A study by Nokia into the musical tastes of nearly 4,000 twins
reveals genetic influences on the music people like varies with genre. Yes, your music taste is genetic. Country music-love is less genetic and comes more from training in the trailer park or truck stop. Your love of Dolly Parton is more likely to come from your environment than your family. A love of classical music, however, is more likely to be inherited.While,
on the whole, musical taste is determined just as much by nature as it
is by specific individual experiences, nature's influence is strongest
on appreciation of pop, classical and hip-hop music - indicating some
people may be born to love Michael Jackson, Beethoven or Jay-Z.
Nature's
influence is lowest on appreciation of folk and country, where family
upbringing appears to play a role - so a CD collection full of Hank
Williams, Dolly Parton and Joni Mitchell can't necessarily be blamed on
genetics:
Genre | Nature's Influence |
Pop/classical/rap/hip-hop | 53% |
Jazz/blues/soul | 46% |
Rock/indie/heavy metal | 40% |
Country/folk | 24% |
The
study, conducted by Nokia and Kings' College London Department of Twin
Research, investigated the listening habits of nearly 4,000 twins and
looked at the influence of both genetic and environmental factors on
musical taste.
"Previous
studies have shown that perfect pitch ability appears to be partly
inherent and with as much as 50% of our musical taste being
predetermined, it appears there is a strong argument for the existence
of 'music genes'" says Adrian North, Professor of Psychology at Heriot
Watt University.
As might be expected, genetic influences decrease over time as individual experiences becomes more important. Excluding country music - on average for the under 50s, genes have more influence (55%)1 than environmental factors (45%)2 , whereas for the over 50s, the influence of individual specific environmental factors on a music collection increases to 60%3.
Genetic influence ranking by genre for under and over 50s
Under 50s
- 56% Jazz/blues/soul
- 55% Pop/classical/rap/hip-hop
- 53% Rock/indie/heavy metal
- 0% Country/folk
Over 50s
- 43% Pop/classical/rap/hip-hop
- 42% Jazz/blues/soul
- 34% Rock/indie/heavy metal
- 28% Country/folk
Born to buy music, but not to listen to it
While
genetic influence on the music we like (55%) is clear, genes have a
significantly lower influence (25%) on our motivations for listening to
music. According to the research, listening habits are influenced by a
desire to soundtrack our day, wanting to set a mood, or simply to enjoy
the listening experience rather than any ‘play music now’ gene.
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