In Brief
- Our tastes in art, books and music reveal a great deal about our personality.
- People who are particularly open tend to prefer demanding aesthetic experiences; those who are more emotionally reactive prefer less challenging cultural pursuits.
- The high we feel from hearing a favorite song activates brain regions associated with other highs, such as that we get from eating chocolate.
A friend invites you to his new apartment. As he cues up an old jazz record, you look around his cluttered room for somewhere to sit. Works of literature and philosophy are stacked waist-high next to the desk. Thumbtacks anchor a colorful Picasso print to the wall. His collection of foreign films and documentaries topples out of an unpacked box. His housemate’s digs—which you spy across the hall—are a different story: a framed Monet poster hangs over the neatly made bed; top-40 CD cases and box sets of TV sitcoms line the shelves; carefully arranged gossip magazines fill a nearby rack.
Without even meeting the roommate, you are willing to bet that these two won’t live together for long, and, in fact, you are probably right. An increasing number of psychological studies reveal strong associations between personality traits and aesthetic tastes. According to these investigations, the jazz aficionado—who prefers challenging books and abstract art—is more likely to be an extrovert and open to new experiences. The top-40 fan, on the other hand, probably shies away from novelty. Based on his fondness for Impressionist art, though, he is likely to be agreeable and conscientious.
This article was originally published with the title You Are What You Like.
See what we're tweeting about
4 Comments
Add CommentBy this logic, if someone likes surrealist art, but listens to death metal and prefers to watch historical documentaries, they must have multiple personality disorder.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLet's not carry a correlation too far. Statistics describe a group well, but not an individual.
You must be joking. As an acute observer of human behavior, I have never experienced any correlation between aethetics and personality traits of the type you speak of. The correlation I have observed is that most conform to the norms of whatever sub-culture they belong to. Individual tastes are more refelective of their peer group (what their friends think is 'cool') or whatever they listened to in high school/college.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs far as Americans and art - it more what is inoffensive and matches their decor than any actual aesthetic choice. And then about reading, well less than 10% of Americans actually read so you can hardly make generalizations to the actual general population since the general population only buys books, but doesn't read them.
What may be your destiny it is fix up in childhood.In which experiences you go through in childhood, your brain built up software from that experiences. That software guide to you through out your life.You like and dislike, your identity and your personality developed by guidance of this invisible software.You to accept your destiny not only accept it but love it.Amer feti as Nietzsche says
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPlease cite the sources for your statisical comment on Americans reading. As for your assessment of cultural tastes as an indicator of personality I think you are predominatly correct but there are exceptions. Clearly there is a bias in this particular study because of the examples given. No monster trucks or wrestling or boy bands were mentioned.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this