Sounds of Personality: Can Six Personality Traits Explain Young People's Music Preferences?

Abstract

Introduction: The influence of music on various aspects of human life is also manifested through personality traits, which shape specific preferences for certain musical types and genres.

 Aim: The research focuses on examining the relationship between personality dimensions according to the HEXACO model (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotionality, openness, and honesty-humility) and musical preferences of young adults.

 Materials and Methods: The study involved 234 young adults aged 15 to 25 from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. Respondents completed an online questionnaire that included general demographic data, music preferences, the HEXACO questionnaire, and audio clips of songs.

 Results: Most dimensions of the HEXACO model achieved correlations with music genres, except for conscientiousness and agreeableness. The most pronounced dimension was openness, which was positively associated with music of high artistic value, while extraversion was positively correlated with genres of social context. Honesty was positively correlated with genres that emphasize moral values. Lower emotionality, along with higher openness, was observed in respondents who find music important and who understand music genres well, compared to those who do not understand music genres, but who also find music important.

 Conclusion: The personality traits depicted by the HEXACO model may be predictors of musical genre preferences and should therefore be considered in future research. The HEXACO model provides an additional dimension that has not been sufficiently studied yet and has proven to be a significant predictor.