Dr. Suk published an article, entitled “The Influence of Ring-Back-Tone (RBT) on Evaluation of the Phone-call Receiver’s Personality [통화 연결 음악이 통화 상대자의 개성 판단에 끼치는 영향]” in the Korean Journal of Science of Emotion and Sensibility. The study investigates the influence of Ring-Back-Tone (RBT) music on the evaluation of the phone-call receiver’s personality in dimensions of Openness, Extroversion, and Neuroticism. It revealed that there is a positive correlation between the personalities of RBT music and the phone-call receivers’ personalities elaborating the affirmative result for the hypothesis. As an extension to this study, she co-authored another article that compares the influence of RBT between two different situations: when the receiver is known or unknown to the caller.

Abstract

Two experiments were carried out in order to investigate the influence of Ring-Back-Tone (RBT) music on the evaluation of the phone-call receiver’s personality in dimensions of Openness, Extroversion, and Neuroticism. In a preliminary experiment, the subjects listened to 17 RBT music stimuli in random order and assessed the personality associated with liking for each music using the 12 personality traits (N=15). Among the 17 RBTs, three were selected to be used in main experiment and they were distinguished from each other in terms of the tree personality dimensions (p<0.001). In main Experiment, it was hypothesized that the evaluation of phone-call receivers’ personalities would be influenced by the personality of RBT music. Therefore, in the main experiment, the subjects were divided into four groups and each listened to one of the three RBTs or to a plain ringing tone (control group) until the receiver (the experimenter) answered the call. After interviewing the receiver, subjects evaluated her personality using the 12 traits. The empirical results provide evidence that the RBT influences the judgment of phone-call receiver’s personality in terms of the three personality dimensions (p<0.001), supporting the hypothesis. In addition, it is found that there is a positive correlation between the personalities of RBT music and the phone-call receivers’ personalities elaborating the affirmative result for the hypothesis (r=0.753, openness, p<0.01; r=0.753, extroversion, p<0.01; r=0.265, neuroticism).

Full text in the Korean Journal of Science of Emotion and Sensibility