Opinion A Cambridge University study posits correlation between musical tastes and personality types. What a waste

Academia, in all its esoteric glory, can be rightfully criticised for locking itself in an ivory tower, behind a moat of jargon and gates barred with snobbery. But there is such a thing as an over-correction, of pandering so much to the popular tastes so as to become irrelevant. A study from the University of Cambridge crosses that line, and is intellectually at par with — and as useful as — online personality quizzes a la “Which Hogwarts house do you belong to?” and “Which 1990s action movie best describes you?”

The study, which had over 3,50,000 participants from 50 countries, claims that contemporary music tastes show a strong correlation with personality types — “between extraversion and contemporary music; between conscientiousness and unpretentious music; between agreeableness and mellow and unpretentious music; and between openness and mellow, contemporary, intense and sophisticated music” — across the globe. Then there are surprises, like the fact that neuroticism is associated with “intense” music. In essence, extroverts love Ed Sheeran and Beyonce while neurotics brood over Nirvana.

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There is, evidently, an excess of funds at Cambridge. A vast survey to figure out what kind of music people are into makes sense for Apple or Amazon music, perhaps, but does it for a university? More importantly, why are researchers engaged in what barely passes for pop psychology? It was bad enough that HR departments took pleasure in administering nonsense personality tests like the Myers-Briggs, must universities descend to “listicles” in order to ruin the joys of music? Most importantly, perhaps, it is annoying when anyone over the age of 18 searches for the meaning of their existence in pop music. It’s alright for research to be more down to earth, but that doesn’t mean it needs to plumb the depths. Anyway, there’s an easy way to test the Cambridge correlation. Just listen to “Single Ladies” and wait to become the outgoing life of the party.

This editorial first appeared in the print edition on February 15, 2022 under the title ‘Sound and sensibility’.