Eminem or Elgar: Will psychologists soon be able to identify psychopathic tendencies through your playlists?

A new study carried out by a team of researchers at New York University has suggested that the listening habits of psychopaths are more likely to include Eminem than Elgar. An experiment in which 200 volunteers listened to 260 songs and had their tastes matched against a test for psychopathic traits saw those with the highest psychopath scores responding most positively to Blackstreet’s No Diggity and Eminem’s Lose Yourself, The Guardian reported. Psychopaths proved no more attracted to classical music than anyone else, but fans of The Knack’s My Sharona and Sia’s Titanium exhibited the lowest psychopath scores.

The team of researchers, led by Pascal Wallisch, Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychology at NYU, ran tests on a second group of volunteers which suggested song preferences could be used to help predict the personality disorder, which is characterised by antisocial behaviour, insincerity and a lack of empathy or remorse.

“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. They might be working right next to you, and they blend...