Researchers at the Laboratory of Social and Cognitive Informatics at the Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg, together with a diverse group of international colleagues, found that young people who embrace new experiences tend to show higher musicality. The discovery was shared with socialbites.ca by the press service of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, and the study results appeared in the journal Music Psychology.
Elina Tsigeman, a senior researcher at the Laboratory of Social and Cognitive Informatics, explained that openness is a personality trait closely linked to the overall cultural life a person leads. Individuals with elevated openness are more drawn to art, continually pursue fresh experiences, and maintain a strong thirst for knowledge.
In total, 2211 students took part in the study, with 346 from Russia, 751 from England, and 1114 from Germany. The participants completed two surveys. The first measured musicality through five criteria: musical engagement (ME), the ability to recognize emotions (EM), musical skills (MS), musical ear (MEa), and vocal ability (VA). The second survey assessed personality traits using the Big Five model, including openness to experience (OTE), conscientiousness (CON), extraversion (EXT), agreeableness (AGR), and emotional stability (ES).
The music engagement score captured interest in music in various forms, such as buying albums, purchasing concert tickets, or simply listening to songs with intention. The second survey matched these youths to their personality profiles by asking how well statements described their traits. The analysis revealed the strongest link between musicality and openness to experience. Curiosity and a willingness to try new sounds and genres were highly correlated with abilities in musical listening, musical hearing, and singing.
Extraversion also played a notable role for youth in Russia and Germany. As extroversion increased among adolescents in these countries, the development of music listening and singing skills tended to rise. This pattern did not emerge in the English subgroup in the same way, suggesting regional nuances in how personality facets relate to musical talent.
The study found that conscientiousness had little effect on musicality, and enthusiasm for music remained largely independent of friendship. While agreeable youths tended to better understand emotions expressed through music, this trait did not directly drive the growth of musical talent. These findings emphasize that personality interacts with musical development in nuanced ways, and not all traits predict musical proficiency in the same manner across populations.
Researchers stress the significance of exploring adolescent musicality because music holds heightened importance for younger people relative to adults. Music supports social bonding and friendship formation during school years and also contributes meaningfully to cognitive and emotional development.
Earlier discussions of this topic highlighted unexpected benefits of playing a musical instrument, underscoring how engagement with music can yield broad developmental gains for young learners.