David M. Greenberg

Born in New York, Greenberg was raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia. He suffered from a congenital birth defect and was hospitalized when he was two weeks old. During this time, his grandfather sang to him, helping him to recover, which influenced Greenberg's career, as told by Greenberg in a TEDx talk in 2021.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evVRxrOo5iw|title=How Music Can Break Social Barriers | Dr. David Greenberg | TEDxRamatAviv|date=3 December 2021 |via=www.youtube.com}}

Greenberg began to play saxophone at the age of ten. At age fourteen, he began lessons with Dave LeCompte who taught him improvisational methods from Dennis Sandole, who was John Coltrane's teacher in Philadelphia. He then went on to study with Larry Mckenna, Ralph Bowen, and Joel Frahm. Greenberg went on his first European tour at age sixten.

He studied psychology at Rutgers University, music performance at Mason Gross School of the Arts, and aesthetics at the University of Milan in Italy via the Euroscholars Program.{{Cite web|url=https://www.davidmgreenberg.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/David-Greenberg-CV_Oct-2018.pdf|title=DAVID M. GREENBERG Curriculum Vitae}} During his undergraduate studies, he completed two honors theses: one on the philosophy of music and the other, a psychobiography of John Coltrane under the supervision of George Atwood, for which he received the award for the best honors thesis.

He graduated first in his class with an MPhil in social and developmental psychology from the University of Cambridge. Then, funded by the International Cambridge Trusts, he obtained his PhD in psychology from the University of Cambridge, where he was supervised by Peter J. Rentfrow, advised by Michael E. Lamb, and collaborated with Simon Baron-Cohen.{{cite web |title=Per- ¨ sonality predicts musical sophistication |url=https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/28207/2/Greenbergetal_Personality_MusicalSophistication_2015.pdf}}{{cite journal |title=Musical Engagement is Linked to Posttraumatic Resilience: The Role of Gender, Personality, and Music Listening Styles After Childhood Trauma |year=2021 |doi=10.1177/2059204321993731 |last1=Rosenberg |first1=Nora |last2=Greenberg |first2=David M. |last3=Lamb |first3=Michael E. |journal=Music & Science |volume=4 |s2cid=233963302 |doi-access=free }}{{Cite web|url=https://yourbraintype.com/about-us/|title=About Us – What's Your Brain Type?}}

Before becoming a Zuckerman Fellow in social neuroscience at the Gonda Brain Sciences Center at Bar-Ilan University, he received postdoctoral clinical training in clinical psychology from the City University of New York, and in music therapy from Anglia Ruskin University.{{Cite web|url=https://www.autismresearchcentre.com/staff/david-greenberg/|title=Dr David Greenberg|website=Autism Research Centre}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.biu.ac.il/en/news/9338|title=Music is Breaking Social Barriers|website=www.biu.ac.il}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/contributors/david-m-greenberg-phd|title=David M. Greenberg Ph.D. | Psychology Today|website=www.psychologytoday.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171019121839.htm|title=Psychologists develop new model that links emotions and mental health|website=ScienceDaily}} Greenberg received additional training and worked at the New York University Child Study Center and the National Institutes of Health, where he was advised by personality psychologist Robert R. McCrae.{{cite book|chapter=Openness to Experience|first1=R.|last1=McCrae|first2=David M.|last2=Greenberg|date=January 9, 2021|title=Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science|pages=222–243 |doi=10.1002/9781118367377.CH12 |isbn=9781118367377 |s2cid=55555884 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.davidmgreenberg.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/mccrae-greenberg-2014-openness-to-experience-genius-chapter.pdf|title=Openness to Experience}} He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences' Daniel Turnberg Fellowship.{{cite web |title=Daniel Turnberg Travel Fellowship Scheme |url=https://acmedsci.ac.uk/file-download/56094726}} Greenberg's work involves interdisciplinary collaborations with Cambridge University, Harvard University, Stanford University, Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, and McGill University.{{Cite web|url=https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/music-personality/|title=Here's what your music preferences reveal about your personality|date=13 September 2023 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/can-your-personality-explain-your-itunes-playlist|title=Can Your Personality Explain Your iTunes Playlist?|website=Stanford Graduate School of Business|date=6 February 2024 }}

Greenberg is known for his scientific work on musical preferences and personality, the social neuroscience of music, music therapy, and autism. He has received honors from the National Institutes of Health and the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music.{{cite web |title=Ninth Triennial Conference of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music |url=https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2022-02/ESCOM9_Manchester_2015_Abstracts_Proceedings-web.pdf}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/news-and-features/blogs/detail/cultural-blog/2017/06/01/music-and-cognitive-styles|title=Music and cognitive styles|website=www.rcpsych.ac.uk}}

From 2016 to 2020, Greenberg served as a senior scientific advisor/consultant for companies such as Spotify and National Geographic.{{Cite web|url=https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2021-35856-015|title=APA PsycNet|website=psycnet.apa.org}}{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/4422049/these-are-the-best-songs-to-wake-up-to-in-the-morning-according-to-a-psychologist/|title=Spotify Created a Shrink-Tested Wake-Up Playlist|magazine=Time}}

In 2017, Greenberg founded Musical Universe, which became an academic and popular science platform engaging 350,000 people in 100 countries. In 2022, Greenberg transitioned the platform to become a healthtech start-up to aid millions of people worldwide through proprietary diagnostic screening technology and telehealth. Musical Universe was accepted into the Crown Ventures Accelerator program in the autumn of 2022.{{Cite web|url=https://musicaluniverse.io/about-us/|title=About us}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.crownventures.nyc/meetthecohort|title=Meet The Cohort | Crown Ventures|website=CV}}

Greenberg has worked with the Jerusalem Youth Chorus, which brings together Arab-Palestinians and Jewish-Israelis from East and West Jerusalem.{{Cite web|url=https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/does-your-personality-define-what-kind-of-music-you-like|title=Does Your Personality Define What Kind of Music You Like?|website=Discover Magazine}} He led an initiative called One World in Song, which is an interdisciplinary effort aimed at establishing a scientific basis for the use of music in easing social conflict/ Greenberg chaired its first international symposium in July 2021.{{cite web |title=One World in Song: Evidence from Big Data and Social Neuroscience |url=https://zuckerman-scholars.org/event/strength-through-partnership/strength-through-partnership-program/}}

Greenberg now serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Music Therapy and Musicae Scientiae.{{cite web |title=Editorial Board |url=https://academic.oup.com/jmt/pages/Editorial_Board}}{{Cite web|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/editorial-board/msx|title=Editorial board MS}} He often appears as a guest on BBC, NPR, CBS, ABC News and other media outlets. He is also a musician and songwriter who continues to perform regularly under his Hebrew name, Yeshaya David.{{Cite web|url=https://mpetersonmusic.com/podcast/episode57|title=Ep. 57: What the music you like says about your personality; with David Greenberg, PhD - MINDY PETERSON, NCTM|first1=Ep 67: “Why You Like It: The|last1=Science|first2=Culture of Musical|last2=Taste|first3= Nolan|last3=Gasser|first4=PhD-Mindy|last4=Peterson|first5=NCTM|last5=says|date=August 25, 2020|website=mpetersonmusic.com}}

In 2016, Greenberg developed a new model for understanding music perception, called the arousal-valence-depth (AVD) model of musical attributes, published in Social Psychological and Personality Science. The study co-authors included Peter J. Rentfrow at Cambridge University and neuroscientist Daniel Levitin at McGill University.{{cite journal |title=The Song Is You: Preferences for Musical Attribute Dimensions Reflect Personality |journal=Social Psychological and Personality Science |date=August 2016 |volume=7 |issue=6 |pages=597–605 |doi=10.1177/1948550616641473 |s2cid=148149961 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1948550616641473 |last1=Greenberg |first1=David M. |last2=Kosinski |first2=Michal |last3=Stillwell |first3=David J. |last4=Monteiro |first4=Brian L. |last5=Levitin |first5=Daniel J. |last6=Rentfrow |first6=Peter J. }}{{Cite web|url=https://conductscience.podbean.com/e/dr-david-greenberg-the-science-of-music/|title=Dr. David Greenberg -The Science of Music | The Conduct Science Podcast|first1=PodBean|last1=Development|website=conductscience.podbean.com}} The AVD model was replicated in 2017,{{Cite journal|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092656617300107|title=Personality and self-reported preference for music genres and attributes in a German-speaking sample|first1=Kai R.|last1=Fricke|first2=Philipp Y.|last2=Herzberg|date=June 1, 2017|journal=Journal of Research in Personality|volume=68|pages=114–123|via=ScienceDirect|doi=10.1016/j.jrp.2017.01.001|s2cid=151324889 }} 2018,{{Cite journal|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092656618300989|title=Computer-based music feature analysis mirrors human perception and can be used to measure individual music preference|first1=Kai R.|last1=Fricke|first2=David M.|last2=Greenberg|first3=Peter J.|last3=Rentfrow|first4=Philipp Yorck|last4=Herzberg|date=August 1, 2018|journal=Journal of Research in Personality|volume=75|pages=94–102|via=ScienceDirect|doi=10.1016/j.jrp.2018.06.004|s2cid=149740915 }} 2019,{{cite journal |title=Measuring musical preferences from listening behavior: Data from one million people and 200,000 songs | year=2021 | doi=10.1177/0305735619868280 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0305735619868280?journalCode=poma| last1=Fricke | first1=Kai R. | last2=Greenberg | first2=David M. | last3=Rentfrow | first3=Peter J. | last4=Herzberg | first4=Philipp Y. | journal=Psychology of Music | volume=49 | issue=3 | pages=371–381 | s2cid=210569986 }} and 2021 and has since been used in studies on musical preferences and analgesia.{{Cite journal|title=Preferred musical attribute dimensions underlie individual differences in music-induced analgesia|first1=Krzysztof|last1=Basiński|first2=Agata|last2=Zdun-Ryżewska|first3=David M.|last3=Greenberg|first4=Mikołaj|last4=Majkowicz|date=April 21, 2021|journal=Scientific Reports|volume=11|issue=1|pages=8622|doi=10.1038/s41598-021-87943-z|pmid=33883585 |pmc=8060431 |s2cid=233352240 }}

In 2018, Greenberg published the largest study to date of autistic traits and autism, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, with 634,958 typical individuals and 36,648 autistic individuals. The study showed that autistic individuals on-average have greater D-scores (drive to systemize) than typical individuals, and that D-scores account for 18 times more variance in autistic traits than do sex differences. The study was co-authored by Simon Baron-Cohen at the Autism Research Centre of Cambridge University. Greenberg and his colleagues extended these findings to cisgender individuals, transgender, and gender-diverse individuals, published in Nature Communications. Greenberg is currently leading as a Co-PI, the first nationwide randomized controlled trial (RCT) of improvisational music therapy with autistic children in the UK. The study has raised US$1.7 million and is funded by the Autism Research Trust and Rosetrees Trust.{{cite journal |title=Testing the Empathizing–Systemizing theory of sex differences and the Extreme Male Brain theory of autism in half a million people |year=2018 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1811032115 |last1=Greenberg |first1=David M. |last2=Warrier |first2=Varun |last3=Allison |first3=Carrie |last4=Baron-Cohen |first4=Simon |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=115 |issue=48 |pages=12152–12157 |pmid=30420503 |pmc=6275492 |s2cid=53290475 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2018PNAS..11512152G }}{{cite web |title=Zuckerman Postdoctoral Scholar David Greenberg Rocks |url=https://zuckerman-scholars.org/spotlight/david-greenberg/}}{{Cite web|url=https://phys.org/news/2022-02-musical-personalities-worldwide.html|title=Musical preferences unite personalities worldwide, new study finds|first=University of|last=Cambridge|website=phys.org}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/musical-preferences-unite-personalities-worldwide|title=Musical preferences unite personalities across the globe|first=Tom|last=Almeroth-Williams|date=February 10, 2022|website=University of Cambridge}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220209093441.htm|title=Musical preferences unite personalities worldwide, new study finds|website=ScienceDaily}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181112191650.htm|title=Largest ever study of psychological sex differences and autistic traits|website=ScienceDaily}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/over-half-a-million-people-take-part-in-largest-ever-study-of-psychological-sex-differences-and|title=Over half a million people take part in largest ever study of psychological sex differences and autistic traits|date=November 12, 2018|website=University of Cambridge}}{{Cite journal|title=Elevated rates of autism, other neurodevelopmental and psychiatric diagnoses, and autistic traits in transgender and gender-diverse individuals|first1=Varun|last1=Warrier|first2=David M.|last2=Greenberg|first3=Elizabeth|last3=Weir|first4=Clara|last4=Buckingham|first5=Paula|last5=Smith|first6=Meng-Chuan|last6=Lai|first7=Carrie|last7=Allison|first8=Simon|last8=Baron-Cohen|date=August 7, 2020|journal=Nature Communications|volume=11|issue=1|pages=3959|doi=10.1038/s41467-020-17794-1|s2cid=221019087 |doi-access=free|pmid=32770077 |bibcode=2020NatCo..11.3959W |pmc=7415151}}

In 2020, Greenberg formulated and tested a social psychological theory called the self-congruity effect of music, published in the Journal of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The study showed that people prefer music of artists who have perceived personalities similar to themselves and that musical preferences are driven by the personality-fit between the listener and the artist, rather than pure musical preferences alone. The study included 86,570 participants and was co-authored by Sandra Matz at Columbia Business School.{{Cite web|url=https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/844898|title=Fans love musicians' personalities as much as their music|website=EurekAlert!}}{{Cite journal|url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32614219/|title=The self-congruity effect of music|first1=David M.|last1=Greenberg|first2=Sandra C.|last2=Matz|first3=H. Andrew|last3=Schwartz|first4=Kai R.|last4=Fricke|date=July 9, 2021|journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology|volume=121|issue=1|pages=137–150|via=PubMed|doi=10.1037/pspp0000293|pmid=32614219|s2cid=220305680 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/newsroom/newsn/9294/fans-love-musicians-personalities-as-much-as-their-music|title=Fans Love Musicians' Personalities As Much As Their Music|first=Columbia Business|last=School|date=July 2, 2020|website=Newsroom}}

In 2021, Greenberg published one of the first articles on the "social neuroscience of music" (in contrast to the cognitive neuroscience of music). Published in the American Psychologist, he showed that the social brain networks implicated in music production (in contrast to music listening) overlap with the networks in the brain implicated in the social processes of human cognition—mentalization, empathy, and synchrony. The article was co-authored by neuroscientist Jean Decety at the University of Chicago, and Ilaniit Gordon at Bar-Ilan University.{{Cite journal|url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34110844/|title=The social neuroscience of music: Understanding the social brain through human song|first1=David M.|last1=Greenberg|first2=Jean|last2=Decety|first3=Ilanit|last3=Gordon|date=October 9, 2021|journal=The American Psychologist|volume=76|issue=7|pages=1172–1185|via=PubMed|doi=10.1037/amp0000819|pmid=34110844|s2cid=235404092 }}{{Cite web|url=https://neurosciencenews.com/music-collaberation-brain-18607/|title=What Happens in the Brain When People Make Music Together?|date=June 10, 2021}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-biology-bonding/202107/what-happens-in-the-brain-when-we-make-music-together|title=What Happens in the Brain When We Make Music Together | Psychology Today|website=www.psychologytoday.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-06-brain-people-music.html|title=What happens in the brain when people make music together?|first=Bar-Ilan|last=University|website=medicalxpress.com}}

In 2022, Greenberg published the largest cross-cultural study to date on music in the Journal of Personality and Social-Psychology, with 356,649 participants across 53 countries. The study used both audio-based and genre-based methods to show that the patterns in correlations between personality traits and Western musical preferences are invariant (i.e., universal) across countries.{{Cite journal|url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35130023/|title=Universals and variations in musical preferences: A study of preferential reactions to Western music in 53 countries|first1=David M.|last1=Greenberg|first2=Sebastian J.|last2=Wride|first3=Daniel A.|last3=Snowden|first4=Dimitris|last4=Spathis|first5=Jeff|last5=Potter|first6=Peter J.|last6=Rentfrow|date=February 9, 2022|journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology|volume=122|issue=2|pages=286–309|via=PubMed|doi=10.1037/pspp0000397|pmid=35130023|s2cid=246597001 }}

In 2022, Greenberg published the largest study to date on theory of mind in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences with 305,726 participants across 57 countries. The study validated sex differences in theory of mind using the popular "reading the mind in the eyes test." The study showed that females, on average, score higher than males on the theory of mind across ages and countries. The study was a collaboration with Cambridge-University, Harvard University, and Bar-Ilan-University.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/344667|title=Sex and age differences in "theory of mind" across 57 countries using the English version of the "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" Test.|first1=David M.|last1=Greenberg|first2=Varun|last2=Warrier|first3=Ahmad|last3=Abu-Akel|first4=Carrie|last4=Allison|first5=Krzysztof Z.|last5=Gajos|first6=Katharina|last6=Reinecke|first7=P. Jason|last7=Rentfrow|first8=Marcin A.|last8=Radecki|first9=Simon|last9=Baron-Cohen|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |date=January 3, 2023|volume=120 |issue=1 |pages=e2022385119 |via=www.repository.cam.ac.uk|doi=10.17863/CAM.92091|pmid=36584298 |pmc=9910622 }}

• McCrae R., R., & Greenberg, D. M. (2014). Openness to experience. In D. K. Simonton (Ed.), The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Genius. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
• Greenberg, D. M. & Rentfrow, P. J. (2017). The social psychological underpinnings of musical identities: A study on how personality stereotypes are formed from musical cues. In R. MacDonald, D. Miell, & D. Hargreaves (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Musical Identities. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
• Rentfrow, P. J., & Greenberg, D. M. (2019). The social psychology of music. In P. J. Rentfrow & D. J. Levitin (Eds.), Foundations in Music Psychology: Theory and Research. MIT Press.
• Greenberg, D. M. (2021). Music, spirituality, and ecstatic states. In W. Forde Thompson & K. Olsen (Eds.), The Science and Psychology of Music: From Beethoven at the Office to Beyoncé at the Gym. ABC-CLIO.

• Greenberg, D. M., Warrier, V., Abu-Akel, A., Allison, C., Gajos, K. Z., Reinecke, K., Rentfrow, P. J., Radecki, M., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2022). Sex and age differences in 'theory of mind' across 57 countries using the English version of 'Reading the Mind in the Eyes' test. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(1), e2022385119.
• Greenberg, D. M., Wride, S. J., Snowden, D. A., Spathis, D., Potter, J., & Rentfrow, P. J. (2022). Universals and variations in musical preferences: A study of preferential reactions to Western music in 53 countries. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 122(2), 286–309.
• Greenberg, D. M., Decety, J., & Gordon, I. (2021). The social neuroscience of music: Understanding the social brain through human song. The American Psychologist, 76(7), 1172–1185.
• Greenberg, D. M., Bodner, E., Shrira, A., & Fricke K. R. (2021). Decreasing stress through a spatial audio and immersive 3D environment: A pilot study with implications for clinical and medical settings. Music & Science, 4, 2059204321993992.
• Greenberg, D. M., Matz, S., Schwartz, H. A., & Fricke, K. R. (2020). The self-congruity effect of music. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 121(1), 137–150.
• Anderson, I., Gil, S., Gibson, C., Shapiro, W., Wolf, S., Semerci, O., & Greenberg, D. M. (2020). "Just the Way You Are": Linking Music Listening on Spotify and Personality. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 12(4), 561–572.
• Nave, G., Minxha, J., Greenberg, D. M., Kosinski, M., Stillwell, D. J., Rentfrow, P. J. (2018). Musical preferences predict personality: Evidence from active listening and Facebook likes. Psychological Science, 29(7), 1145–1158.
• Greenberg, D. M., Warrier, V., Allison, C., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2018). Testing the Empathizing-Systemizing theory of sex differences and the Extreme Male Brain theory of autism in half a million people. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(48), 12152–12157.
• Greenberg, D. M. & Rentfrow, P. J. (2017). Music and big data: A new frontier. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 18, 50–56.
• Greenberg, D. M., Kosinski, M.C, Stillwell, D. J., Monteiro, B. L., Levitin, D. J., & Rentfrow, P. J. (2016). The song is you: Preferences for musical attribute dimensions reflects personality. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 7(6), 597–605.
• Greenberg, D. M., Rentfrow, P. J., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2015). Can music increase empathy? Interpreting musical experience through the Empathizing-Systemizing (E-S) theory: Implications for autism. Empirical Musicology Review, 10(1), 80–95.
• Greenberg, D. M., Baron-Cohen, S., Stillwell, D. J., Kosinski, M., & Rentfrow, P. J. (2015). Musical preferences are linked to cognitive styles. PLoS ONE. 10(7), e01311.

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