What is more interesting than the data theft however, is the insanely alarming fact (or should I say, reaffirming knowledge) that people who like The Smiths have certain psychological predispositions.
A study that was done in 2015 by Stanford University and Cambridge University Psychometrics Centre has been dredged up in the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal, revealing the not so obvious fact that people who like The Smiths are neurotic. Meaning if you’re a vinyl collector too, you’re in for a double blow.
The study tested people’s personalities against their likes on Facebook to draw correlations between music tastes and a person’s openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism.
The idea that Gucci Mane and Waka Flocka indicates a higher level of trait extroversion is not entirely surprising to me, but it’s always nice to be backed up by science when I watch them screeching at me through my laptop screen.
Those who fell into the neuroticism camp are Smiths fans, a group known for a personality as monotone as Morrisey himself. They also loved Mariyln Manson, Placebo and Escape the Fate. Happy campers.
Björk fans found themselves high in trait ‘openness’ along with sad monster/singer, Tom Waits. A camp which sounds like a fun one to be a part of, where they sit around the fire to sing while The Smiths fans slope off into the forest to think about who they REALLY are.
