The Big Five and Beyond: Which Personality Traits Do Predict Movie and Reading Preferences?

Public Policy Relevance Statement The present study demonstrated the importance of considering a diverse variety of personality traits in predicting media preferences. The finding that both the Big Five and the Dark Triad personality traits manifest in movie and reading preferences suggests that people actively choose to be exposed to media environments that allow them to reflect their personalities. This supports the notion that people are not passive recipients of media messages but active in selecting media content. Preferences for various genres of movies or books have long been considered to express unique aspects of personality. The question, however, remains: Do the "darker" aspects of personality manifest in such preferences? This study, therefore, examined the relative contribution of personality, as measured by the Mini International Personality Item Pool and the Dirty Dozen, to movie and reading preferences in a sample of 386 participants. Hierarchical regressions showed that the Big Five personality traits differentially contributed to predicting media preferences. Results further revealed that even after controlling for the Big Five traits, Machiavellianism predicted preferences for genres of movies and books characterized by intensity, whereas a preference for light books was predicted by narcissism. It follows, then, that both movie and reading preferences can represent a means through which people do express aspects of their own personalities, which may partly explain the importance of entertainment media in our everyday lives.