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It appears that psychopaths can be identified to some degree by their musical preferences - and they like rap. The least popular is music like "My Sharona" and Sia’s Titanium, which sounds like mainstream pop to me.
Those with highest psychopath scores were among the greatest fans of Blackstreet hit No Diggity, with Eminem’s Lose Yourself also rated highly. Contrary to the movie trope epitomised by Alex in The Clockwork Orange and Hannibal Lecter in the Silence of the Lambs, psychopaths are no fonder of classical music than anyone else, though they do appear to have other musical preferences, psychologists say.
In a study of 200 people who listened to 260 songs, those with the highest psychopath scores were among the greatest fans of the Blackstreet number one hit No Diggity, with Eminem’s Lose Yourself rated highly too. The New York University team behind the work stress that the results are preliminary and unpublished, but the scientists are sufficiently intrigued to launch a major study in which thousands of people across the psychopathy spectrum will be quizzed on their musical tastes.
Tests on a second group of volunteers suggest the songs could help to predict the disorder. Whatever their other personality traits might be, fans of The Knack’s My Sharona and Sia’s Titanium were among the least psychopathic, the study found.
{more at the link}
The study puts to bed Hollywood myths such as psychopath's preference for classical music, as was seen in "Silence of the Lambs," and also a preference for mainstream pop, as was portrayed in "American Psycho".
Scientists may be on the verge of being able to identify people who are likely to be psychopaths based on their musical tastes and it appears that if you like rap music, you are more likely to be a psychopath than the general population.
With a sample size of 200, it would need to be repeated several times to truly begin drawing viable conclusions (a population of 200 would likely only have a handful of true psychopaths based on demographic %), it is an interesting idea for a study though.
Scientists may be on the verge of being able to identify people who are likely to be psychopaths based on their musical tastes and it appears that if you like rap music, you are more likely to be a psychopath than the general population.
thankfully real scientists understand correlation and causation so i wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that.
An interesting question that these scientists would be wise to evaluate and take serious consideration of for the purposes of conducting their larger study.
They're basing this on songs, not an entire genre? I like 'Lose Yourself', and think 'Thriftshop' is one of the best songs going, but I really, really dislike rap. I don't see those songs as typical of rap music, so I'm not sure how valid this study would be, even with higher numbers.
To me, the crazies are the ones who like today's pop music. Ugh.
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