Well, I think you can pin down whether the primary composer(s) in a band might affect the music their write because of their type, but I don't think you can pin down the band itself.

Perhaps certain genres might adhere to a specific type but even so that would be incredible generalization and probably not particularly reflective of actual reality since music preference probably has less to do with type than upbringing and social expectations e.g. black people are expected to listen to black music.

Even then I think every genre is so diverse that trying to pin down a specific genre as a whole specific to type is still too much generalization. I could link various songs from the metal music genre and anyone who does not dismiss the genre entirely will tell how different the songs are.

I know that for example some elitists would say that for example jazz would be superior to say, dance music because jazz is more technical and perhaps we could attribute this preference to T, but again, I don't quite think it truly works that way.

 

I would say that since music is more of a subjective experience, the genre preferences will vary for the individual. I would listen to upbeat techno, slow acoustic, metal, orchestra, etc. but I don't think that means my music INTP like.

 

I think you can relate music to MBTI, maybe you cannot be too specific ti correlate each specific gender to an specific personality type but think about the purpose and the effect that the musicians and bands are trying to cause on different people.

For example "Se music" would be all that music that is intended to cause extroverted body sensations such like trance, and "rave music" that does not even have lyrics, because its purpose is to create a body sensation will you are high.

On the other hand you have "Si music" that would set you in a comfy atmosphere, and induce nostalgic feelings, this may be like traditional music, and romantic music that makes you remember your past relationships with nostalgia etc.

Pop music I guess it would be like "Fe music" with a purpose of creating harmony and communality between masses of people that find a common ground thru music.

The "Fi music" may be like "poetic music" with a focus on the lyrics full of metaphors and symbolism. any kind of music that tries to elicit an introverted emotional response, this music would be more artsy.

This is just a theory I came up with in the moment, but my point is that there may be a correlation between MBTI and music if you focus on the inner experiences the music tries to cause in the listener rather than focusing on genders.

 

Not sure I agree. I love goa and psytrance but I don't care about the body sensations as much as I care about how it helps to expand the mind. It feels very mentally expansive and the genre is of course named because it's meant to reflect the experience of taking hallucinogens.

This is exactly why I'm saying that you can't generalize like that. And my taste is so diverse that I don't think that says all that much about me and my type. I can listen to a sobby romantic pop song by Ronan Keating and go all "wha":

How do you even relate that to Juno Reactor? Or let's take this:

I for example think there is a sexual and thus physical undertone to almost all metal music. It's indeed often considered a style that attracts sensation-seekers although I have no real understanding of the implications of this statement. Yet the lyrics are often very ironic, sarcastic and political in a way so-out-of-context way that I think only an intuitive would actually even make such connections.

I understand where you want to go and I initially wanted to go there but the theory you are proposing is far too simplistic. My ESTJ stepmother likes Andrea Bocelli:

I should add that I also like Bocelli. That's the problem. It doesn't necessarily say much.

And oh yes, I should probably add this too: I either listen to music using primarily Ti and Fi. And generally speaking I don't give a damn about lyrics. If I would I couldn't stand listening to even half the stuff I'm listening to I think.

 

I don't think music taste has anything to with your Type. Although, I thought it did and had made a topic eons ago. No correlation whatsoever.

 

I love the structure of this song.

 

If anything I think that INTP music preferences, if generalizable at all, come from the sub-cultures many of us our drawn to because the lack of an ability or interest many of us have in blending in to mainstream culture, rather than an actual ingrained preference to a certain type of music. I think music preferences are purely cultural, and really have very little to do with differing cognitive functions between listeners. I.e. there are many INTP metalheads and trance fans because many INTPs are drawn to sub-cultures that revolve around or just appreciate those styles of music due to the need many INTPs have to 'be different' resulting from a variety of factors, and our tendency to appreciate certain values (mind expansion, adversion to authority, etc.).

 

If anything I think that INTP music preferences, if generalizable at all, come from the sub-cultures many of us our drawn to because the lack of an ability or interest many of us have in blending in to mainstream culture, rather than an actual ingrained preference to a certain type of music. I think music preferences are purely cultural, and really have very little to do with differing cognitive functions between listeners. I.e. there are many INTP metalheads and trance fans because many INTPs are drawn to sub-cultures that revolve around or just appreciate those styles of music due to the need many INTPs have to 'be different' resulting from a variety of factors, and our tendency to appreciate certain values (mind expansion, adversion to authority, etc.).

Black metal heads in a nutshell. I love poking fun at this fact because so many of them go RAWR INDIVIDUALISM completely forgetting they're a part of a group with SHARED values.

Black metal was huge among ISFPs where I used to live, and huge dudes who had long hair whose type I didn't know. In general, I think it's angry dorky introvert music, but because it became "hipster" it switched at some point from being considered dorky, and then a lot of academics started writing about the scene. The broader metal scene in the U.S. has always been mostly white, mostly lower middle class, mostly male. Don't know about MBTI correlations, although I'd say introverts seem more likely to like non-mainstream music.

I kinda like metal, but I've never been even close to being a metal head. @devon is probably the one to go to for that. I'd have a really hard time taking the "values" of Burzum for serious, myself. Black metal is considered more of a cultural curio from Scandanavia over here, I think.

I don't take Burzum seriously either but I know people that do (and I can't say those people make me particularly proud). That's what I love about people in general though and how they often adopt values but live completely differently. But yes, metal demography in general consists of white men. No exception. I've written about and read about the subject quite a bit but I think it's really more about a revolt against modernism and globalization. Perhaps some MBTI types are more drawn towards this stuff but we're looking at such culturally diverse groups that I don't think that we again can draw any real conclusions. Again then we need to consider why people listen etc. and it becomes too many factors to consider. I think it's more likely to say that people that are drawn towards the kind of metal (or other music forms) that express the political need for stability are perhaps doing so because they desire stability in life. But I'm tentative to say that this is related to MBTI type.

Also, I'm more of an on the fringes kind of fan. I'm not that active in the scene but I listen a lot to metal music and I sometimes go to concerts. That's about it.

 

Black metal was huge among ISFPs where I used to live, and huge dudes who had long hair whose type I didn't know. In general, I think it's angry dorky introvert music, but because it became "hipster" it switched at some point from being considered dorky, and then a lot of academics started writing about the scene. The broader metal scene in the U.S. has always been mostly white, mostly lower middle class, mostly male. Don't know about MBTI correlations, although I'd say introverts seem more likely to like non-mainstream music.

I kinda like metal, but I've never been even close to being a metal head. @devon is probably the one to go to for that. I'd have a really hard time taking the "values" of Burzum for serious, myself. Black metal is considered more of a cultural curio from Scandanavia over here, I think.

 

Well, I'm an INTP, and I listen almost exclusively and religiously to prog rock. Dunno if that means anything. Really, I think, if anything, prog rock is most fitting for INTJs, considering it's very ordered and mechanical, usually.
Oh, and psychedelic. Love me some good psychedelic music.

 

Djent. Nuff said.

And yes, I think Te dom or aux might perhaps prefer djent but I also like djent to a degree so meh.

 

progressive house, trance, some dubstep remixes tend to facilitate my thinking... Ive no bias in genre ultimately, I can find something likable about them all I suppose.

 

Do you happen to know what Anders Breivik (sp?) listened to? He was very far right wing in his ideology, and also very clearly performing "masculinity" in the face of wounded entitlement. The roid rage probably didn't help.

I'd read a paper about how his manifesto lines up with a lot of black metal rhetoric.

 

Hm, you're right that Anders' logic does line up with black metal rhetoric to a great degree. I don't know if he liked BM though. I just know he apparently played a lot of WoW.

 

@LeaT: I am not implying in any way that you are Se-dom if you prefer sounds over lyrics or if you seek body sensations, that may just be that you have developed Se to a considerable degree, in contrast I am full aware that I am an INTP that has its Se very underdeveloped with a strong Si.

I do think music and cognitive abilities influence each other and it goes both ways, I am open even to consider that you can develop weak cognitive functions thru music.

Some time ago I considered using music and art to develop my very weak Fe and I found the results very positive. So I do know by experience that certain music stimulates the development of certain functions.

Moreover, we need to consider that producing music is a cognitive ability, and the artist produces the music using a specific set of cognitive functions that will match the preference of the listener.

So when you say that you prefer to use Fi and Si when you listen to music may be because you have developed those functions till the degree where you can appreciate music that produces a Fi-Si reaction. And I never Implied that you have to be a Fi or Si dom, just a strong one.

And I am making a distinction between music as the product of a cognitive ability and music as part a culture or sub-culture....

Being immerse in a sub-culture of course will have an effect on your music preferences, but you have to consider that it may be the culture you are brought up with along with the music which is affecting what functions develop and which ones don't.

The examples I gave before, are from personal experience because I am an INTP with highly developed Ti and Si and very poor Se and Fi. Your cognitive functions are likely developed differently than mine and that makes our music preferences different.

 

@LeaT: I am not implying in any way that you are Se-dom if you prefer sounds over lyrics or if you seek body sensations, that may just be that you have developed Se to a considerable degree, in contrast I am full aware that I am an INTP that has its Se very underdeveloped with a strong Si.

Nope, non-existent almost along with Fe compared to my other functions.

I do think music and cognitive abilities influence each other and it goes both ways, I am open even to consider that you can develop weak cognitive functions thru music.

Yes, of course it does because what we produce is an affect of our minds but you're simplifying.

Some time ago I considered using music and art to develop my very weak Fe and I found the results very positive. So I do know by experience that certain music stimulates the development of certain functions.

The more we practice something the better we become at it. Applies to everything. I would probably develop my Se much better if I was into sports because it would be a necessary skill.

Moreover, we need to consider that producing music is a cognitive ability, and the artist produces the music using a specific set of cognitive functions that will match the preference of the listener.

This is an illogical statement. You assume cause without knowing the causal relation.

So when you say that you prefer to use Fi and Si when you listen to music may be because you have developed those functions till the degree where you can appreciate music that produces a Fi-Si reaction. And I never Implied that you have to be a Fi or Si dom, just a strong one.

But I don't think that holds true either because I can also appreciate listening to music using my other functions. Like is mentioned in the djent video I posted, a lot of the appeal of djent comes from the listener having to figure the music out, how the rhythm works. But there's of course also a "feeling" to djent music.

And I know you never implied this. But I am saying that contrary to your theory the facts I know and provide you with doesn't match the current framework you're providing us.

And I am making a distinction between music as the product of a cognitive ability and music as part a culture or sub-culture....

How? If you say that

1. People listen to certain music based on their type; then it logically follows that
2. The sub-culture around a specific music type should be formed according to the stereotypes of the type attracted to that specific music.

Being immerse in a sub-culture of course will have an effect on your music preferences, but you have to consider that it may be the culture you are brought up with along with the music which is affecting what functions develop and which ones don't.

Strawman and the conclusion does not follow. See the above.

The examples I gave before, are from personal experience because I am an INTP with highly developed Ti and Si and very poor Se and Fi. Your cognitive functions are likely developed differently than mine and that makes our music preferences different.

I don't think it makes our tastes different but it probably makes our perception of music different. I primarily feel music. I don't know how others experience music but this is how I experience it. Music is first and foremost a feeling.

 

If someone starts a prog rock thread I will post a lot of King Crimson, Soft Machine, Goblin, Gong, Talk Talk, Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp, Captain Beefheart, White Noise, Can... Prog is a combination of epic and psychedelic that appeals to a lot of types, but again, mostly geeks.

 

@LeaT hahaha you are taking this so seriously, (this is what happens when I make a theory out of thin air and try to develop it on the spot while debating about it).

I think you don't get what I was trying to say, I accept that there are factors beyond the cognitive functions that affect our tastes in music like enviroment and culture for example.

The cognitive functions are limited to processes happening in the neo cortex, while music has a "feeling" side to it as you call it that affects beyond the gray matter into the limbic system or whatever and that is way beyond Jungian typology.

I was just trying to say that our dominant functions limit the way we percive music so if you have a weak Se for example, there are aspects of a piece of music that you will not be able to percieve, while being a Ti dom you will percieve somethings a Se dom wont be able to percieve.

So when I refer to taste in music I refer to does aspencts that we percieve inside a piece of music. so that a Ti dom and an Se dom may like the same song but they may be enjoying different aspects of the song. But of course this is just one small factor that contributes to someone liking that music added to all those factors that go beyond cognitive funtion.

So the fact that you enjoy metal may or may not be realted to your cognitive function dominance, it can be something beyond that, but nevertheless if you are not a Se dominant you miss all that a Se dominant would be able to percieve, so your taste on the superfice may be the same but in reality is something very different.

So in some way cogitive functions influence taste although is not the most important factor.

 

Yes, I am taking it seriously because you are breaking my principles. I always become like this when that happens.

And what I'm saying is that the brain is a muscle and it can be trained. You can practice and develop the weaker functions. We do this naturally we as go through life and you also admit this yourself. And I'm also saying that the way we perceive music depends on the functions we prefer to use when listening to music. This varies between individuals. And the experience itself depends on how many functions you use and what functions.

The problem again with your logic is your underlying assumption that type can be inferred based on music genre/style. But you keep forgetting that people listen to music and different types of music for different reasons. Research has for instance shown that music that contains phrases such as "go" "do it" and so on positively affect you during workout and you will push yourself further than if you were listening to further without these phrases.

One person might be listening to this kind of music exactly because of this effect. But another might just enjoy the style of music that happen to contain these phrases. This does not mean they experience the music the same or that they must be the same MBTI type.

 

At least for me, I think music taste could be related to personality type! My music preference appears to be mostly related to my two dominant functions.

For example, because of Fi I like to seek out music/songwriting that I can relate to and provokes certain emotions, and because of Se I look for music that captures a 'tangible' body experience with its atmosphere.

I have an incredibly diverse music library, yet I am very selective about what I choose to listen to. It is all dependant on how I am feeling in the present moment.

 

I've read somewhere that INTP's prefer cerebral music. Jazz, classical, technical metal or any other type of music that is hard to follow / figure out. When I was younger, I definitely fell into this stereotype.

As I grew older and developed as a musician, I got more and more into groove music (rap, funk, fusion), blues and music that is centered around the lyrics (think Dylan).

Groove music, I enjoy for the sensation but also because rhythm is also highly technical. It wasn't until I joined a band with a jazz drummer that I learned to appreciate/love this type of music.

Blues because I am a guitar player and the simplicity of the blues creates a canvas that allows players to open up and be extremely expressive on the spot. I love to hear how other musicians interpret the blues, though I am a snob when it comes to real blues vs blues form.

I started to enjoy the songwriting/lyric based music when I discovered *good* songwriters. I listen to these songs like I am reading a book. But at the same time, I can listen again and again, switching my focus between music and lyrics.

I guess what I am trying to say is, INTPs will most likely favor music that they can listen to critically. But there are many ways to critically listen to music.