Historically, music has also been used for social bonding, comfort, motivating or coordinating physical labor, the preservation and transmission of oral knowledge, ritual and religion, and the expression of physical or cognitive fitness (for a review, see Levitin, 2008).ĭespite the wide variety of functions music serves, a starting point for this article is the assumption that it should be possible to characterize a given individual’s musical preferences or tastes overall, across this wide variety of uses. Social and protest movements use music for motivation, group cohesion, and to focus their goals and message ( Eyerman & Jamison, 1998), and music therapists encourage patients to choose music to meet various therapeutic goals ( Davis, Gfeller & Thaut, 1999 Särkamö, et al., 2008). Music is also used to enhance concentration and cognitive function, to maintain alertness and vigilance ( Emery, Hsiao, Hill, & Frid, 2003 Penn & Bootzin, 1990 Schellenberg, 2004) and increase worker productivity (Newman, Hunt & Rhodes, 1966) moreover, it may have the ability to enhance certain cognitive networks by the way in which it is organized (Richard, Toukhsati, & Field, 2005). As adolescents and young adults, we tend to listen to music that our friends listen to, and this contributes to defining our social identity as well as our adult musical tastes and preferences ( Creed & Scully, 2000 North & Hargreaves, 1999 Tekman & Hortaçsu, 2002). Adolescents report that they use music for a distraction from troubles, a means of mood management, for reducing loneliness, and as a badge of identity for inter- and intragroup self-definition ( Bleich, Zillman & Weaver, 1991 Rentfrow & Gosling, 2006 2007 Rentfrow, McDonald, & Oldmeadow, 2009 Zillmann & Gan, 1997). Many individuals also use music functionally, for mood regulation and enhancement ( North & Hargreaves, 1996b Rentfrow & Gosling, 2003 Roe, 1985). One common use of music in contemporary society is pure enjoyment and aesthetic appreciation ( Kohut & Levarie, 1950), another common use relates to music’s ability to inspire dance and physical movement ( Dwyer, 1995 Large, 2000 Ronström, 1999). A challenge to such an investigation is that music is used for many different purposes. Remarkably, however, little is known about the underlying principles on which such individual musical preferences are based.
When it comes to self-selected music, individuals demonstrate manifestly different tastes. Taken together, background and intentional music listening add up to more than 5 hours a day of exposure to music for the average American ( Levitin, 2006 McCormick, 2009). In addition to all of these uses of music as a background, a form of sonic wallpaper imposed on us by others, many of us seek out music for our own listening – indeed, Americans spend more on music than they do on prescription drugs ( Huron, 2001). Manufacturers use it to sell their products, while yoga, massage, and exercise studios use it to relax or invigorate their clients. It accompanies movies, television programs, and ball games. It is piped into retail shops, airports, and train stations. The findings from a fourth study suggest that preferences for the MUSIC factors are affected by both the social and auditory characteristics of the music. We have interpreted and labeled these factors as: 1) a Mellow factor comprising smooth and relaxing styles 2) an Urban factor defined largely by rhythmic and percussive music, such as is found in rap, funk, and acid jazz 3) a Sophisticated factor that includes classical, operatic, world, and jazz 4) an Intense factor defined by loud, forceful, and energetic music and 5) a Campestral factor comprising a variety of different styles of direct, and rootsy music such as is often found in country and singer-songwriter genres.
The findings from three independent studies converged to suggest that there exists a latent five-factor structure underlying music preferences that is genre-free, and reflects primarily emotional/affective responses to music.
Here, we introduce a model of musical preferences based on listeners’ affective reactions to excerpts of music from a wide variety of musical genres.
Individuals demonstrate manifestly different preferences in music, and yet relatively little is known about the underlying structure of those preferences. Music is a cross-cultural universal, a ubiquitous activity found in every known human culture.
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