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