Music And Me
“That makes a man half whole; music is the other half which perfects a human being”. (Confucius).
Music is something we encounter every day. People love to listen to it whether they are in a good condition or a bad one. Many says it can enlighten our mood, boost our spirit, and also calm our mind, depends on the purpose why we want to listen to a genre of music.
Music has been connected to personality. Our taste of music is considered to be able to expose our personality. When someone loves classic and calm music, they tend to have a calm personality. On the other hand, when one loves fast beat type of music, they have a more lively personality.
According to Cherry, (2013: 1), a research had been conducted by psychologists Jason Rentfrow and Sam Gosling which suggested that knowing the type of music you listen to can actually lead to surprisingly accurate predictions about your personality. The research found that people could make accurate judgments about an individual's levels of extraversion, creativity and open-mindedness after listening to ten of their favorite songs. Those who enjoy songs with heavy bass lines tend to be extraverts. Those who enjoy more complex styles such as jazz and classical music tend to be more creative and have higher IQ-scores. From this fact, we can see that our taste of music shows our types of personality.
There are hundreds types of music exist in this world. A study had been conducted to find out how music reveals any information about one’s personality traits. The following are some personalities linked to certain musical types:
Pop
Do you listen to One Direction, Justin Bieber, or Rihanna? Do you enjoy doing your work while listening to Top 40? Then, it’s possible that you are an honest, conventional, and extrovert person. Even though pop music lovers are hard-working and have high self-esteem, researchers suggests that they tend to be less creative and more uneasy.
Rap and Hip/Hop
Rap music lover are already stereotyped as aggressive or violent, but according to the research rap lovers tend to have high self-esteem and are usually outgoing.
Country
Country music fans are considered to be hardworking, conventional and outgoing. People who enjoy this genre of music are likely emotionally stable.
Rock / Heavy Metal
In spite of the different image shown by rock and heavy metal lovers, research found that mostly the fans of this music are usually quite gentle. They are usually creative, but introvert and probably have low self-esteem.
Indie
Fans of the indie genre are typically introverted, intellectual and creative. They also tend to be less hard-working and less gentle, passive, easily to get anxious and have low self esteem.
Dance
Loving to dance? It means you also love the dance music. Then you probably are an outgoing and assertive person.
Classical
Fans of classical music usually are able to enjoy themselves and their surrounding, creative and have a good self esteem.
Jazz, Blues and Soul
Jazz, blues, and soul music lovers are more extroverted and have high self-esteem. They also tend to be very creative, intelligent and at ease.
The genres of music mentioned above are only a small part of so many types of music discovered in this world. Another study also proved that music taste relates to personalities. People with the same taste of music share similar personalities. People who love energetic and rhythmic music such as hip hop and dance can be very confident, liberal-minded, athletic, and can feel attractive. Fans of upbeat and conventional music like religious/country/pop music are trusting, hardworking, helpful, and are politically conservative. Meanwhile, reflexive and complex types of music (classical/folk/jazz) are open minded, politically liberal, creative, intelligent, and tolerant. Those who enjoy intense and rebellious music like heavy metal/rock/alternative music tend to be athletic, rebellious, adventurous, intelligent, and inquisitive (Dwyer, 2014:2).
By recognizing the types of music that we love, at least we will have a better understanding about our personality and make it as a starting point to know ourselves, to increase our strengths, to decrease our weaknesses, with the ultimate goal to make us a better person.
References:
Cherry, Kendra. 2014. Music and Personality: What Does Your Taste In Music Reveal About Your Personality?. Available at: http://psychology.about.com. Downloaded on: February 3rd, 2014.
Dwyer, Denna. 2012. How Does Music Reflect One's Personality?. Available at: http://youthvoices.net. Downloaded on: February 3rd, 2014.
