Do you hear what I hear? The Effect of Shared Social Identity on Music Liking and Processing

What factors influence liking for a piece of music? In answering this question, prior research on musical preferences has focused primarily on intrinsic characteristics of the music such as pitch, tempo and repetition. This thesis took a novel approach and examined how shared social identity influenced individuals’ liking and processing of music. Participants’ (N = 120) social identity as NOVA or Triple J fan was first made salient before watching a 30 second video of a listener enjoying a song on headphones. The listener was identified as either NOVA or Triple J fan. It was hypothesized that when participants and the listener shared the same social identity (e.g. both are NOVA fan), participants would like the song more and process it more deeply. Hypotheses were partially supported. Participants were willing to pay more for the song and process it more deeply when they shared the same social identity with the listener. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed