Preference for Popular and World Music: A Review of Literature

External Characteristics

One external characteristic that has been the subject of much research is the influence of others’ opinions on the individual listener. For example, the presence of approval from authority figures, such as teachers or other adults, has been shown to influence students’ music preferences (Alpert, 1982; Greer, Dorow, & Hanser, 1973; Greer, Dorow, Wachhaus, & White, 1973). Greer, Dorow, Wachhaus, et al. (1973) explored the preferences of fifth-grade students before and after a period of high/low approval music listening or high/low approval lessons from a clinician-artist. Students were given the choice of listening to rock, jazz, electronic, music classics, or white noise. Using a device that tracked the amount of time each student listened to each style, the researchers found that students in the high approval condition listened to nonrock categories more in the posttest than did students in the low approval condition. Alpert (1982) included rock, classical, and country music and found similar increases in classical musical preference when exploring the effects of teacher, disc jockey, and peer approval on fifth-grade students. Results for the rock and country excerpts were not as clear, leading Alpert to suggest that musical preferences are “multidimensional” (p. 183), a sentiment similar to that proposed by LeBlanc (1982). Other researchers have isolated the influence of peers (Furman & Duke, 1988; Inglefield, 1972; Selfhout, Branje, ter Bogt, & Meeus, 2009), finding, for example, that nonmusic majors were more likely to be influenced by peers when giving preference responses to classical music than popular music, possibly as a result of being less familiar with that genre (Furman & Duke, 1988). Thus, approval from both adults and peers appears to be an effective influence on students’ musical preferences.

External factors may also include elements such as the natural environment itself (Pettijohn, Williams, & Carter, 2010). Investigating the effect of season on music preference, Pettijohn et al. found that college students were more likely to prefer reflective and complex music, such as classical, folk, and jazz, after reading fall/winter scenarios and to prefer energetic and rhythmic music, such as dance, rap, and hip-hop, after reading spring/summer scenarios. Although implications of such findings may be more beneficial for those interested in marketing and sales figures, educators may also be interested in the influence of factors beyond their control, such as time of year.

Method of response may influence students’ perceptions. Brittin (1996) asked college and middle school students to listen to several excerpts of music from the Caribbean, Africa, India, and Oceania. Students were asked to rate preference using either a pencil-and-paper Likert-type scale, a Continuous Response Digital Interface (CRDI) device, or to rate both complexity and preference simultaneously using the CRDI devices. Brittin found that students using the CRDI devices rated excerpts significantly higher than those students using the pencil-and-paper method. Similar results have been found using pop, rock, and jazz music (Brittin, 1991). Implications for educators may include the use of technology or other devices that may influence student attitudes toward music or that technology may facilitate the use of listening strategies to maintain students’ focus of attention.

An additional factor that has been the subject of much research is the influence of repetition on preference. Early investigations date to 1933 and beyond (Verveer, Barry, & Bousfield, 1933) and are among the first to introduce an idea that would later become known as the inverted-U, or hedgehog theory (Berlyne, 1971; Walker, 1980). The premise of the inverted-U theory of preference stems from the shape itself, which displays an initial increase in preference over a certain number of repetitions until a certain point, after which the listener begins to dislike the musical stimulus. In theory, this change in preference is connected to how complex the listener perceives the musical stimulus to be. Initially, a stimulus may seem complex and unintelligible, whereas after a number of repetitions the listener is able to make more sense of it, thereby increasing preference. After too many repetitions the stimulus may be perceived as simplistic or banal. However, as noted by Verveer et al. (1933), listeners may respond favorably to future repetitions if a sufficient amount of time is allowed to elapse.

Research supporting changes in preference resulting from an increase in familiarity through repetition has largely confirmed the inverted-U theory, although many of these studies focused explicitly on Western art music. However, research using music other than Western art music has corroborated these results. Wiebe (1940) found that plugging of popular music on the radio did not increase preferences for songs that were well liked, but it did increase preference for songs that were initially less liked. Other support for the theory has been shown using Pakistani music with college and elementary students (Heingartner & Hall, 1974); Asian Indian, African, Hispanic, and Japanese music with elementary students (Shehan, 1985); Indonesian gamelan music with middle school students (Shehan, 1984); a variety of multicultural music with elementary students (Demorest & Schultz, 2004); popular and classical music with college students (Hargreaves, Messerschmidt, & Rubert, 1980); and pop, easy listening, classical, and avant-garde jazz with college students and older adults (Hargreaves, 1984).

When discussing repetition and familiarity of popular music, it is worth considering that although a specific piece may be unfamiliar, the style may not be. Consequently, when presenting popular music or other styles that may be more familiar, an unfamiliar piece may not require as many repetitions to achieve the same results as an unfamiliar piece in an unfamiliar style. Indeed, Acevedo-Hernández (2006) found that time spent listening before making preference decisions decreased as music conformed more to current popular styles.

Consequently, a variety of external factors apparently serve as important influences on students’ musical preferences. While educators may not be able to control many of these factors, it may be helpful to be aware of these and other external influences, such as time of day or ambient temperature. When designing lessons focused on student listening or exposure to unfamiliar music, incorporating a variety of response methods, displaying a positive affect, and repeated listening/performances may serve to increase positive student response.

Listener Characteristics

As suggested by LeBlanc (1982), musical preference may be influenced by the characteristics of the listener. One such characteristic is prior musical training, and the research findings are mixed about the effects of such training on preference. Morrison and Yeh (1999) found music majors to rate Western classical, Chinese classical, and jazz excerpts higher than nonmajors. When describing the music, music majors also tended to make more analytical comments, referring to characteristics of the music, as opposed to metaphorical comments or comments about the genre itself. Similar results were found later by Brittin (1991) and much earlier by Duerksen (1968) who explored high school and college students’ ability to recognize repeated and altered themes in a variety of classical and popular music. Duerksen found progressively higher scores as musical training increased. However, Brittin (1996) found no difference in ratings for non-Western music across different levels of music experience, and Darrow, Haack, and Kuribayashi (1987) found that participants with more musical training provided a wider range of preference ratings, both higher and lower for Western and Eastern musical styles.

Musical training may also influence one concept that complements the inverted-U theory, that of subjective complexity (Hargreaves, 1986). Subjective complexity is, simply put, how complex the listener perceives the musical stimulus to be. For example, a listener with more advanced musical training might perceive a popular song to be less complex than someone with no musical training at all. Indeed, North and Hargreaves (1995) found a strong relationship between preference and subjective complexity, as well as between preference and familiarity, when asking college students to listen to new age/ambient house music. Less clear was the interaction between familiarity and subjective complexity, which North and Hargreaves attributed to the effects of conscious selection and cultural exposure. Brittin (1996) also found evidence of the influence of subjective complexity. One of her experimental groups consisted of college and middle school students rating both preference and complexity on the CRDI device, and Brittin found a positive correlation up to a certain complexity, beyond which participant preference displayed a negative correlation.

In addition to musical training, educators might also consider existing genre preferences of their students when designing lessons. As part of a landmark series of music preference studies, LeBlanc (1979) found that fifth-grade students most preferred easy listening/pop music, although the categories of ragtime, dixieland, band march, country, and western/bluegrass were all statistically similar. In a later study using only art music, traditional jazz, and rock, LeBlanc, Sims, Siivola, and Obert (1996) found consistent preference for rock music among participants ranging in age from 6 to 91 years, although art music was consistently competitive. LeBlanc et al. (1996) also discussed trends in responses according to age; middle school students and adults responded less favorably overall. Overall low preference scores were also reported by Neville (1985), who asked 14-year-olds to rate preference of both classical and popular music. In other studies, preference for popular/rock music has been demonstrated less ambiguously (Geringer & McManus, 1979; Greer, Dorow, & Randall, 1974; Shehan, 1981), including among international participants (Geringer & Solís Guerra, 2002). Combined, these studies seem to suggest the strong influence of popular music across society. Specifically, genres such as easy listening, pop, and rock seem to be most preferred, although teachers should be careful not to assume that such preferences for popular music are universal for every student. For teachers of middle school students in particular, an awareness of student tendencies toward responding more negatively may be helpful in lesson planning and student involvement.

Some studies, including Morrison and Yeh (1999) and Selfhout et al. (2009), have included participants from countries other than the United States. An international perspective might help to illuminate the widespread popularity of Western musical styles (Darrow et al., 1987; Geringer, Ilari, & Johnson, 2014) or to more clearly understand why people prefer certain genres (Schäfer & Sedlmeier, 2009, 2012). LeBlanc found such a large influence from nationality, or “country” (LeBlanc et al., 2000, p. 101), that he hypothesized an addition to the earlier proposed listening model (LeBlanc et al., 2000; LeBlanc, Jin, Stamou, & McCrary, 1999). When considering the influence of nationality, however, perhaps most illuminating is a statement from LeBlanc et al. (1999): “We concluded that considerable caution must be exercised in attempting to apply research findings from one culture to predict music listening preference in another culture” (p. 72). Again referring back to LeBlanc’s model of listening influences, sometimes the interactions of influences may be difficult to discern and predict. Accordingly, it may be difficult for the classroom teacher to account for the variety of ethnicities and cultures represented by his or her students. The best course of action may be to not attempt predicting a students’ musical preferences on the basis of perceived cultural background. Instead, conversations and other musical introduction activities might better serve both student and teacher.

Additional listener characteristics, such as race and gender, have also been explored. Although the effects are not always consistent, the presence of an effect stemming from the listener’s gender has been noted (Brittin, 1991; May, 1985; McCrary, 2000; Neville, 1985). For example, Brittin (1991) found that females’ ratings were significantly higher than males’ when rating Grammy-nominated crossover artists, while Neville (1985) found a complex interaction involving gender, school attended, personality, and music genre when rating classical and popular music. McCrary (2000) explored both race and gender when listening to multi-ethnic music, finding that girls were particularly marginalized when in a cultural minority. Those in a cultural majority were “more likely to provide verbal comments about the music or to display positive or negative behaviors towards the music” (p. 258).

Given the previous research on peer influence, such insights may be of particular interest for those teachers striving to provide an environment where all students feel valued. Similarly, racial minorities seem to respond more favorably with musical styles or performers who share their race (Killian, 1990; May, 1985; McCrary, 1993, 2000; Morrison, 1998). Educators should make an attempt to ensure that featured artists, performers, and composers represent a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

Psychological factors of the listener, such as personality, may influence both short- and long-term music preferences. Inglefield (1972) explored different personality types and how each reacted to peer influence, whereas Neville (1985) found no effect of an introverted or extroverted personality type on the musical preferences of 14-year-olds. Pearson and Dollinger (2004) found correlations between Myers Briggs personality types and certain musical genres. Rentfrow and Gosling (2003), following a series of six studies including more than 3,500 participants, developed an alternative way of categorizing music preference. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, they grouped 14 genres into 4 two-part dimensions: (a) Reflective and Complex, consisting of blues, jazz, classical, and folk; (b) Intense and Rebellious, consisting of rock, alternative, and heavy metal; (c) Upbeat and Conventional, consisting of country, soundtracks, religious, and pop; and (d) Energetic and Rhythmic, consisting of rap/hip-hop, soul/funk, and electronica/dance. Rentfrow and Gosling also discussed personality correlates with each of these dimensions (i.e., the Energetic and Rhythmic dimension was correlated with Extraversion and Agreeableness, among other qualities). This model was largely supported by Zweigenhaft (2008).

The importance and cultural presence of a strong relationship between personality characteristics and music preference was demonstrated later by Rentfrow and Gosling (2006), who found that music was the most common topic of conversation when two strangers were getting acquainted and that observers used such information in forming opinions about others. Delsing, ter Bogt, Engels, and Meeus (2008) found that not only were music preferences modeled on Rentfrow and Gosling (2003) relatively stable over a 1-, 2-, and 3-year period, but personality traits also seemed to account for changes in preferences over the 3-year period. While educators may not be able to account for each individual personality in his or her classroom when presenting music, it may be worthwhile to remember that such characteristics might influence students’ decisions about a piece of music.

Nonmusical factors can provide a variety of influences on one’s musical preference decisions. External characteristics such as the opinions of others or the repetition of the excerpt, as well as listener characteristics such as race, gender, and personality, might contribute to the formation of opinions about a musical stimuli. It may be beneficial for educators to keep in mind that such opinions are not formed solely in response to factors within the music.