Musical Preferences and Effects of Music on a Reading Comprehension Test for Extraverts and Introverts

Abstract

In an initial survey of musical preferences, undergraduate groups of 22 extraverts and 26 introverts (defined on the basis of a median split of their scores on the Eysenck Personality Inventory) both chose and rated rock and roll as their favourite class of music. In addition, although extraverts reported working with music twice as much (50% of the time) as introverts (25%), both groups indicated that, when they played background music while studying, they kept the volume soft. Different groups of 24 extraverts and 24 introverts, equally split into music and no-music conditions, were then individually administered a retention test for two passages which they had just read. All subjects who heard music were played rock and roll at a low volume. Scores for extraverts were similar in the two conditions, but those for introverts were significantly poorer in the presence than in the absence of music. These results are interpreted as supporting a general model of arousal and performance in which the effects of extraversion and musical stimulation interact.