Study finds link between your musical preference and moral compass

Researchers have reportedly established a link between your music taste and your moral compass.

According to data analysed by scientists at Queen Mary University of London and ISI Foundation in Turin, Italy, music can have an impact and even change the way you perceive the world and how you behave.

To conduct their research, the scientists used machine learning to identify each song’s narrative, moral valence, attitude, and emotions and managed to draw connections between the music and an individual’s moral compass.

“Our study provides compelling evidence that music preferences can serve as a window into an individual's moral values,” noted Charalampos Saitis, one of the senior authors of the study and a lecturer in digital music processing at Queen Mary University of London’s School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science.

How was the study conducted?

The study enlisted over 1,400 participants, who completed psychometric questionnaires evaluating their moral values. 

Additionally, participants shared details about their favourite artists via Facebook page likes. 

The researchers then extracted acoustic and lyrical features from the top five songs of each participant's preferred artists.

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Through algorithmic analysis, the team predicted participants' moral values based on these extracted features. 

Text-processing techniques were applied to scrutinise narrative, moral values, sentiment, and emotions in lyrics.

Spotify-provided low- and high-level audio features were utilised to better understand encoded information in participants' musical preferences. 

Results

Notably, pitch and tone emerged as crucial predictors for values related to care and fairness, while sentiments and emotions expressed in lyrics were more effective in predicting traits associated with loyalty, authority, and purity.

“Our findings showed that music is not merely a source of entertainment or aesthetic pleasure; it is also a powerful medium that reflects and shapes our moral sensibilities,” commented Vjosa Preniqi, the lead author and a doctoral student at Queen Mary’s. 

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“By understanding this connection, we can open up new avenues for music-based interventions that promote positive moral development.”

(With inputs from agencies)