People who prefer listening to rap over pop and classical music are more likely to by PSYCHOPATHS
- Researchers asked 200 people to listen to 260 styles of varying genre
- People with the highest psychopathic tendencies prefered rap music
- In contrast, people with low scores prefered pop songs like Sia's Titanium
- The researchers suggest that rap songs could be used to predict the disorder
If you're a big fan of the rapper, Eminem, there's a chance you're also a psychopath, according to a new study.
Researchers have found that people with psychopathic traits prefer listening to rap music.
While the findings are yet to be published, the researchers even go far as to suggest that rap songs could be used to help predict the disorder in the future.
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If you're a big fan of the rapper, Eminem, there's a chance you're also a psychopath, according to a new study. Researchers have found that people with psychopathic traits prefer listening to rap music
Researchers from New York University looked at how people's musical preferences correlate with their psychopathic tendencies.
And unlike Hannibal Lecter - a psychopath portrayed in the 1991 blockbuster, Silence of the Lambs - who had a fondness for classical music, it appears that psychopaths are more likely to prefer rap.
In the study, 200 people were played 260 songs, and took tests to assess their psychopathic score.
The results showed that people with the highest psychopath scores were the biggest fans of rap songs, including No Diggity by Blackstreet, and Lose Yourself by Eminem.
In contrast, people with the lowest psychopath scores prefered pop songs, including The Knack's My Sharona, and Sia's Titanium.
While the findings are yet to be published, the researchers now hope to launch a larger study to verify the results.
Speaking to The Guardian, Dr Pascal Wallisch, lead author of the study, said: 'The media portrays psychopaths as axe murderers and serial killers, but the reality is they are not obvious; they are not like The Joker in Batman.
Unlike Hannibal Lecter (pictured) - a psychopath portrayed in the 1991 blockbuster, Silence of the Lambs - who had a fondness for classical music, it appears that psychopaths are more likely to prefer rap
'They might be working right next to you, and they blend in.
'They are like psychological dark matter.'
In the future, the researchers even go so far as to suggest that songs could be used to help predict the disorder.
People with the lowest psychopath scores preferred pop songs, including The Knack's My Sharona, and Sia's (pictured) Titanium
Dr Wallisch added: 'You don't want to have these people in positions where they can cause a lot of harm.
'We need a tool to identify them without their cooperation or consent.'
In their follow-up study, the researchers hope to identify whether groups of songs can predict potential psycopaths.
Dr Wallisch said that if this is the case, then playlists online could be used to spot psychopaths.
He added: 'The beauty of this idea is you can use it as a screening test without consent, cooperation or maybe even the knowledge of the people involved.
'The ethics of this are very hairy, but so is having a psychopath as a boss, and so is having a psychopath in any position of power.'
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