Self-awareness of musical ability

Abstract

We asked whether adults have accurate self-awareness of their musical ability, and whether such self-awareness relates to other individual differences. Participants (N = 256) rated how musical they were compared to their friends, colleagues, family, and the general population. They subsequently completed self-report measures of musical behaviors (Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index [Gold-MSI]) and personality, as well as objective tests of cognitive (matrix reasoning problems) and musical (Musical Ear Test [MET]) abilities. Participants considered themselves to be more musical than their colleagues and family but not than their friends and the general population. Correlations with Gold-MSI scores provided evidence for the construct and content validity of the self-ratings. Musicality self-ratings were associated with better performance on the Melody (but not the rhythm) subtest of the MET, higher levels of openness-to-experience and extraversion, and gender: men rated themselves as particularly musical even though there were no gender differences in objective musical ability. Cognitive ability was not associated with self-ratings although it predicted MET scores and the accuracy of self-ratings. In short, individuals exhibited self-awareness for pitch-based aspects of their musical ability. Their evaluations were associated with their personalities and tended to be exaggerated, however, particularly for men and for participants with lower cognitive ability.