Can personality traits predict musical style preferences? A meta-analysis

Abstract

A meta-analysis was performed on the results of previous studies investigating the association between personality traits and music preferences. Regarding the categorization of personality traits, the Big Five and sensation seeking were used most often and were therefore chosen as the most appropriate categories in the meta-analysis. Regarding the categorization of musical style preferences, the five-dimensional MUSIC (mellow, unpretentious, sophisticated, intense, contemporary) model was used most often and was therefore employed in the meta-analysis. Hence, we included studies in the analysis when they had investigated the relationship between at least one of the Big Five personality traits or sensation seeking and at least one of the five MUSIC dimensions. In total, there were 30 subanalyses. All weighted averaged correlation coefficients were very small, with most of them near zero. Only 6 of the 30 coefficients exceeded 0.1 in magnitude (|r|≥0.1). The largest effects were observed for the openness to experience personality trait, which exhibited small correlations with preference for three musical styles. Thus, personality traits barely account for interindividual differences in music preferences. Musical functions are discussed as an alternative explanation for these differences. The predictability of musical style preferences based on individual psychological variables is questioned in general.