Some Exploratory Findings on the Development of Musical Tastes

Abstract

Examined whether popular music preferences peak at a certain age, using 28 top hits from the years 1932–1986 for musical stimuli. 108 Ss (aged 16–86 yrs) listened to and rated each of the 28 musical excerpts. The S's age and the year of each hit were used to create an interactive measure for each observation. Ss preferred music that was popular when they were about 23.5 yrs old; earlier and later music was disliked by comparison. Possible explanations include intrinsic (e.g., a developmental period of maximum sensitivity) and extrinsic (e.g., peer group pressure that peaks during a particular life phase) components. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)