Music: The International Language

    
     So a random question popped up in my head while listening to the wub wubs and drops of my dubstep songs: does music affect your personality and/or vice versa? So I snooped around on the internet until I was satisfied with some answers. Music is called the "International Language" while we may not understand the lyrics completely, the tone/expression set by music is understandable in and of itself.
     So it appears that people have done lots of research on this stuff and apparently an individual's favorite genre of music is indeed linked to their personality, although I guess that was a little obvious. Here's a little excerpt from this study:

     "Professor Adrian North of Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK, has undertaken the largest study so far of musical tastes and personality type. He is an expert on music psychology and has carried out extensive research on the social and applied psychology of music, in particular the relationship between pop music culture and deviant behavior in adolescence, music and consumer behavior, and the role of musical preference in everyday life.
Over the course of three years, Professor North asked more than 36,000 people in more than 60 countries to rate a wide range of musical styles in order of preference. Certain aspects of personality were also measured by questionnaire." - Jane Collingwood, Preferred Music Is Tied To Personality

     The result were pretty interesting, it turns out that:
- Blues fans: have high self-esteem, are creative, outgoing, gentle and at ease
- Jazz fans: have high self-esteem, are creative, outgoing and at ease
- Classical music fans: have high self-esteem, are creative, introvert and at ease
- Rap fans: have high self-esteem and are outgoing
- Opera fans: have high self-esteem, are creative and gentle
- Country and western fans: are hardworking and outgoing
- Reggae fans: have high self-esteem, are creative, not hardworking, outgoing, gentle and at ease
- Dance fans: are creative and outgoing but not gentle
- Indie fans: have low self-esteem, are creative, not hard working, and not gentle
- Bollywood fans: are creative and outgoing
- Rock/heavy metal fans: have low self-esteem, are creative, not hard-working, not outgoing, gentle, and at ease
- Chart pop fans: have high self-esteem, are hardworking, outgoing and gentle, but are not creative and not at ease
- Soul fans: have high self-esteem, are creative, outgoing, gentle, and at ease

     Of course not all genres are on there, such as dubstep, house, grundge, etc. But what if you can't choose which is your favorite? What if say, your two favorites show complete opposite personalities? Well I really don't know. xD
     It's been said that the type of music you listen to has nothing to do with how you act in social situations for the most part but plays a role in how you speak. Music does not create emotions, rather it can provide a trigger for the emotions already present. I've noticed when I'm mad, I'll listen to hard rock/metal when I'm content I'll listen to nearly anything, when I'm sad well, there go the sad songs. lolz
     Doing some more snooping around on these basic genres I looked into my own preference (according to the chart and research done) and it seems to surprise people that those who like rock/heavy metal are most often actually gentle, creative, introverted, with low self-esteem. That's exactly me and my asocial tendencies. So the next time you hear someone listening to metal, just remember, maybe they aren't the crazy psychopath you thought they were. jk xD