Beliefs about the origins of musical characteristics

Though people dance, sing, and interact musically all across the world, there is substantial individual variation in musical abilities. What accounts for these differences - talent, practice, or opportunity? Across two experiments, we investigated lay beliefs about the origins of musicality. In an initial exploratory study (Experiment 1), undergraduates at a small North American university (N = 83) were asked to (1) give open-ended explanations for prompts about musical strengths, then (2) rate the causal contribution of genetic (e.g., inheritance), environmental (e.g., parent support), and personal choice (e.g., effort) factors for those same attributes. In Experiment 2, we replicated and extended Experiment 1 by asking participants recruited from Prolific (N = 92) to rate the causal contribution of genetic, environmental, and personal choice factors to musical strengths as well as weaknesses. Overall, participants tended to rate personal choices highest and genetic factors lowest in importance for musical strengths, but no such pattern was observed for musical weaknesses. Genetic contributions were considered more important for singing and rhythm than other musical strengths. Overall, participants emphasized the role of practice and effort in musical abilities, but had nuanced beliefs about contributions of genetic and environmental factors to different musical characteristics.