Aussies Listen To Music To Impress Others, New Study Finds

A new study conducted by psychologists and music researchers in Australia has revealed that Aussies are the people most likely to listen to music to show off to others, please their friends, be fashionable or create an image for themselves. In short, we show off.

The study was conducted by psychologist Dr. Adrian North, of Curtin University, and music researcher Dr. Jane Davidson, of the University of Western Australia, and published in the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology.

Dr. North and Dr. Davidson investigated the psychological underpinnings behind the musical tastes of people in different regions, finding that “people in quite similar cultures are using music for different reasons from one another.”

For example, their study — the largest of its kind, surveying 29,000 people from across the globe — found that most people use music as a form of mood regulation, Dr. North told the ABC “It’s almost like using music as an emotional bandaid…it’s using music to help you get through the day.”

The study found however that Australians and New Zealanders are far more shallow when it comes to their musical taste, employing music to create an image of themselves, said the study “people in Australia and New Zealand were most likely to use music to create an impression with other people.” People in North America, the UK, and Ireland, however, scored low on this reason.

So it turns out all those hipsters really are just listening to their music to be trendy.

(Via Tone Deaf)