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Abstract

The current study explored the structure of rationales for musical dislikes. In an online survey, participants (N = 627) evaluated self-selected styles and artists in a slight and strong degree of dislike condition with respect to 41 reasons for musical dislikes distilled from a previous interview study. After constructing nine subscales of reasons, a latent profile analysis identified two profiles of explanatory strategies for disliked music. The highbrow profile included reasons such as the music being Too Simple, or Not Authentic, having No Impact on the listener, and a perceived Social Incongruence, and was mainly associated with a dislike of German schlager, traditional music, and pop. The lowbrow profile included reasons such as the music being Too Niche and Too Complex and was associated with a dislike of jazz, classical music, heavy metal, and techno. A correlational network revealed that Displeasure can occur in relation to Social Incongruence, or in relation to Too Niche music. No Impact occurs in response to music regarded as Too Simple or Not Authentic. A strong dislike is consistently characterized by higher Displeasure, while Social Incongruence and Not Authentic were reasons to strongly dislike artists from mainstream styles. Hence, investigating fundamental musical value judgments, the current study shows that musical dislikes are a complex, multidimensional component of musical taste. The results have implications for the psychology and sociology of music, widening our understanding of people's attitudes toward music and its role in everyday life.