How Our Music Taste Is Formed and What It Says About Us

At first glance, this choice to like or dislike particular music seems completely random. But in fact, your taste in music, similar to your taste in a particular sports event you choose while placing a live bet, can tell you a lot about your personality. Here’s how music tastes are formed and what they say about intelligence, empathy, and character.

Teens on Headphones

Our introduction to music begins in early childhood, with a special “language” that adults use when communicating with young children. It’s a simple language, with exaggerated intonations, a particular rhythm, exaggerated frequencies and short phrases. Echoes of memories of this “melodic babble” can also be discerned in adult musical culture. For example, Stevie Wonder’s 1984 hit song “I Just Called to Say I Love You” appeals to the childhood experience of selfless love.

But the critical age for the formation of taste is adolescence. By 11, the limbic system of the brain, which is responsible for processing social information and emotional responses, is already fully developed. The adolescent focuses on his or her role in society and awareness of his or her individuality. Music, which used to be just a cultural backdrop, becomes a tool for finding oneself and releasing emotional tension. And a teenager’s musical preferences are formed under the influence of a social group that is meaningful to him or her. Listening to this or that music is important in order to be “one’s own,” to feel a sense of belonging and to express common ideas and ideals.

Of course, it’s not just because of socialization that a teenager listens to music all the time. There’s a better explanation. The limbic system is connected to the adjoining nucleus, the reward and pleasure center of the brain. Brain scans show: the reward center in teenagers is much more sensitive than in adults and children. Adolescents get much more pleasure from music.

The frontal lobe of the brain, which is responsible for emotion control, decision-making and planning, does not fully develop until after the age of twenty. Therefore, a teenager’s taste in music is a reflection of their emotions. So accurate, in fact, that Canadian researchers have learned to use the playlist of teenagers to identify their problems and compiled three typical musical profiles. From them, it’s impossible to judge the personality of a particular teenager, but it’s possible to understand what characteristics of character and behavior are typical for fans of certain musical genres.

Cool Song = Novelty + Complexity

The brain is finicky about impressions. A song that gives us goosebumps today may cause boredom or even irritation tomorrow. And now we feverishly flip through the playlist in search of the very song that will cause a new dopamine surge. To do this, it must meet certain criteria.

A model explaining the choice of music was proposed as early as 1960 by the psychologist Daniel Berlin. Taste is formed as a result of the interaction of two systems. The first allows us to analyze sound patterns and make predictions. The second evaluates the accuracy of the predictions and rewards them for their correctness. This is why we like music that is already more or less familiar, but complex enough to intrigue us. If we turn on an unfamiliar track, both the adjoining nucleus, the “pleasure center,” and the cortical area of the frontal lobe, which is responsible for analysis and evaluation, are simultaneously activated in the brain. The degree of activity of these areas can determine how much you like the music you hear.

Berlin’s model also explains why musical preferences become more varied and complex as an adult. A teenager who prefers pop music will look for songs with familiar elements. But he will like music that combines familiar elements with new ones. As his experience grows, his interest in new musical forms will grow. Eventually, the teenager will become an adult with eclectic tastes.

But that’s not the only thing that will change with age. Due to the formation of higher brain areas, his musical preferences will begin to reflect not only his emotions, but also his analytical abilities. If studies are to be believed, you can even estimate an adult’s IQ by their playlist. The better and more accurately the brain analyzes and predicts auditory patterns, the more complex music is needed for enjoyment – and vice versa.

Empathic People Listen to R&B

If musical tastes reflect our personal qualities, can they be used to judge our way of thinking? That’s the question Cambridge researchers asked themselves. It turns out, indeed: some people listen to music with their minds, that is, perceive it primarily at the level of the analytical intellect, and others – the heart, engaging the emotional intellect.

People of the first type tend to systematize: they analyze and predict, trying to identify patterns and mechanisms. The second type includes empathic people who intuitively understand other people’s emotions and can predict another person’s behavior. There is also a “balanced type”: its representatives are equally good at empathy and systematization.

Researchers from Cambridge tested 4,000 volunteers for empathy and systematization, and then compared the results of the tests with their musical preferences. It turned out that people with high levels of empathy preferred emotionally deep and heartfelt music like soft rock, R&B and author’s songs. For example, many empaths like Hallelujah sung by Jeff Buckley. Systematizers prefer more intense compositions, with strong and even aggressive elements: classic rock, heavy metal, punk. Their craving for complex structures is also expressed in their choice of music with intellectual depth and complexity.