Why do you like the music you do? You would think that it is because of the music itself. But that's only half the story. Surprisingly, the other half of the story doesn't have much to do with music at all. By analyzing the public personalities (个性) of famous musicians, and the personality traits of their fans, a group of researchers found that people prefer the music of artists whose public personalities are similar to their own.
In three separate studies of more than 80,000 people, the researchers looked at several factors: personality ratings of 50 of the most famous musicians, listener reactions to music, and the lyrics in the artists' music. The musicians studied were different, ranging from Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Whitney Houston, The Rolling Stones to Beyonce, Coldplay, Dave Matthews Band, Maroon 5, Taylor Swift, and Ozzy Osbourne.
The results from the three studies show that the fit in personality between the listener and the musician predicts musical preferences. It's important to note that the public personalities of the musicians were measured, not their real personalities. The findings show how music gives fans a sense of pride and belonging to a social world. Even more, the results shed light on the evolutionary (进化的) origins of music, which say that music evolved as a way to communicate groups' characteristics which helped groups decide whether or not to work with each other. All of those make the findings a major advance in this area of research.
The findings are showing us how music can be a common denominator to bring people together. They can also pave the way for a new approach for record companies to attract audiences. Besides, the findings can be applied to situations involving mental health. For example, in times of stress and uncertainty, listeners can seek music of artists with similar personalities to themselves and feel understood and a sense of connection.