Personality Types and Music

[SuperServal]

Do you guys think that a person's personality type can influence their preference for a certain type of music? For example, are NF types more drawn towards mind-altering psychedelia than other types? Are SJs more likely to stick with mainstream music than the other types?

Personally, I think that whatever different individuals find appealing in music (and all art for that matter) is so complicated, that personality types couldn't really predict any preference accurately. Music is also a very impressionistic media, meaning that different people associate a vast array of different meanings and emotions with certain types of music and specific songs.

So the bottom line is: I think People are gonna listen to whatever the heck strikes their fancy........and it really doesn't have anything to do with their type.

(However, maybe F types might get a little more nostalgic over certain songs that they associate with certain people, times and places, do ya think?)

[sundowning]

There's definitely a loose correlation.

[Shimpei]

I'm an SJ and totally not into mainstream music:

I particularly love indie guitar music (The Smiths, The Pixies, Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs, The Young Knives, Magazine, Blur, The Television Personalities, The Monochrome Set, Idlewild, The Dandy Warhols etc.);
psychedelic and eerie music by Interpol, My Bloody Valentine and Cocteau Twins;
punk (Siouxsie & the Banshees);
I sometimes enjoy the elegant and refined music by The Divine Comedy;
some kinds of experimental music as well;
what else ...
oh yes: The Velvet Underground

AAAND
medieval, renaissance and early baroque music

[Natrushka]

For me it really depends on the headspace I'm in when I hear something new. The word eclectic isn't eclectic-enough to describe my tastes.

[Shimpei]

My INTJ friend is totally into mainstream music, btw.

[wildcat]

Originally Posted by Shimpei

My INTJ friend is totally into mainstream music, btw.

I know.
It is a sad spectacle.

[Sahara]

I wouldn't have thought that type was music specific or anything like that, aside from F's being more prone to attaching sentimentality to certain songs.

I like my indie rock music, and anything that makes me cry.

[Economica]

I'm totally making this up as I go along but I hypothesize that taste in music is correlated with at least F/T and J/P (or, in terms of function theory, whether one's judgment function is Ti, Te, Fi or Fe). I propose that:

- Ti types are predisposed to analytical/satirical music.
- Te types are predisposed to powerful/commanding music.
- Fi types are predisposed to heartfelt/passionate music.
- Fe types are predisposed to charming/persuasive music.

By this rationale, the fans incarnate of the following bands would be:

- Bloodhound Gang: XXTP (Full disclosure: I once dated an ISTP megafan.)
- Rammstein: XXTJ (Enough said.) (Although the band might have to be categorized differently for German speakers.)
- Depeche Mode: XXFP
- U2: XXFJ

There is no need to post disconfirmatory data of the "I listen to <insert band> and I'm an X" sort as I am fully aware that no one listens to only one kind of music. However, disconfirmatory data of the "I'm an X and I don't listen to <insert corresponding kind of music>" will be appreciated, as will refinement of this quick 'n' dirty hypothesis.

[Uberfuhrer]

This is what I said in another S and N topic which I meant to post here:

I don't think that a liking for mainstream music has much to do with S or N. I mean, after all, music is music. Mainstream bands are just the ones who got lucky.

I do, however, think that Ns might prefer classical music because of what it tends to do with one's mind -- it's more abstract and requires a bit of personal interpretation. It more forcibly demands attention.

I think S types are more likely to sing along to songs because they're more in tune with what is more direct, but an N will probably be more appreciative of the overtones of music and the more background impressions, such as rhythm, tone, and melody, but not the actual words. They listen to music because it paints imagery in the mind, and requires more abstract, subjective interpretation.

The same thing happens when I'm watching a movie. I tend not to fully concentrate on the story, but more on the aesthetic overtones such as how the scene is put together for purposes of stimulating my own imagination. I have less concern with what's happening directly and I have to watch a movie several times to understand it.

Again, I get this sort of experience with either mainstream or indie films. A film for me is a more operatic experience.

I tend to enjoy mainstream films even more because I am appreciative of big-budget special effects. The subtleties of a digital character and the way an action sequence is done stimulates my mind and makes a film seem more poetic, but again, I have to watch the film more than once to take notice of the story, which is a more direct and concrete aspect of the film.

[Littlelostnf]

I think that in my experience my N friends are alot more eclectic about what they will listen to whatever the genre, however my S friends like different types of music but tend to stick to fewer genres. For example my cd/digital collection looks like an entire cd shop and my S friend's (in general) collections look like 2 or 3 sections in that same shop.