The Effect of Preferred Music Genre on Ratings of Personal Characteristics
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Gavin Lawrence
College:
College of Liberal Arts
Major:
Psychology
Faculty Research Advisor(s):
Verneda Hamm-Baugh
Abstract:
The present study was designed to examine the impact of music genre preference on the first impressions of peers over two experiments. In the first experiment, forty-four participants rated the personality traits of a White Female who was described as preferring either hip hop or country music using a Likert scale of 1 to 5. A T-test analyses found a significant difference between ratings based on whether the preferred genre was hip-hop or country music for the following traits: trustworthiness, agreeableness, and friendliness. The White Female whose preferred genre was country was rated lower on these traits. In the second experiment, four-hundred-and-three answered the same 5-item survey where they rated the same personality traits of experiment one of a Black Female who preferred either hip-hop or country. T-test analyses found a significant difference between ratings based on whether the preferred genre was hip-hop or country music for the following traits: trustworthiness, agreeableness, approachability, and friendliness. The Female whose preferred genre was country was rated lower on these traits. These findings suggest that an individual's preferred genre of music influences how others perceive us at first impression.
Through both experiments, the country music group samples consistently received lower ratings, prompting questions about this observed dichotomy. Historically, country music's roots are embedded in jazz, blues, and folk, with strong ties to the South across White and Black communities. While recent years have seen a resurgence in country music, attracting a broad and diverse audience, it has traditionally appealed to an older, predominantly White, and rural demographic. According to a PBS article by Hall (2020), "Stereotypes that country music is just for White audiences and sung by mostly White males are reinforced daily on country radio, playlists, label rosters, and tour lineups." This marketing focus on a White audience has led to the perpetuation of stigmas in more urban areas, creating an unfavorable disposition among minority groups. The experiment, conducted in one of these urban areas where country music fans are not the most populous, highlights the potential for biases. Seeing a subject who favors country music may inadvertently lead to assumptions that they are less favorable in the chosen characteristics, reflecting the impact of stereotypes and marketing trends on perception.