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Revista Argentina de Clínica Psicológica 2020, Vol. XXIX, N°2, 635-641

DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.289 635

P

SYCHOLOGY OF

A

DOLESCENTS

'

P

REFERENCE FOR

E&A

VOCAL MUSIC

AND

I

TS

I

NFLUENCING

F

ACTORS

Hongjuan Sun

Abstract

Many Chinese adolescents are very interested in European and American (E&A) vocal music. In this paper, the adolescents’ cognition of vocal music and E&A vocal music is investigated through a questionnaire survey on non-music major students from a college in Guangdong Province, China, using stratified sampling. Based on the survey data, the reasons for adolescents’ preference of E&A vocal music were analyzed, as well as the positive and negative effects of E&A vocal music on the adolescents. The results show that adolescents’ preference for E&A vocal music mainly arises from four factors, namely, compliance psychology, perceptual set, transfer of affection, and substituted satisfaction; E&A vocal music enriches the music perception experience of the adolescents, provides emotional experience for their imaginal thinking, and enhances their music memory and emotional regulation ability; E&A vocal music also has negative influence on the mental health of the adolescents, such as inducing puppy love and aggravating emotional instability and extremity. This research successfully applies psychological knowledge to the study of adolescent music education, and provides a new research direction for music education.

Key words: Adolescents, European and American (E&A) Vocal Music, Cognition, Psychological Characteristics, Influencing Factors.

Received: 29-01-19 | Accepted: 14-07-19

INTRODUCTION

Vocal music is one of the oldest art forms in human history, and it is a general term for a large category of music performance forms. Different scholars give different definitions of vocal music. Mr. Shi Huaizheng believes that vocal music is an art form through which a singing subject explains and expresses his/her inner feelings (Bryant, 2008). "The music with language sung by life is called the vocal music" is the definition of vocal music given by Mr. Yu Dugang (Packer & Ballantyne, 2010). In conclusion, vocal music can be regarded as an artistic form that expresses human thoughts and feelings with sound as the main content (Kartomi, 2008). In China and

Director of Department of National Vocal Music Education, School of Music Education, Shenyang Conservatory of Music, Shenyang 110818, China.

E-Mail: 15942332655@163.com

Western countries, vocal music has a glorious and long history. The ocean of music is so vast and wide, why more and more young people show a special preference for the European and American (E&A) vocal music?

With the pace of reform and opening up in China and the rapid development of the Internet, E&A vocal music has become popular in China due to its wide range of topics, close to life, concise format, in-style, beautiful rhythms, rich emotions, and other characteristics (Alley & Greene, 2008). Adolescents are at a critical stage of life, and their psychological development is in a transitional stage, so their cognition of things is in a transitional period both in content and form (Gaunt, 2007), their emotions become richer and polarized severely, their self-consciousness is enhancing, and their world view is forming gradually (Bhatara, Laukka, & Levitin, 2014). The specific psychological characteristics of adolescents are significantly related to their

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HONGJUAN SUN

636

preference for E&A vocal music.

Based on the above analysis, from the perspective of psychology, this paper adopts the questionnaire survey method to investigate the adolescents' cognition of vocal music and E&A vocal music, and applies psychology knowledge to analyze the psychological factors of adolescents' preference for E&A vocal music from four aspects, then it also discusses the positive and negative effects of E&A vocal music on the adolescents.

ADOLESCENTS' COGNITION OF VOCAL MUSIC AND E&A VOCAL MUSIC

This study selected non-music major students from a college in Guangdong Province as the samples and adopted the stratified sampling method to survey their cognition of vocal music and E&A vocal music. A total of 800 questionnaires were distributed and 776 valid questionnaires were returned, the effective rate was 97%.

Adolescents' cognition of vocal music

Ever learned vocal knowledge before or not

Figure 1 shows the survey results of whether the respondents have learned vocal knowledge. It can be seen from the figure that up to 68% of the respondents have never received any vocal music knowledge training, 19% of them have some understanding of the vocal music knowledge, and only 13% of the respondents have learned vocal music knowledge.

Figure 1

.

Have you ever learned vocal

knowledge before?

68%

19% 13%

Have learned

Have some understanding Have never learned

Cognition of different vocal music types

Figure 2 shows the survey results of which kind of vocal music art is preferred by the adolescents; it can be seen from the figure that more than 80% of the respondents favor pop music, more than 90% of them like E&A vocal music, only 30% of the respondents like classical music, and 34% of them express fondness for national vocal music.

Figure

2

.

Adolescents’

vocal

music

preferences

20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

European and American vocal Pop music

Classical music National

vocal music %

Figure 3 shows the adolescents’ cognition of

different vocal music types, it can be seen from the figure that most of them think that the national vocal music is old-fashioned and unpleasant; the classical music is hard to understand and too esoteric; the pop music is fair-sounding, popular and easy to understand, but too many people can sing it; while the E&A vocal music is euphonious, classy, and different.

Figure 3

.

Adolescents' cognition of different

vocal music types

0 20 40 60 80 100

European and American vocal Pop music

Classical music National

vocal music

Too old, not good Too deep, can't understand Nice, but too many people That is nice and looks good %

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PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENTS' PREFERENCE FOR E&A VOCAL MUSIC AND ITS INFLUENCING FACTORS 637

Adolescents' cognition of E&A vocal music

Channels to learn about E&A vocal music

Figure 4 shows the channels for adolescents to learn about E&A vocal music, it can be seen from the figure that 89% of the respondent chose their classmates, indicating that the surrounding classmates are their main channel to learn about E&A vocal music, followed by 42% of them learn about E&A vocal music through internet, which is closely related to the application and popularization of the internet among young people. In addition, in recent years, European and American film and television works are very popular among young people, therefore, 35% of the respondents learn about E&A vocal music via watching films and television works.

Figure 4

.

Channels to learn about E&A vocal

music

0 20 40 60 80 100

Film and television works Teacher

recommendation Classmate

The internet %

Reasons of adolescents’ preference for E&A vocal music

Figure 5

. Reasons of adolescents’ preference

for E&A vocal music

0 20 40 60 80

Others Classmates like it Have a common topic with classmates Relieve

emotions Express inner feelings %

Figure 5 shows the survey results of the

reasons of adolescents’ preference for E&A vocal music, it can be seen from the figure that the rank of the reasons is: express inner feelings, other classmates like it too, have common topics with other classmates, relieve emotions, and others, the proportions of these reasons are 73%, 70%, 64%, 55%, and 24%, respectively.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS OF ADOLESCENTS’

PREFERENCE FOR E&A VOCAL MUSIC AND THE INFLUENCING FACTORS

Psychological factors of adolescents’

preference for E&A vocal music

Although the adolescents’ preference for

E&A vocal music is related to the features of the E&A vocal music itself and the social environmental factors, these are just the

external cause of the adolescents’ preference for

E&A vocal music, and the internal cause is the fundamental reason of the development of things (Mcferran, Garrido, O’Grady et al., 2015). For the adolescents, their psychological characteristics within a particular period is the internal cause of their preference for E&A vocal music. Therefore, based on the above findings and from the perspective of psychology, this paper analyzes the psychological factors of

adolescents’ preference for E&A vocal music. Figure 6 shows the main psychological factors of

adolescents’ preference for E&A vocal music.

Figure

6

.

Psychological

factors

of

adolescents’ preference for

E&A vocal music

Psychological factors of adolescents’ preference for European and

American vocal music

Compliance psychology

Perceptual set

Transfer of affections

Substituted satisfaction

Compliance psychology

Compliance psychology is also called the herd mentality, that is, individuals could be influenced by the group and exhibit the behavior of blindly following others under the condition when they lack of the cognition and experience of the necessity of certain things (Schafer & Sedlmeier, 2009). This phenomenon is quite

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638

common among young people. For example, when some students try a new game, soon others would start to play it as well. The reason for this phenomenon can be attributed to the individual's reluctance to feel the pressure of being different, they want to gain the favor of others so as to maintain a good interpersonal relationship. Adolescents are in a psychological stage in which their sense of friendship and collectivity is enhancing gradually, therefore, when the E&A vocal music is popular in the mass

media, adolescents will get into the

psychological state of herd mentality that it must be good since everyone are listening to it.

Perceptual set

Perceptual set is a concept in psychology, it roughly means that a prepared psychological state can affect the pattern, degree and trend of subsequent activities (Cotter & Spradlin, 1971). Perceptual set has both positive and negative effects on people. Through the investigation of

this paper we found that the adolescents’

cognition of various music comes from their limited music appreciation experience, and these few experiences make them generate a mindset that the national vocal music is old-fashioned, the classical music is too esoteric, and the E&A vocal music is fair-sounding, classy, and different; in addition, in recent years, the European and American tv series and music are quite popular in the mass media in China, therefore, under this kind of mindset, many adolescents start to blindly pursue and appreciate E&A vocal music.

Transfer of affections

The effect of affection transfer refers to the emotional response that occurs when an individual is experiencing an emotion (Pettijohn, Williams, & Carter, 2010). Adolescents are in a critical period of psychological and physiological maturity, they begin to have a good impression on the opposite sex, and their affection begins to sprout. Most of the lyrics of E&A vocal music are bold and straightforward, they generally express their pursuit of love and their affection for their loved ones directly. After hearing the music, adolescents think that the content described in the lyrics can express their feelings and resonate with their emotions, and they can release their emotions through the E&A vocal music, therefore, it has an effect of affection transfer on the adolescents.

Substituted satisfaction

Adolescents are in a transitional and crucial period of self-development, and they wish their behaviors and ideas can be respected and affirmed by others. However, not all adolescents

can become the “role models” in the eyes of

teachers and parents, and their performance in learning and other aspects cannot gain affirmation from others. The psychology of substituted satisfaction is a psychological phenomenon that one will seek to satisfy the psychological needs by finding other ways or means when the individual fails to realize his/her wishes in one way (Emery, Hargreaves, & North, 2014). E&A vocal music is sung in foreign languages, it gives people a feeling of being different, classy and high-end, besides, the European and American culture is quite popular among students and in the society, so the E&A vocal music has become an important way for adolescents to gain self-esteem and sense of accomplishment.

Effects of adolescents' preference for E&A vocal music on their psychology

E&A vocal music is closely related to the psychological development of young people. On the one hand, E&A vocal music is part of the spiritual nutrition for adolescents, and the psychological development of adolescents will be affected by the E&A vocal music and its cultural extension; On the other hand, adolescents are the main consumer groups of E&A vocal music culture, and they have a close relation with the development of E&A vocal music in China. Therefore, E&A vocal music is a double-edged sword. It has both positive and negative effects on the psychological health of adolescents. Figure 7 shows the effects of E&A

vocal music on the adolescents’ psychology.

Positive effects

(1) It enriches the music perception experience of adolescents

Music perception and music sensation together constitute the individual's cognition of music (Pilgrim, Norris, & Hackathorn, 2017).

After various musical information stimuli have acted on the individual's sensory organs, the overall reflection in the human brain is called the music perception; and the individual attribute reflections to the music and related matters generated in the brain are called the

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PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENTS' PREFERENCE FOR E&A VOCAL MUSIC AND ITS INFLUENCING FACTORS 639

Figure 7

.

Effects of E&A vocal music on adolescents' psychology

Effects of European and American vocal music on adolescents’ psychology

Positive effects

Negative effects

It enriches the music perception experience of adolescents

It provides emotional experience for imaginal thinking

It contributes to the improvement of music memory

It is conductive to the regulation of moods and emotions

It induces puppy love in adolescents easily

It exacerbates the instability and extremity of adolescents' emotions

It is not conducive to the healthy development of adolescents'

psychology

music sensations. Music sensations are the basis and an integral part of music perception, and the experience and appreciation of musical works is a prerequisite for music perception. Although most adolescents have no vocal music knowledge and they don’t know about the beats

or music reading, however, during the frequent expose to the E&A vocal music, they have recognized the basic attributes of music. Although some E&A vocal music is quite difficult, students can still have the overall feeling of E&A vocal music through repeated exercise and imitation. Therefore, it can be said that the E&A vocal music has increased the chances of adolescents to come into contact with vocal music.

(2) It provides emotional experience for imaginal thinking

As far as music is concerned, imaginal thinking is needed in the process of music creation, appreciation and performance. When adolescents are appreciating or performing E&A vocal music, they need to use imaginal thinking to creatively display vocal music works according to their own experience. This process consists of two parts: the perception of moods and emotions, and the perception of the meaning of the music work. The E&A vocal music is

fair-sounding and classy, it’s easy to understand and

close to the daily life of young people, so it is easier to mobilize their imaginal thinking.

(3) It contributes to the improvement of

music memory

Music memory is a reflection of the human brain's past musical experience, including four

stages of memorization, preservation,

recognition and reproduction, specifically, it can be divided into two forms: conscious memory

and unconscious memory. The adolescents’

purposeful repeated imitation and learning of the E&A vocal music that they like or sung by other classmates is a conscious memorization process; while for the music played in streets and shopping malls, they can memorize some unconsciously and sing a few lyrics. During this process, the adolescents also have a certain degree of confidence in the music singing skills, rhythms and the overall music styles, when hearing similar rhythms again, they can recall their past experience and emotions.

(4) It’s conductive to the regulation of moods

and emotions

Moods and emotions are common

psychological components of people. Young people are increasingly emotional, but since they are not yet mature, they have certain difficulties in controlling moods and emotions, and they would often exhibit angry or annoyed status, and these moods and emotions need to be not only controlled, but also released. Nowadays, many young people alleviate their emotions through music, and they think that music can express their own feelings. In addition, E&A vocal music are diverse and catchy, its contents are close to

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HONGJUAN SUN

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real life, moreover, music itself is emotional and lyric, so the E&A vocal music can play a role in

regulating adolescents’ moods and emotions.

Negative effects

(1) Some works have the tendency to induce puppy love in adolescents

During the appreciation of E&A vocal music, adolescents would have emotional experiences that are also accompanied by other effects. For example, when enjoying homesick-themed music, the missing of hometown and parents will be induced; when enjoying patriotic-themed music, patriotism will be triggered and the spirit will be invigorated; when hearing love-themed music, the expectation and yearning for love will be aroused; in particular, adolescents are in their puberty, they are eager to know about the essence of love. However, in E&A vocal music, the expressions of love are mostly possession, happiness and affection, which are mainly based

on adults’ view of love, and not suitable for

young people. Therefore, teenagers are easily attracted by this kind of love that emphasizes personal feelings, causing distortion in their concept of love, and it buries the seed of puppy love.

(2) Some works tend to exacerbate the instability and extremity of adolescents' emotions

Good music can purify the soul and inspire the spirit, however, there are also negative and depressed music in the society, and this is also true for E&A vocal music which has some rebellious and dissatisfied feelings towards the society. The adolescents are in a special growth stage, their ability to appreciate and discern music is not so good and their moods are unstable and tend to go extremes easily; moreover, they are troubled by learning, emotions and other factors, so they are

vulnerable to the influence of the “fake, evilness

and ugliness” expressed in E&A vocal music, which has become a catalyst for the emotional extremity of adolescents.

(3) The "cultural effect" of E&A vocal music is not conducive to the healthy development of adolescents' psychology

E&A vocal music is not just a music type, it is also a kind of culture. It can convey and influence adolescents' life outlook, values and world view, and change their living attitudes and moods. In order to maximize the benefits, entertainment companies and musicians would blindly cater to

the mindset of the audience regardless of the quality of the works, resulting in both good and bad music works. Some musicians are public figures, their unscrupulous words and deeds would have a bad impact on the adolescents. The

survey results of adolescents’ preference of E&A vocal music show that most respondents chose the reason that others are listening to it too,

which has reflected students’ psychology of

following the crowd blindly, and it will have an impact on their independent thinking and aesthetic values.

CONCLUSIONS

Music is the expression of moods and emotions of humankind, meanwhile it can also affect people's moods and emotions. Aiming at the practical problem of current adolescents' preference for E&A vocal music, this paper analyzed the causes of this phenomenon and its impact on adolescents from the perspective of psychology, the specific conclusions are as follows:

(1) This study selected non-music major students from a college in Guangdong Province as the samples to survey their cognition of vocal music and E&A vocal music. The survey results provided a reference for the psychology analysis

of adolescents’ preference for E&A vocal music and its influencing factors.

(2) Based on the survey results, this paper

analyzes the psychological factors of

adolescents' preference for E&A vocal music from the four aspects of compliance psychology, perceptual set, transfer of affections, and substituted satisfaction.

(3) E&A vocal music has both positive and negative effects on adolescents. Its positive effects are: it enriches the music perception experience of adolescents, provides emotional experience for imaginal thinking, it contributes to the improvement of music memory, and it is conductive to the regulation of moods and emotions. Its negative effects are: it can induce puppy love in adolescents, exacerbate the instability and extremity of adolescents' emotions, and it is not conducive to the healthy development of adolescents' psychology.

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PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENTS' PREFERENCE FOR E&A VOCAL MUSIC AND ITS INFLUENCING FACTORS 641

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Current Psychology, 27(4), 277-289.

Bhatara, A., Laukka, P., & Levitin, D. J. (2014). Expression of emotion in music and vocal communication: introduction to the research topic. Frontiers in Psychology, 5.

Bryant, Y. (2008). Relationships between exposure to rap music videos and attitudes toward relationships among African American youth.

Journal of Black Psychology, 34(3), 356-380. Cotter, V. W., & Spradlin, J. E. (1971). A nonverbal

technique for studying music preference. Journal

of Experimental Child Psychology, 11(3), 0-365. Emery, S., Hargreaves, D. J., & North, A. C. (2014). A

dynamically minimalist cognitive explanation of musical preference: is familiarity everything?

Frontiers in Psychology, 5.

Gaunt, H. (2007). One-to-one tuition in a conservatoire: the perceptions of instrumental

and vocal teachers. Psychology of Music, 36(2),

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Kartomi, M. (2008). A response to two problems in music education: the Young Australian Concert

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Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 24(3), 187-203. Packer, J., & Ballantyne, J. (2010). The impact of music festival attendance on young people's psychological and social well-being. Psychology of Music, 39(2), 164-181.

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