Revista Argentina de Clínica Psicológica 2020, Vol. XXIX, N°1, 1132-1137
DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.161 1132
S
OCIAL
P
SYCHOLOGY
A
NALYSIS ON THE
F
ORMATION OF
E
NDOGENOUS
M
USIC
L
EARNING
P
REFERENCE
Jin Xue
*Abstract
Music learning preference reflects the emotions, identity and cultural background of the learners. With the aid of social psychology, this paper explores the factors affecting music learning preference, and expounds the formation mechanism of endogenous preference, considering the diversity of social cultures. The research data were collected through a questionnaire survey on college students who are interested in music learning. The results show that music learning preference manifests self-identity and identity recognition; social background, gender, identity and status are all endogenous factors for music learning preference; music learning preference is related to subcultures like identity crisis, personality and fashion. This paper provides a guide on the application of psychological theories in music learning.
Key words: Music Learning Preference, Social Psychology, Social Culture, Identity Recognition.
Received: 11-02-19 | Accepted: 27-07-19
INTRODUCTION
Music is a symbol system that expresses
individual emotional orientation, identity
attribution and cultural identity. Through the analysis of social psychology, it’s found that the individual’s preference in music is endogenous (Welch, Papageorgi, Haddon et al., 2008). The most typical feature of music is that it can stimulate the emotional response of the listeners, and the music preference implies individual, social and cultural metaphors
(Stansbury, 2017). Music exerts various
functions in people’s lives and provides them with a powerful cultural symbol system. People's preferred music style is their recognition of different cultural styles (Braun, 2015). Taking college students as an example, their music learning preference, whether it is regarded as emotional statement, identity construction or
College of Music of FuJian Normal University, Fuzhou 350017, China.
E-Mail: [email protected]
cultural expression, is a way for college students to adapt to the society and better fit themselves into the existence form of social regularization (Bonthuys, Khumalo, & Flusk, 2013; Richards & Lcsw, 2013).
From the perspective of social psychology, college students’ learning preference can be roughly divided into three aspects: behaviorism perspective, cognitivism perspective and social constructivism perspective (Stolte & Hodgetts, 2014). Music learning is a social expression form and is the culture value in a society, and music learning preference is the reflection of the imprints of social culture on individuals (Scheuerman, 2014). Some scholars carried out researches in music psychology, studied how the individuals’ music behaviors relate to their social and cultural background, and emphasized on that the psychological research of music behaviors should take the social factors into account (Anyanwu, Nto, Agu et al., 2016). More and more researchers have found that a person's music learning preference is related to the social psychology, and it is inseparable from the social environment. As a main research content of
JIN XUE 1133
social psychology, social cognition can explain the endogenous motivations of many music learning preferences (Ho, 2010). Based on music social psychology, this paper analyzes the influencing factors of music learning preference, and expounds the formation mechanism of endogenous preference from the perspective of social and cultural diversity.
INTERACTION BETWEEN SOCIAL
PSYCHOLOGY AND MUSIC
From a psychological perspective, music learning is an emotional response to music, a strong subjective experience, and the learner's emotional response to music is a social and cultural phenomenon (Vigliante, Marconi, Del Signore et al., 2012). Emotion is the motivation of human behaviors, and the music learning preference is derived from the emotions of the human beings. More and more studies have found that emotions will affect the cognition and behavior of human individuals. Moreover, from the perspective of social psychology, it is found
that emotions are functional, social,
developmental, and directional, and all these features reflect the interaction and adaptive relationship between the individual emotions and the social environment (Arriaga-Sanz, Riaño-Galán, Cabedo-Mas et al., 2016). There is a regular connection between the structure of music and the emotional experience of human beings, and the emotions driven by music learning are divided into external emotions and internal emotions. People's music learning is linked to a series of non-musical factors that contain emotional information (Berard, 2008).
Figure 1
.
Activities that have similar
experiences with music learning
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Play games Read books
Watch TV Chat
P
roport
ion/
%
Male Female
Music learning enables people to consciously entrust their emotions to the music through their learning activities, constructing the possibility for one to “leave” itself and give itself to a certain emotion or feeling (Curlette & Hendrick, 2015). Listening to music makes people have a sense of power, a feeling of breaking through the restrains and gaining freedom. Music learning can be performed while doing other activities, such as chatting, watching TV, reading books, or playing games. Figure 1 shows the activities that have a similar experience with music learning. Music learning can be built on other fluctuant things, such as female students prefer to allocate music learning to chatting and watching TV, while male students evenly allocate music learning to various activities. The interactions between social psychology and music include individual
physiological functions and psychological
cognitions. As for college students, music learning is also an important way to get involved in social culture.
FACTORS INFLUENCING MUSIC LEARNING PREFERENCE
The influence of personal identity on music preference
Taking college students as an example, pop music is the favorite music type of college students, and they can gain pleasure from the learning of pop music, which means that music preference and personal identity have multiple connections. The individual music learners prefer a certain music style based on their perception of self and social reality, through different music learning styles, the individual’s attitude and personality could be observed. Psychologists reveal that individuals’ regarding music preference as a manifestation of self-identity and a remark of self-identity recognition means that the preference for a particular music type is a way for the listener to perceive itself. In terms of individual identity, music learning releases the rich emotions accumulated by individuals in their lives. Individuals tend to learn a certain musical style according to their own
perceptions of themselves and their
environment, which are correlated with individual attitudes and the musical style that suits their personalities.
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY ANALYSIS ON THE FORMATION OF ENDOGENOUS MUSIC LEARNING PREFERENCE 1134
the learning environment also determines the content of music learning. Figure 2 shows college students’ favorite music learning places. Through the investigation of 320 students who are interested in music learning, it can be seen that college students are more inclined to conduct music learning in their dormitories, at home, or in concert halls. The proportions of male and female students show that, male students prefer to learn music in their dormitories, while female students prefer to learn music in concert halls.
Figure 2
.
College students' favorite music
learning places
70 80 90 100 110 120 130 Public places Concert hall Dormitory Home P ro p o rt io n /% N u mb e r o f p e o p le Male Female Listening place 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64Influence of social group on music preference
College students regard music learning as a carrier of self-interpretation and self-expression. Figure 3 shows the music types of college students’ music learning preference. Their preferred music types are pop music and light music. By analyzing the perception mode that is related to the preferred music style and attraction, we can explain the connection between college students' musical preference and their external image creation intentions. Figure 4 is a comparison of the music learning types that college students consider to be related to attraction, from the figure we can see
college students’ perception mode that is
related to music preference and the attraction, many college students may show that they prefer music styles that are related to the attractions due to their consideration of attractive factors. It can also be seen from Figure 4 that in the music preference, the gender
differences in light music and jazz music are not obvious, while for pop music, western classical music, rock music and Chinese folk music, the gender differences are quite obvious.
Figure 3
.
Music types of college
students’
music learning preference
2.94% 7.35% 10.29% 12.87% 13.6% 21.69% 31.25%
Popular song Light music Western classical music Rock and roll Chinese national music Jazz music Dance music
Figure 4
.
Comparison of music learning
types that college students consider to be
related to attraction
25 30 35 40 45 50 Dance music Jazz music Chinese national music Rock and roll Western classical music Light music Popular song Male Female P ro p o rt io n /% 50 55 60 65 70 75 P ro p o rt io n /%
Figure 5
.
College students' attitudes
towards music in public places
7.67% 28.43% 63.9% Indifferent Like Dislike
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Figure 6
.
Factors that college students think
affect music learning preference
15.86% 19.45% 23.68%
41.01%
Social background Sex
Identity Status
Without doubt, music preference of college students is influenced by the culture of different cultural groups. The main manifestation is that when their music preference is inconsistent with most people around them, they will hide their true musical preference and show a strong herd mentality, which is particularly evident in college students' preference for music learning. Most students are more likely to accept popular music. Figure 5 shows the attitude of college students towards music in public places. 63.9% of college students have an indifferent attitude towards music in public places, only 7.6% of them have a repulsive attitude towards music in public places. Figure 6 shows the factors that college students think affect the music learning preference. Social background, gender, identity and status are all endogenous factors for music learning preference.
MUSIC LEARNING PREFERENCE AND SOCIAL CULTURAL PERFORMANCE
Music learning preference and its subculture performance
Music learning is a main way for college students to spend their spare time, and the study of music is the demand for the cultural meanings contained in the music. Music culture can help people identify subculture features that are different from other groups. In the context of cultural studies, college students' music learning preference can be understood as their use and consumption of the cultural meanings contained in the music, reflecting the subculture style that they recognized. Figure 7 shows the average time for male and female college students to study music every week. It can be seen that the proportion of college students that study the music for 1h-10h every week is the largest, followed by 10h-20h, >30h, and 20h-30h, and
the proportions of male and female college students show great differences in each time sections, the number of male students that study music for 1h-10h and 10h-20h every week is more than that of female students, while for other time sections, the number of male students is less than that of female students.
Figure 7
.
The average time for male and
female college students to study music
every week
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
＞30h
20h-30h 10h-20h
1h-10h
P
ro
p
o
rt
io
n
/%
Music learning time
Male Female
Influence of social culture on the diversity of music learning
Seen from the outside, music learning preference is a manifestation of people's external lifestyles, it can be regarded as a cultural symbol influenced by the current popular culture styles, and it is related to the social and cultural background of the individual. At present, mass media are an important way of social and cultural communication, and music emphasizes more on its entertainment function. Culture has a subtle influence on the music, and can lead or manipulate the college students to develop towards the directions in accordance with public opinions and fashion. As a cultural commodity, music learning has gradually lost its true meaning, and people's music learning preference has become something controlled and produced by the media. Figure 8 is a framework for analyzing the changes in music learning preference. Through the perception of the learning environment, college students choose to participate in the music activities according to their advantages or other requirements, resulting in changes in the music learning types of college students.
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY ANALYSIS ON THE FORMATION OF ENDOGENOUS MUSIC LEARNING PREFERENCE 1136
Figure 8
.
Framework for analyzing changes in music learning preference
Music learning needs: advantage needs + other needs
Music learning needs: advantage needs + other needs
Student music activities
Student music activities
Student music learning preferences change
Student music learning preferences change Perceived learning
environment
Selective participation
Figure 9
.
Survey results of the importance of
social and cultural diversity in music
learning
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Unimportance General importance
More important Very important
P
ro
p
o
rt
io
n
/%
Male Female
Social culture has a diversified tendency, and the music learning preference is also influenced
by foreign cultures. The impact of
multiculturalism has broadened the range of music choice. Figure 9 shows the survey results of the importance of social and cultural diversity in music learning. Nearly 90% of college students think it is very important or more important, and the proportion of male students is more than that of female students.
CONCLUSION
Based on music social psychology, this paper analyzed the influencing factors of music learning preference, and expounded the formation mechanism of endogenous preference from the perspective of social and cultural diversity. The specific conclusions are as follows:
(1) The interactions between social
psychology and music include individual
physiological functions and psychological
cognitions. As for college students, music learning is also an important way to get involved in social culture.
(2) Individuals regard music preference as a manifestation of self-identity and a remark of identity recognition. In terms of individual identity, music learning releases the rich emotions accumulated by individuals in their lives. Individuals tend to learn a certain musical style according to their own perceptions of themselves and their environment, which are correlated with individual attitudes and the musical styles that suit their personalities.
(3) Social background, gender, identity and status are all endogenous factors for music learning preference, and music learning preference shows herd mentality.
(4) Social culture has a diversified tendency, and the music learning preference is also influenced by foreign cultures. The impact of multiculturalism has broadened the range of music choice. Nearly 90% of college students think it is very important or more important, and the proportion of male students is more than that of female students.
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