Heavy metal fans are often considered antisocial and aggressive, while those who prefer slow love songs might be thought of as soppy, and classical music fans are seen as pretentious¹.

 

重金属音乐迷往往具有反社会人格和侵略性，喜欢慢情歌的人往往是多愁善感的，古典音乐迷往往自命不凡。

 

While many would probably deny these stereotypes² hold any weight, the links between music and personality are being seriously investigated by teams of psychologists.

 

One such expert from Cambridge has now created a quiz to put these theories to the test - and you can take it to find out what your music personality is.

 

To take the quiz, go to musicaluniverse.org and select the Musical Test.

 

David Greenberg, a psychologist at the University of Cambridge, is one of the researchers working on the 'Musical Universe' project.

 

Mr Greenberg has quizzed thousands of people, first giving them a written test to analyse their personalities³ and then finding out what types of music they prefer.

 

Mr Greenberg said: 'We've found that musical preferences are linked to three brain types.'

 

He said those who have a well-developed ability to understand thoughts and feelings in themselves and others, so-called 'empathisers', prefer mellow⁴ music that evokes⁵ deep emotion.

 

People who can identify patterns and systems, known as 'systemisers', prefer intense music that forms complex sounds.

 

The theory, he explained, is that empathisers are interested in music's emotional qualities and how it makes them feel, whereas systemisers are more intrigued⁶ by its structural⁷ qualities.

 

Meanwhile, people who like both mellow music and intense music tend to have similar scores in empathising and systemising tests, indicating a 'balanced' thinking style.

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