The Role of Psychology Research in Understanding the Sex/Gender Paradox in Music - Plus Ca Change...

Abstract

In this article we seek to assess the usefulness of the work done by psychologists to explain the sex/gender paradox in music. Whilst not pretending to be an exhaustive review, by tracing the quest as it has been tackled over the past 80 or so years, the principal issues to emerge fall into two categories. On the one hand there are areas in which clear gains appear to have been made, highlighting preferences such as those for different musical characteristics, styles and particular instruments, and the contribution made by investigating personality traits. On the other, however, there are important influences which contribute to gender formation which have remained largely unexplored in music education research, such as race/ethnicity, class and home circumstances, sexuality, disability, birth ordinal position and birth date, as well as the frustratingly inconclusive studies of the functions of brain lateralisation. Thus we reason that psychologists researching music education need to widen their attention to aspects of both difference and absence, acknowledging the real world contexts in which people make musical meanings.

The Music Self-Perception Inventory: Development of a short form

“…For example, the choice of a preferred instrument and music style has previously been showed to be affected by gender (Harrison & O'Neill, 2000;O'Neill & Boulton, 1996), so that gender-differences may potentially limit the openness of students to a variety of musical styles and instruments (Hargreaves et al, 1995). Alternatively, research also suggests that these differences may partly result from stereotypes conveyed by music teachers (for a more extensive discussion, see Maidlow, & Bruce, 1999). Future research should look more carefully into these differences and at possible interventions to increase teacher awareness of gender-differentiated processes, and of their possible role in shaping these differences.…”

Young people's topography of musical functions: Personal, social and cultural experiences with music across genders and six societies

“…Music allows an alignment of the value development with the values expressed by music. In this case, music may serve as marker of socially accepted values and as an external guide allowing norm‐oriented, traditional value development, which is endorsed by the interdependent self (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). This argument fits with the finding that cross‐cultural differences in the value development function of music can be explained by traditional cultural values.…”

“…Social functions of music may show larger differences, especially if related to independent and interdependent self‐construals (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). Individuals who construe their self as an autonomous entity independent of others are differentiated from those who see themselves as closely connected to their social environment.…”

“…Previous research has suggested that a holistic topography of musical functions involves personal, social, and cultural experiences with music (Boer & Fischer, in press), some of which may vary by personality (Chamorro-Premuzic & Furnham, 2007) and gender (Maidlow, 1999). Similarly, functions of music may vary dramatically across cultures, considering the different status of music in non-Western cultures.…”

Mapping Music Education Research in the UK

“…Gender issues operate in a multitude of ways in music education. Some key contributions to research on gender and music education were published in 1993 in a special issue of the British Journal of Music Education (for recent literature reviews see Maidlow and Bruce, 1999;O'Neill, 1997b). Areas of UK research which impact most directly on gender and music education include: children's and adolescents' gender-stereotyping of musical instruments and musical styles O'Neill, 2000, 2002;O'Neill and Boulton, 1996;O'Neill et al, 1999), the use of role models in helping children overcome gender-stereotyped beliefs (Bruce and Kemp, 1993;Harrison and O'Neill, 2000), gendered musical practices such as performance and composition (Green, 1997), and gendered influences on motivation and identity (O'Neill, 2002;O'Neill et al, 2002).…”