Even psychopaths have favorite songs. Science said so. And contrary to what films like American Psycho and Clockwork Orange might suggest, these songs don’t necessarily have to be Huey Lewis and the News or Ludwig Van Beethoven.
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But according to preliminary research out of New York University, people who have high psychopathic tendencies do tend to gravitate toward some songs more than others. And of course, this begs the question: did your favorite songs make the list?
The Connection Between Mental Disorders and Music In Media
“Psychopath,” like so many other words about mental health and disorders, is often thrown around without regard to the term’s true definition. According to Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, a psychopath is an individual who displays “deficient emotional responses, lack of empathy, and poor behavioral controls.” This can look like the ax-wielding Patrick Bateman of American Psycho. Or it can also look like your neighbor, co-worker, or even family member (no axes necessary).
As psychology researcher Pascal Wallisch, who led the New York University study about psychopaths’ musical preferences, told The Guardian in 2017, “The media portrays psychopaths as axe murderers and serial killers, but the reality is they are not that obvious. They are not like the Joker in Batman. They might be working right next to you. And they blend in. They are like psychological dark matter.” Another way popular media can mislead the public about psychopathy is the music that films and television shows use during particularly psychopathic scenes.
Hannibal Lecter from The Silence of the Lambs prefers the Goldberg Variations of Johann Sebastian Bach. Alex from A Clockwork Orange is another classical music fan with an obsession with Ludwig Van Beethoven, particularly Symphony No. 9. One of the most iconic scenes in American Psycho involves Patrick Bateman fervently defending the musical prowess of Huey Lewis and the News. But is that what real-life psychopaths listen to? Based on the preliminary findings out of NYU, that would be a no.
The Favorite (and Least Favorite) Songs Among Psychopaths
If your average, everyday psychopath is the social equivalent of “dark matter” as the researchers suggest, then finding a new way to identify these traits could be helpful. So, NYU researchers tested 200 people for psychopathy. Then, the participants listened to 260 songs and determined their favorites. The scientists took the data from individuals with the highest psychopathic scores to determine if there is a correlation between music taste and psychopathy.
At the time of the original Guardian interview, the research was still in its early stages and ethically “very hairy.” Moreover, the scientists were careful not to reveal too many musical preferences of tested psychopaths to not muddy future research. But they did offer two songs that seemed to rank favorably among those with psychopathic tendencies: Blackstreet’s “No Diggity” and Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.” Those with the least psychopathic traits favored The Knack’s “My Sharona” and Sia’s “Titanium.”
So, why are we so determined to connect psychopaths with classical music, like in Silence of the Lambs? Oxford psychologist Kevin Dutton hypothesized it has to do with the “creative potential of incongruity.” “The coming together of the dark, visceral, primeval psychopathic mind and the higher aesthetic of classical composition is inherently incongruous,” he told The Guardian. “It is the hypnotically captivating and age-old appeal of the beauty and the beast, only under the same cortical roof.”
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