Rjinn

What I'd like to point out, whether someone is considered having a high rate of intelligence that may have no sense in musical, aesthetic or artistic quality, might not find it important as other matters for a valid reason. We can't actually make a basis for why they're interested in what they're interested in without knowing their intent.

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last.fm

GrapeSoda

I find people that generally support the idea that good music is for the intelligent only or that only intelligent people listen to "good music" are people that bolster themselves and alienate themselves from others for lame reasons.

neptune1bond

I grew up listening to my "particular genres" but now I listen to many different things and actually own multiple c.d.'s in the multiple genres that I claim to enjoy (contrary to some who also make that claim since some people want to sound open-minded but only own recordings in a very small number of different styles). I like and own classical (including renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic, impressionist, post-tonal, and everything in-between), opera, jazz, rock, pop, broadway (show-tunes), r&b, metal, folk, big band, alternative, world-music, spiritual, new-age, country (only a little), easy-listening, and many of the popular tunes going back to the early 1900s (as well as some other things that I own and cycle through, but am just not thinking of at the moment). I'm one of the few people that I know that will listen to a song from Christina Aguilera, then Cole Porter, then Ella Fitgerald, then Rosemary Clooney, then the Vienna Boys Choir, then Journey, then Elton John, then Debussy, then Natalie Dessay, then Boys II Men, then Carrie Underwood, then the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack, then Puccini, then Lacuna Coil, then Kurt Bestor, then Schoenberg, then Nightwish, then Whitney Houston, then the Carpenters, then the orchestral recordings of video game music, then Carole King, then Kenny G etc. (the list goes on and on) and be dancing/boppping and/or singing/humming along to each and every tune. The main types of music (that I can think of at the moment) that I don't enjoy and wouldn't probably listen to regularly is rap and screamo. I actually do own some rap and screamo (mainly for study), I just don't listen to it with any regularity (although I do listen to it sometimes here and there).

Does this reflect in my intelligence? Possibly. Sometimes I will sound somewhat insightful and clever at one minute and then incredibly moronic the next. I tend to believe that a person will enjoy the music that they are most exposed to and not so much the ones that they are not. If there is a correlation between music choices and intelligence, I believe that it is more a reflection of the people/circumstances that they are exposed to and that would probably have a greater influence on their intelligence.

To give some stereotypical examples (I'm not trying to make claims on anyone's intelligence or insult someone's choice of music), a person may have one of his greatest mentors be his uncle who happens to be a college professor who got into classical music. The nephew's admiration for someone of intelligence and good education could lead him to higher intellectual pursuits as well as an appreciation for classical music and therefor, if he did end up being smarter, it would be the association with his uncle and pursuit of higher knowledge and not the classical music.

On the other hand, a girl might have a bunch of friends that listen to bubble-gum teenie-bopper pop music. This group of friends spends more time worried about fashion and make-up and considers being a "brain" to be dorky and a waste of time considering they could just marry someone rich and be a trophy-wife. The girl decides to idolize these girls because they are popular and always get the cutest boys by twirling their hair, being a cheerleader, and saying "like" after every other word. Obviously her idolization of the group of girls is the influencing factor and not the music.

Or a boy grows up in the hood and decides that the only way to survive is to join a gang. He begins listening to rap music because the other gang members advocate it so strongly and he associates with it and feels like it best represents his lifestyle. He eventually drops out of high school, gets some skank pregnant at 16, and then dies in a drive by shooting a little way away from his home (which really only matters so much since he, unknowingly, had contracted a deadly std from one of the many other skanks that he slept with and was going to die not to long after anyways). Obviously his lifestyle choices were the influential factor and not the music.

If there is a correlation between music and intelligence I can't help but believe that the main (but possibly not only) reason that that might be so is that people tend to fall into stereotypes whether consciously or subconsciously. I do not believe that stereotypes are an accurate way to judge human beings, but at the same time there is sometimes a reason why they came about in the first place and can have some small level of accuracy to them.

Although, there are some studies that suggest that there is an effect that music can have on thought. If I remember correctly, they took various university students and had them study while listening to varying types of music and they hooked them to a machine and monitored their brain function. They found that music that constantly changes and alters the material when it reappears (like most classical music where motives are frequently transposed, inverted, played in retrograde, augmented/diminished, and otherwise altered) has a positive effect to thought and general brain function. While the same studies showed that music that tends to be more repetitive and the musical material has less alteration in its reappearance (a good deal of popular music) actually can hinder thought and slow general brain function. So, maybe there is some type of correlation, who knows? I still tend to think that, with the exception of a physical handicap, who you associate with and your life circumstances are the main influential factors.

Newkie

I have thought that on occasion, but at the same time many of the smartest people I know have pretty dull tastes in music. I don't think there's much of a correlation.

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shadowtear

Although it obviously varies from person to person, I'm pretty sure if you IQ tested a bunch of Tool fans and then followed that up by doing the same to N-Dubz fans, and then y... well, I think you can see where this is going.

Black Francis

To some extent yea, i think there's a link between music and intelligence but not all the time..

you can't simplify ppl just by their taste ppl are more complex than that..

i mean yes, in most cases the stereotype fits if a guy likes bruno mars or some **** like that he's probably like everybody else who follows mainstream music but does that make him dumb?

not necessarily, if anything it makes him "Close minded" cause he's just following and liking what the radio is telling him to like.

also those kinda ppl don't tend to take music too seriously..
it's just a passing fad to them, just another disposable Hit single they'll forget as soon as another Hit single becomes more popular..

but again, does this reflect how intelligent they are?
Not necessarily, just because ppl has different taste than you it doesn't make them less intelligent than you, just.. different.

Face

No there isn't.

"We listen to less mainstream music than others, why? Well we must be smarter!"

However, if you test ANY group which has put a bit more effort into their interests then chances are they are more intelligent than people with no interests at all. But that's not saying much.

Necromancer

Music's Effect on Intelligence is a popular and interesting subject worth exploration. Music is said to affect the intellect of humans in several different ways. Specifically, it is said to affect infants more than any other age group. Music can improve learning skills, test taking skills, concentration, heartbeat, and relaxation. Music has been proven to offer several benefits for infants, young children, young adults, as well as for adults.

I'm also sure that in music could very well reflect a persons status in society, intellect, or what have you. But so does (for example) the cloths they wear, the house they live in, and maybe the car they drive.

Face

Well, everything affects you on that level. Look into psychological experiments with regards to slight changes in behaviour with regards to colour changes, words used, or even word order and the power of suggestion.

Necromancer

I agree, music's effect on intelligence, etc is no big mystery for sure. To be honest I personally find the subject kinda irreverent without any real answer that makes any significant difference when it comes to listening to the actual music itself anyway. Each individuals own personal preference is the only thing that matters after all is said and done.