Unfinished sympathies: Influence of individual temporal orientation on music preferences. (September 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nowack, Kati
• Is Part Of: Psychology of music. Volume 47:Number 5(2019)
• Page Start: 736
• Page End: 746
• Publication Date: 2019-09
• Subjects: Musical taste -- genre -- time perspective -- chronotype -- morningness/eveningness -- time duration -- time succession; Music -- Psychological aspects -- Periodicals; 781.11
• DOI: 10.1177/0305735618775200
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0305-7356

Abstract

Temporal aspects have been studied extensively within the context of music perception but insufficiently within the context of music preference. In this online questionnaire study, I investigated the impact of chronotype (morningness, eveningness) and time perspective (present, future) on music preferences. Participants ( n = 258) completed the Short Test of Music Preferences for 26 music genres, the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory and the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire. Principal component analysis replicated a six-component structure of music preference. Whilst preference scores were highest for intense music for all participants, I found significant effects of chronotype and time perspective on music preferences. In particular, present-oriented evening types and future-oriented morning types differed in their preferences for various music genres. Consistent with a matching hypothesis, present-oriented evening types (fast life histories) showed greater preferences for contemporary (i.e., high rhythmic complexity), sophisticated (i.e., high complexity) and electronic music (i.e., fast tempo) compared to future-oriented morning types (slow life histories; greater difficulties with temporal irregularities). Consistent with a self-regulation hypothesis, present-oriented evening types showed greater preferences than future-oriented morning types for campestral music (i.e., slow tempo and low complexity).