Tastes Based On Others' Tastes

In "The Science of Hit Songs", Bjorn Carey attempts to discover exactly what causes people to choose certain songs over other songs. The research leads one to believe that people choose certain songs based on  the song's popularity and how many people enjoy the song. In essence, Carey's research validates that humans strive to be liked amongst each other and are willing to conform to other's preferences and tastes. All humans want to be loved and accepted by others and one way of being accepted or liked by others is by sharing commonalties. People enjoy speaking and interacting with others about common interests and music no different. For instance, on the first day if my freshman year at UCSB, I did not know anyone in my dorms so I decided to go to the lounge and watch the Sunday morning football game. When I arrived in the TV room, there were a couple kids watching the game and we began to talk about football and eventually became friends. If I had walked in and saw people watching Disney channel, I would not have talked to them and left. Yet, because I had a similar sports interest with the people there, we became friends. In essence, people want to become familiar with what is widely-popular or "cool" in order to be able to develop relationships with others and "fit-in" with their surrounding peers.