How objective are we? (or at least when it comes to music…!)

Schaap and colleagues’ work confirms that not all judgments are as objective as we might think.  The researchers report that they “empirically assess[ed] how the evaluation of music fragments – electronic dance music (EDM) in particular – is affected by the perceived attractiveness of a DJ, in relation to their gender. . . . We find a strong positive relationship between artists’ perceived attractiveness and how ‘their’ music is evaluated. While this is true regardless of DJ gender, attractiveness benefits male artists slightly more than female artists.”

Julian Schaap, Michael Berghman, and Thomas Calkins.  “Attractive People Make Better Music?  How Gender and Perceived Attractiveness Affect the Evaluation of Electronic Dance Music Artists.”  Empirical Studies of the Arts, in press, https://doi.org/10.1177/02762374221118526