The NEO Personality Inventory and an abbreviated version of the Little and Zuckerman (1986) Music Preference questionnaire were administered to university students to test the relation of openness and extraversion to music preferences. Replicating the findings of other researchers, extraversion was positively related to one kind of music with high arousal properties (jazz), and excitement seeking to another (hard rock). However, as predicted, openness to experience related to enjoyment of a variety of musical forms outside the mainstream of popular and rock music.
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