Temporal Stability of Music Preferences as an Indicator of Their Underlying Conditionings

Abstract

To emphasize the substantial impact of both cognitive and emotional processes on the development of music preferences, such definitions are formed which define preferences as a set of emotional-rational attitudes, which in turn affect the perception of a piece of music. It can be assumed that music preferences are dependent on the current situational and emotional aspects. Accepting this assumption, the absolute stability of the preferences of particular musical genres will be relatively low. As an alternative to the above reasoning, it can be assumed that the high temporal stability of the musical genres preferences may indicate deeper than, for instance, related to the current mood determinants of music preferences. The current study analyzed the temporal stability of musical preferences as measured with the Short Test of Music Preferences (Rentfrow, Gosling, 2003), which was tested within five months in a group of 88 people aged 20 to 58 years. Studies have shown that the Short Test of Music Preferences (STOMP) allows for a relatively stable measurement of music preferences in a period of 5 months. The analyzes revealed that the stability of the results of music preferences is high and constant. With the awareness of the limitations of the method to research the stability of results over time, you can assume with some caution that the high temporal stability of the music factors preferences may indicate deeper conditionings of music preferences than, for example, those connected to the current mood or situation.