Whether you prefer sophisticated or simple music could reveal a lot about your personality.
If you like simple acoustic tunes, you are likely to be talkative and energetic, and if you’re an opera lover then you’re probably insightful and imaginative.
That’s according to two major studies conducted by psychologists from Cambridge University that has revealed the relationship between music and personality.
In online studies, more than 20,000 participants were presented with 25 unfamiliar musical extracts over different genres.
Whether you prefer sophisticated or simple music could reveal a lot about your personality. If you’re an opera lover and prefer the music of Katherine Jenkins (pictured) to Ed Sheeran then you’re probably insightful and imaginative
They also filled in surveys to assess their personality type – including openness, extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism and conscientiousness.
The team, led by Dr Jason Rentfrow, at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge found two main trends.
According to the study ‘open’ personalities liked ‘sophisticated’ music over tunes that were mellow.
This may be because people who score highly for openness like to learn new things.
Extroverts preferred ‘unpretentious’ music categorised that were relaxing and acoustic.
The study also found agreeable people tended to give all the music clips higher scores, while neurotics marked more harshly, according to the Telegraph.
The same research team recently created a quiz that can tell you what your music taste says about you. To take it, go to musicaluniverse.org and select the Musical Test.
David Greenberg, a psychologist at the University of Cambridge who was also part of the latest study, helped create the quiz.
‘What we’ve found using large numbers of participants is that our musical behaviours are linked to personality in all types of ways,’ Mr Greenberg told MailOnline.
‘For example, we’ve found that musical preferences are linked to three brain types.’
He said those who have a well-developed ability to understand thoughts and feelings in themselves and others, so-called ’empathisers’, prefer mellow music that evokes deep emotion.
If you like simple acoustic tunes like those of Jack Johnson (pictured), you are likely to be talkative and energetic, according to scientists at Cambridge University
‘People who are high on empathy may be preferring a certain type of music compared to people who are more systematic,’ Mr Greenberg told CNN.
People who can identify patterns and systems, known as ‘systemisers’, prefer intense music that forms complex sounds.
The theory, he explained, is that empathisers are interested in music’s emotional qualities and how it makes them feel, whereas systemisers are more intrigued by its structural qualities.
‘They are focusing more on the instrumental elements, seeing how the music is mixing together,’ Mr Greenberg continued.
Meanwhile, people who like both mellow music and intense music tend to have similar scores in empathising and systemising tests, indicating a ‘balanced’ thinking style.
This is not the first time psychologists have looked into the way music taste and personality mix.
The Short Test Of Musical Preferences (Stomp) is a test that assesses preferences in music genres, and was first introduced in 2003 by scientists in Austin, Texas.
The researchers performed analysis similar to Mr Greenberg’s and found that people who prefer reflective and complex music like blues, classical and jazz score highly on openness to experience, and see themselves as politically liberal, intelligent and not very athletic.
Those who preferred heavy metal and alternative music were similar to jazz-lovers, but more likely to think of themselves as athletic.
They found that fans of upbeat music like country, pop and soundtracks, on the other hand, tended to have low scores for openness to experience and intelligence.
They were more likely to be agreeable, extroverted and conscientious and see themselves as attractive, wealthy, athletic and politically conservative.
Finally, people who prefer energetic and rhythmic music were also extroverted, agreeable, attractive and athletic, but they did not share the political inclination, wealth or lower intelligence scores as lovers of upbeat music.