significant part of people’s identity. “People do actually define themselves through music and relate to other people through it but we haven’t known in detail how music is connected to identity,” he said. “We have always suspected a link between music taste and personality. This is the first time that we’ve been able to look at it in real detail. No one has ever done this on this scale before.”

People may define their musical identity by wearing particular clothes, going to certain pubs, and using certain types of slang. So it’s not so surprising that personality should be related to musical preference. “We really got the sense that people were selecting musical styles to like that match their own personality,” North said.  He believes that his results show why people can get defensive about what they like to listen to, as it is likely to be profoundly linked to their outlook on life. The study also demonstrates the “tribal function” of musical taste that can explain why people often bond over music.

The details of what kind of person he says likes what kind of music is the detail people will focus on, but it's probably the least interesting part to discuss.

There is undoubtedly some tribalism within music, I'd say it's more obvious in popular music and particularly with younger people, but can be seen beyond that too.  People who aren't too sure about their experience and knowledge will attach themselves to a group to make themselves feel more secure.  Of course whether their attachment reflects what they are actually like could be another matter.  It could reflect aspirations towards what they think some music represents, whether intellect, hipness or whatever.  In that sense some can use music for purposes other than simply enjoyment. 

On another level people can develop a taste for a particular style of music, more by simply immersing themselves in it.  There's no reason to say this couldn't have happened with another type of music had that been chosen instead.  And there's nothing to stop people listening to other styles too, either within a period or outside of that period. 

People can turn music, and even some other things like film makers etc, into something like a sport where they defend someone like they are the team that they support.  I don't think that makes much sense purely on musical terms.  So people again can over-use it for self-identification.  It's alright I think to like lots in a style simply as you are acclimatised to it, but there should be some self awareness that that is what is being done.  To just blindly support something against other things like it's some football team loyalty can seen childish.

I think the classical music loving villain movie cliché might have several reasons. With Lecter it's just what one would expect because he is a super-intelligent upper class guy and listening (or playing) Bach strengthens the paradox of the cannibal with refined taste.

More generally, in the last decades (especially in the US) it's apparently enough that listening to classical is non-standard. The villain is *different*, he is also arrogant and decadent. (I've once seen a parodistic movie from the 80s or even 90s where the cops decided that someone had to be gay because they found a bottle of mineral water in his pack. Someone who drinks bottled water just has to be...)

Prejudice (not just sexism or about sexual orientation but across everything) seems an integral part of the human condition, with the use of stereotypes to make quick judgements.  And it's one of the proofs to me that the human mind isn't necessarily all it's cracked up to be.  It's very tribal, and so limited in many ways.  And what's funny as well as how we want to understand large things like the universe and yet we don't even fully understand ourselves.

edit: fixed a spelling mistake

[Karl Henning]

How about the connection of art and classical music ?

Well, I compose;  and my wife and mom-in-law are both artists.  I suppose there is some connection 

[Karl Henning]

Prejudice (not just sexism or about sexual orientation but across everything) seems an integral part of the human condition, with the use of stereotypes to make quick judgements.

A very interesting statement.  I'm in partial agreement, but I wonder about some of the terms.  It is not quite what you are saying, but I doubt (let's say for sake of discussion) that prejudice is "hard-wired" in us.  We are certainly apt to learn specific prejudices from our environment, and there is a mentally natural tendency to categorize, and not to closely examine every article that comes into view.  But offhand, I do not see why any given, unimpaired individual cannot develop mental and behavioral habits of examining, questioning and (where necessary) defeating prejudices.