Singers take center stage! Personality traits and stereotypes of popular musicians

Abstract

Despite some evidence that performing musicians tend to have distinct personality characteristics, there is little understanding of how specific positions in bands might be correlated with certain traits. Moreover, there is the possibility that such correlations are exaggerated via stereotypic social perception. In an online sample of popular musicians (including 87 bassists, 48 drummers, 115 guitarists, and 30 vocalists), we evaluated (a) differences in self-reported personality characteristics along the Big Five dimensions; and (b) perceptions of each kind of musician in terms of social category membership (e.g., “What are guitar players like?”). Singers were significantly more extraverted than bassists, and more open to experience than drummers. Whereas there were few differences among other musicians in self-reported personality, the various categories evinced stereotypes that were moderated by participants’ own positions in the band. For example, bass players were generally seen as the most agreeable band members, but this was especially true in the eyes of the bassists themselves. Results are interpreted with reference to biases associated with social categorization and group membership.