C/O Rodion Kutsaev (Unsplash)
Why our music taste and favourite movie genre say a lot more about our identities than we think
I am a big fan of indie music. Oftentimes, I’ll play my music around someone and expect that they’ll hate this unique style of music. However, sometimes I’m proven wrong, realizing they actually love it and I’ve always wondered why.
Why do some people like certain types of music and others do not? Why are there shy individuals who love loud electronic dance music while some daredevils may despise horror movies?
Music, movies, books and all things art or digital that we consume are a key important factor in many people’s lives. So what is it that makes it so meaningful? Is it our identities that are just attracted to certain styles or do we become modelled by what we consume?
Is it our identities that are just attracted to certain styles or do we become modelled by what we consume?
The latest study comes from a team at the University of Cambridge, led by doctoral candidate David Greenberg and researcher Simon Baron-Cohen whose theory states that brain types can be classified by being empathic — responding more to the emotion of others— or systemizing — analysing rules or patterns in the world around them.
With this information, they completed a study with 4,000 participants and were asked to complete a questionnaire prior to determining their results of empathetic and systemizing thinking. Then, participants listened to 50 mystical pieces from 26 genres and rated the pieces.
According to their results, an empathizer might gravitate towards unpretentious styles like country or folk and mellower music like soft rock, whereas systemizers might gravitate towards intense music like punk or heavy metal.
Surprise! Researchers have also found a link between your favourite movie genre and one’s personality. For example, those who enjoy comedy tend to be more open. This can be explained by the fact that comedy movies are often more original. They contain humour, their plot lines are unpredictable and they challenge conventional ways of thinking.
With horror for example, they found that individuals were less agreeable, less extroverted and more neurotic. They also found that those who hate horror are actually more agreeable and prefer a movie that displays images of kindness and warmth.
I have always found this information to be immensely fascinating, but I still wondered why? How do we even like something in the very first place? Why do we like things?
Although it is a tricky question to answer as some individuals just like things due to familiarity or just liking it for no reason but liking it, there is some evidence to support one’s preferences. In his book You May Also Like, Tom Vanderbilt looks to answer this exact question.
Vanderbilt finds that there are multiple factors that influence what we like. According to Vanderbilt, our liking for something is not a singular proposition. Instances such as liking certain foods or disliking some people is a result of one’s exposure, culture and personality.
Vanderbilt finds that there are multiple factors that influence what we like. According to Vanderbilt, our liking for something is not a singular proposition. Instances such as liking certain foods or disliking some people is a result of one’s exposure, culture and personality.
What one has to remember is at the end of the day we can only theorise, as the topic being researched is so much deeper than one might assume that we simply cannot answer it in the way we want to.
While psychology can help us understand some of the reasons behind our interests, it cannot definitively characterize every unique factor or experience that makes us all who are. Regardless, I find it extremely interesting and definitely think this field of study — and its application to the music we like — should be talked about more.
C/O Yoohyun Park
Technology is taking over creative fields and classic media is fading
Newspapers are known as digital subscriptions, books are known as Kindles and art is all about graphic design and digital forums now. Instead of flipping a page, we swipe a screen. Instead of a flick of a brush or the drag of a pen, we are tapping and swiping.
Everything is digital now and it does not sit well with me, especially as an english and communications major. I love the smell of a new book, the way your fingers slowly turn black due to the ink from flipping through the articles of the day and the excess paint left under your fingernails once finished painting.
I love the smell of a new book, the way your fingers slowly turn black due to the ink from flipping through the articles of the day and the excess paint left under your fingernails once finished painting.
Although the digital world makes it a little easier when compared to the preparation of physical crafts such as lugging around materials, I still love the process of it all.
And do not get me wrong, I am not undermining the energy and time it takes to write an article, book or create a drawing virtually. It just feels as though we have lost the true purpose of the craft.
Obviously, things are destined to evolve and change, but to have these artistic expressions shift completely to another realm tends make certain pieces lose their meaning.
Being a child of early generation Z, I still had the opportunity to live a childhood that wasn’t ruled by technology. I never have a phone and my only source of technology was my television.
All I knew was how to use my creativity to do something or make something. Despite the freedom from technology in my early years, I’m still annoyed at the fact that we as a society were introduced to iPhones and iPads when I was in middle school.
Despite that experience, I cannot even fathom being a young child with an iPhone or using Instagram so young. Even in my classes growing up, I had already started noticing the impact media had on our generation specifically.
Presentations started turning into slideshows, photography became incorporated in art class and even music class came with a focus on creating and editing music videos.
Don’t get me wrong, all of these new technologies have led to immense progress. Just look at the innovations in fields such as diagnostic radiology. But I still miss the craft.
I miss the rawness. I miss picking up the thick rolled-up newspaper on my driveway. I miss the excitement that came with writing. I miss looking at a painting and hearing the stories behind them and studying the brush strokes.
I say I miss it as if it is non-existent anymore and even though I know it isn’t, I feel it slowly fading. Who knows? Maybe physical books won’t be a thing soon, maybe paintings won’t either and Google and Photoshop will be the only avenues to follow. Perhaps it is only a matter of time before we live in an entirely digital world.
