If a woman plays soft jazz when you come over but the top 25 played songs on her iPod are death metal, she’s not showing her true self.
The warning comes from psychologist Sam Gosling, author of “SNOOP: What Your Stuff Says About You.”
In this guide for men who want an excuse to pry, Gosling reckons her playlists will reveal whether you’ve hooked up with a potentially dangerous harpy and haven’t noticed yet.
His advice:
“Look for variety not quantity. Also note the differences between the music on her iPod’s top 25 most played list vs. the music she has playing when you visit. Jazz, classical or blues suggests openness; country, pop and soundtracks suggest she is more extraverted and possibly nicer.”
The book offers a charts to use while you snoop to guage for extravertedness, neuroticism and agreeableness. On page 186 (via Amazon reader) he maintains that a peek on a the “most played” tunes on an iPod is “more telling than a bedroom visit.”
Intriguing. But it would take some serious sleuthing and expertise to understand someone from playlists. For example I’ve got a nano that just offers rowdy gym music while an older pod is entirely loaded up with wonky non-fiction audio books. Where’s that on the neurotic scale?
(Photo used under Creative Commons license, thanks to Balladist on Flickr).
Via Houston Chronicle
Nicole Martinelli is a San Francisco freelance writer who heads up Cult of Mac Magazine, our weekly publication available on iTunes. You can find her on Twitter and Google+. If you’re doing something new, cool and Apple-related, email her.
10 responses to “Psychologist Says: iPod Most Played Songs More Telling Than Bedroom”
I think you can tell a lot about a person by their Top 25 list. This isn’t just for dating: I picked on a friend because one of Britney’s songs was her top song in the listing. She blushed, which said a lot.
um, Creepy. Although this is an interesting “what does my playlist say about me” exercise, and I’m a firm believer in “show me your iPod, I want to learn more about you”. But this seems like a super stalker-esque “while you’re peeing, I’m going to snoop around your computer” thing.
Or maybe she is just smart enough to know that Miles Davis is far more romantic than Nine Inch Nails. I would be more worried if she was playing metal than something more intimately inclined like jazz or classical. And I would be impressed that she was open to variety, spontaneity, and subtlety, ESPECIALLY if her most played were metal songs and I walk into John Coltrane.
Good grief. Talk about jumping to conclusions.
Joe
Get a life :)
Who is this girl?
More please.