Examining Social Aspects of Music via Attraction and Losses During COVID-19

This thesis explores two distinct aspects of the association between music and social relationships. The first part of the thesis focuses on Question 1, which is how does music preference influence attraction towards a new person? The first three studies established that music preference and political orientation are associated, that there are clear stereotypes about what music liberals versus conservatives like, and that these are a partial reflection of music preferences in the real-world. Studies 4 and 5 established that music preference similarity influences social attraction independently of political orientation similarity. Because of the apparent stereotypes about what liberal versus conservative individuals like to listen to, Study 6 examined whether alignment with these stereotypes was necessary for music preference to influence social attraction. Results indicated that music preference similarity influenced social attraction independently of political orientation similarity and independently of whether the target aligned with stereotypes. These results suggest that it is possible that having similar music preferences can facilitate social attraction between strangers, even when there are salient differences in other attributes. The second part of the thesis focused on Question 2, which was What do people miss when they are not able to engage in in-person group singing due to the COVID-19 pandemic? Study 7 compared singing groups with other kinds of group activities for what participants missed; Study 8 used an interview format to ask participants what they missed about in-person rehearsals in detail. Results of these two studies indicate that the in-person element of choir rehearsal cannot be substituted with an online format, partly because being able to hear others’ voices in the same space is a central aspect of the experience. Overall, the findings of this thesis illustrate some of the many social benefits of music and can help shed light on ways music can be used to bring people together