If you ask most people which of these two musical clips is more more stressful, and which which one is more peaceful, you’ll see pretty consistent answers.
Relatively peaceful
Relatively stressful
But what about these passages—how stressful or peaceful are they?
And does your stressfulness ratings depend on your general musical preferences? Your age? Your physical fitness? Your impulsivity?
People have noted that older adults and people with low stress tolerance tend to prefer “milder” music.
Is the converse of this observation true?
Namely, are listeners who have a high stress tolerance and/or are more physically fit more likely to prefer stressful music?
David Huron And i
investigated this question by looking at the interaction between:
Personal characteristics—risk-tolerance, physical fitness, music preferences, etc.
Properties of the music—scream-like sounds, low pitch, loudness, etc.
Methodology
696 people filled out an online questionnaire, which asked them about their favorite music and some personal characteristics (age, gender, risk-tolerance, etc.).
In a separate study, 28 people rated the stressfulness of the music selected by the 696 participants in the first study.
Results
There is a positive association between a listener’s physical fitness at the time of musical preference formation and the stressfulness of the preferred music…but the association is very small.
It appears that males, younger participants, people with fewer years of education, and those who are more physically fit tend to prefer more stressful music.