Your song: music tastes predict personality

PEOPLE who like easy-listening music are likely to be talkative and energetic, while opera lovers are more insightful and imaginative, according to scientists.

Two major studies conducted by psychologists from Cambridge and top US universities have found personality types can be accurately predicted from musical tastes – and vice versa. Those with extrovert personalities, for instance, showed a preference for “uncomplicated, relaxing, and acoustic” music.

Some 20,000 respondents were presented with 25 unfamiliar musical excerpts precategorised by musicologists. The survey differentiated personality types on the “big five” model used by scientists: openness, extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism and conscientiousness.

The team, led by Dr Jason Rentfrow, reader in personality and individual differences at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, found “open” personalities liked “sophisticated” music – “inspiring, complex and dynamic” – but were less impressed with slow, mellow music.

In the journal Psychological Science, Dr Rentfrow and his colleagues wrote: “An active measure of naturally occurring behaviour, Facebook likes for musical artists, also predict individual differences in personality.”