The Relationship between Musical Training and Empathy

Individuals’ empathy levels can change as a result of musical training and other factors such as, gender and personality characteristics of agreeableness and extraversion can have an influence on empathy as well. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate the effect of musical training and gender on the levels of empathy, agreeableness and extraversion, in emerging adults that have musical training. One hundred and ninety-eight participants (99 Male and 99 Female; Mean Age: 22.05, SD: 2.11) were recruited and completed the questionnaire of “MusicEmpathy Survey”. One hundred and three of them had musical training and ninetyfive of them had no musical training. Findings showed that individuals with musical training outscored individuals without musical training on empathy and agreeableness scales, but not on extraversion. Females also outscored males on empathy and agreeableness scales. Furthermore, results showed that males were more influenced by musical training than females. In light of the findings, levels of empathy can be elevated via musical training, suggesting the possibility of using musical training as a useful tool for increasing such pro-social behaviors and as an intervention/prevention program for individuals with empathy-deficit disorders. Keywords: Empathy, Musical training, Gender, Personality Characteristics.