Structure of Musical Dislikes: Findings From Multiple Genres and Countries

Musical taste shapes social life and personal identity, yet research has focused mainly on why people like music, leaving the equally powerful phenomenon of musical dislikes largely unexamined. Building on recent work identifying core reasons for musical aversion, this study examined the psychological structure, genre associations, individual difference predictors, and cross-cultural variation of musical dislikes across 49 genres in Australia, China, Singapore, and the United States (N = 1078). Using network psychometrics and latent variable modeling, we identified five dimensions underlying aversion: Displeasure, Complexity, Sentimentality, Social Incongruence, and Mainstream orientation. These dimensions mapped onto genre-level signatures and cross-cultural listener profiles. Behavioral models showed that only Displeasure and Social Incongruence predicted stronger dislike intensity, indicating that affective discomfort and identity mismatch drive aversion. Complexity and Sentimentality were sensitive to cultural context, whereas basic Displeasure was universal. Individual traits-personality and musical engagement styles-explained more variance in dislike mechanisms than country-level backgrounds. By mapping the systematic architecture of what listeners reject, this study offers a novel, comprehensive framework for understanding how individuals navigate cultural boundaries, regulate affect, and signal identity through active avoidance, proving that musical dislikes are not merely the absence of liking but a structured and meaningful component of musical taste.