Revista Argentina de Clínica Psicológica

2020, Vol. XXIX, N°1, 880-886 880

DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.120

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSIC PREFERENCE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL

STATE OF COLLEGE STUDENTS
Yichen Huang1, Jinhong Huang2, Yanhong Huang3*

Abstract
Music has been widely used to regulate emotion and mood. This paper aims to disclose the intrinsic
relationship between music preference and psychological state of college students. First, the concept of music
preference was introduced based on the theories on preference behaviours. Next, an anonymous
questionnaire survey was conducted among the students of a college in Wuhan, China. The survey data were
analysed in details to determine the influencing factors of music preference, and the correlations between
music preference and psychological state of college students. The results show that the music preference of
college students is affected in different degrees by living environment, personality, life experience and
educational environment; most college students prefer Chinese pop music due to their cultural background;
41.5% of the respondents prefer practical teaching methods, while the exploratory teaching method is more
suitable for music majors; the music preference of college students varies with emotional instability, complexity
of psychological features and genders. The research findings lay a theoretical basis for regulating the
psychological state of college students through music education.
Key words: Preference Behaviour, Music Preference, Teaching Mode, Psychological State.
Received: 06-03-19 | Accepted: 15-10-19

INTRODUCTION Therefore, college students need to take

appropriate measures to reduce stress and
During the learning and living in the colleges
alleviate different negative emotions such as
and university, the students have to face various
pressures, including academic pressure, tensions or anxiety (Repetti, Dalbor, Singh et al.,
employment pressure, life stress and 2015; Ding, Wang, Xu et al., 2004; Gabbard, Dean,
& Haensly, 1991). As one of the ways to alleviate
interpersonal stress (Caldwell & Hibbert, 2010;
the psychological stress of the individual, music
Bogt, Mulder, Raaijmakers et al., 2011; Miller,
Kelley, Midgett et al., 2016). As an inevitable part helps to adjust the mood and relieve the mental
state of tension to a certain extent so that the
of individual growth, appropriate psychological
individuals can be detached from stress, bad
stress contributes to the growth and
mood or pain.
development of individuals, but excessive stress
can lead to psychological and physical damage The research results at home and abroad show
that music preferences and music types have
(Ehardt, 2010; Zhou, Britigan, Rajaram et al.,
different degrees of influence on relieving stress and
2017). Stress usually manifests the psychological
tension, anxiety, and large mood swings. regulating mental state; listening to appropriate
music can relax the body and purify the mood (Nisan,
2005; Janata, Tomic, & Haberman, 2012). When the
1 College of Music, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350117,
China. 2 Party School of Minqing County Committee of C.P.C,
people listen to the music that they like, it’ll help
Fuzhou 350800, China. 3College of Music, Fujian Normal them to improve their mental state or maintain a
University, Fuzhou 350117, China. happy mood; when they listen to the that they don't
E-Mail: huangyanhong@fjnu.edu.cn
like, it can lead to a sad or depressed mood
(Hargreaves & North, 1999; Rentfrow, 2012;

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881 YICHEN HUANG, JINHONG HUANG, YANHONG HUANG
Siedenburg, Fujinaga, & Mcadams, 2016). At present,
the research on music and psychology is still not
mature enough to define the intrinsic link between
individual musical preference behaviour,
psychological adjustment, and mental state (Bader,
2014; Christopher, 2017). In order to adjust people’s
bad moods and cultivate their positive attitudes
towards life, it is of great theoretical and social value
to explore the relationship between music
preferences and psychological activities.
In view of this above, the paper attempts to
analyse the influencing factors of music preference
and individual psychological state, and
systematically study the intrinsic link between music
preference and psychological regulatory role based
on the related theories of preference behaviours
and psychology. For this, college students were
selected as the research objects, and questionnaires
and statistical analysis methods were adopted. This
study provides a theoretical basis for the selection of
music for psychological and emotional adjustment,
and also for the in-depth development of the
relationship between music and psychology.
MUSIC PREFERENCE BEHAVIOURS
Concept of preference behaviours
Individual behaviour refers to a kind of
purposeful activity expressed by emotions,
cognition, consciousness, etc. under the influence of
external factors. Preference behaviours generally
refers to the activity or process of an individual's
subjective choice of certain things. It’s also
described as the individual’s tendency or preference
to select another thing from a subjective perspective
between multiple things or two similar things. Some
study shows that preference behaviours is a
potential tendency or emotion in the individual's
inner heart, which not only reflects the difference
between individuals, but also exhibits the universal
characteristics of the group nature. In addition,
certain scholars believe that preference behaviour is
more susceptible to individual perceptual factors.
Influenced by different external factors and the
individual factors such as the psychology, physiology,
attitude and concept etc., the preference behaviours
of different individuals vary greatly, showing
different tendencies of attitudes and behaviours
Scholars in the field of psychology generally believe
that individual behaviour is generally stimulated and
promoted by behavioural motivation, external
stimuli, and individual needs to meet their own
subjective needs and tendencies.
2020, Vol. XXIX, N°1, 880-886
Music preference behaviour
Based on the above theoretical analysis, music
preference is an activity that is influenced by various
factors such as individual interest, environmental
influence, and psychological state. Scholars from
various countries have carried out a series of
researches on the relationships between music
preferences and individual psychology and
behaviour. Music preference can be considered as
the preference choice of the individual for music in
some cases, or as the choice of the individual under
the coupling effect of various factors such as related
information and individual psychological
characteristics.
From a psychological point of view, different
musical preference behaviours of the individuals can
help to adjust their psychological state to a certain
extent, and reduce the psychological stress, but
having different de-stress effect on the individuals.
For contemporary college students, the emotions of
this group are more sensitive and fluctuating, their
psychology and behaviour are expected by the
society, and their spirit is also plagued and affected
by many problems. As a reasonable way of
psychological adjustment and pressure relief,
listening to music is conducive to develop a positive
attitude for the students. The rhythm and melody of
music can release the pressure, pain or joy in their
hearts, and express emotions; they can better
express emotions, adapt to the environment and
society through listening to music. In addition, due
to the external environment and subjective factors,
the music preference behaviour of different
individuals also causes college students' preference
for different music types, songs, singers and musical
instruments etc.
COLLEGE STUDENTS' MUSIC PREFERENCE
BEHAVIOUR AND INFLUENCING FACTORS
Research objects and experimental methods
Taking different music teaching modes as
examples, this paper performs the psychological
analysis for students' preference behaviour. One
college in Wuhan which was selected for the survey.
It was founded in 1995 with a total construction area
of 230,000 square meters, 2,870 students and 598
teachers. This college has complete facilities,
including the laboratories, stadiums, student
apartments, student restaurants, etc. Both the
interview method and the questionnaire survey
method were adopted. The questionnaire was
designed in fully consideration of the psychological
and physiological conditions of the students.
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The questionnaire was anonymous. Its main Figure 2. Personnel characteristic chart of
questions were multiple-choice questions, including: effective questionnaire
hobbies on music, preferred types of music,
attitudes to music courses, understanding of music
content, understanding of music works, and the 140
relationship between different styles of music and 120 male
personality. In order to ensure the objective female
authenticity and accuracy of the data, some groups 100

were tested and interviewed. Figure 1 shows the 80

Number
main process of the survey.
60
A total of 560 questionnaires were distributed in
this survey, and 523 were returned, with the 40
recovery rate of 93.4%, of which 503 were valid 20
questionnaires, and the recovery rate was 89.8%.
0
The respondents’ characteristics of the valid Freshman Sophomore Junior
questionnaires are shown in Table 1 and Figure 2.

Table 1 shows that male students accounted for

Figure 1. Questionnaire survey process
Est ablishing investigat ion objectives
and formulating research plans
58.3%, and female students accounted for 41.7%,
indicating that there are more male students in this
college, and its majors are dominated by science and
engineering. Figure 2 shows that number of the
respondents were basically the same in Grade 1, 2,
and 3, involving the students of all grades, and the
overall number of males was higher than males.

Influencing factors and psychological analysis of

Questionnaire design music preferences
Students' preference for music was surveyed
from five dimensions: “dislike very much, dislike,
general, like, and like very much”. The survey results
are shown in Table 2. The overall analysis is shown in
Figure 3. It can be seen from the figure that nearly
Interviews and questionnaires 93.9% of the students maintain a positive attitude
towards music; under different life and facility
background of college students, there are certain
differences in their psychology and personality.
Therefore, the degree of preference for music also
Receiving questionnaires and varies. On the whole, most students like music very
much, accounting for 53.4%, and those who don't
analyzing data
like music account for 6.1%, indicating that most
people like listening to music.

Table 1. Personnel characteristic table of effective questionnaire

Grade Gender Number Number of grades/Total Boys/Total Girls/Total

Male 92
Freshman 33.20%
Female 75
Male 103
Sophomore 31.61% 58.3% 41.7%
Female 56
Male 98
Junior 35.19%
Female 79

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Table 2. Survey results of College Students' in Figure 6, indicating that the practical teaching
musical preferences method is the favourite one for students, accounting
for 41.5%, because it is mainly to guide students to
Degree of preference Proportion participate in music practice activities, improve
Partiality 53.4% music skills, and enhance the level of music
Like 34.2% appreciation; the exploratory teaching is more
Commonly 6.3%
Unlike 3.2% suitable for students in music majors, and most
Very disliked 2.9% students listen to music for relaxing rather than
creating music.
Figure 3. Personnel characteristic chart of
effective questionnaire Table 3. Survey of music preferences of college
students in different regions
34.2%
Region Proportion
Chinese Mainland 73.1%
Partiality
Hong Kong and Taiwan 12.3%
3.2% Like
Europe and America 10.1%
Unlike
Japan and Korea 2.8%
Commonly
6.3% Network 1.7%
Very disliked
2.9%
53.4% Figure 4. The degree of music preference of
college students in different regions
Table 3 lists the survey results of college
students' preference for music in different regions.
Figure 3 shows the pie chart for analysis, in which 12.3%
the number of students who liked Chinese mainland 2.8%
Chinese
Hong Kong and Taiwan
music accounted for up to 73.1%, followed by Hong
Japan and Korea
Kong, Taiwan and Europe, which accounted for 12.3% Europe and America
and 10.1% respectively; the number of students who 10.1% Network
73.1%
liked online music was the least, only 1.7%. It can be 1.7%
seen that Chinese pop music is most popular among
students, because of the same cultural genes and
environment so that they are more likely to release Table 4. Survey results of factors affecting
their emotions in Chinese pop music. Meanwhile, students' music preferences
with the development of information technology,
students are exposed to a wider range of music, and
Type Proportion
can listen to music from different regions to adjust Musical content and melody 67.5%
their emotions and pressures. Performers' appearance and sound 16.9%
The survey data of factors affecting students' style of music 15.6%
preference for music are summarized in Table 4,
Figure 5. It can be seen from Figure 5 that 67.5% of Figure 5. Factors affecting students' music
students who like music are interested in the preferences
content and melody of music, 15.6% like music style,
and 16.9% students like music just because of the
singer’s appearance and sound, indicating the 16.9%
celebrity worship is also one factor affecting the
music preference of the students, but most students
like music because of the content and melody of Musical content and melody
music, or the lyrics. Performers'appearance and sound
Students' music preference is affected under 15.6% Style of music
different music teaching modes such as experiential 67.5%
teaching method, practical teaching method,
language teaching method and exploratory teaching
method. The results of the questionnaire survey are
shown in Table 5, and the related histogram is shown

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 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSIC PREFERENCE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL STATE OF COLLEGE STUDENTS 884

Table 5. Effects of different music teaching emotions of students, e.g., the students who like to
modes on students' preferences listen to the hit music are under high psychological
pressure, which can be released through such music;
Music teaching model Proportion some like soft music, because they are more inclined
Experiential teaching method 23.4% to express their own emotions.
Practical teaching method 41.5%
Linguistic teaching method 27.3% Figure 8. Students' attitudes towards music
Inquiry teaching method 7.8%
courses
Figure 6. The influence of different music
teaching modes on students' preferences 27.3%

41.5% Very satisfied

27.3% Satisfied
Dissatisfied
41.5% Experiential Teaching Method Indifferent
7.8%
Practical Teaching Method
Linguistic Teaching Method
Inquiry Teaching Method 23.4%
7.8%

The survey results of students' attitudes towards

23.4%
music courses are shown in Table 7, Figure 8. They
were surveyed from four dimensions. Among them,
Figure 7. Student's preferences for music 49.2% are dissatisfied with the music class, and 34.2%
types are satisfied and more satisfied with the music
course, indicating that students are not satisfied
with the teaching of music courses on the whole,
27.3% and have high expectations for music courses; for
them, the purpose of music courses is to relax them,
41.5% Active type
ease the pressure of learning other courses, make
Gentle type
Explosive Type
students happy, and then improve students'
Types of melancholy satisfaction about the music course; another 16.6%
7.8% of students have an indifferent attitude towards the
music lesson, indicating that some students do not
23.4% pay enough attention to the music course.

Table 6. Results of students' preferences on Table 7. Survey of students' attitudes towards

music types music courses

Attitude Proportion
Music types Proportion
Very satisfied 15.2%
Active type 28.9%
Satisfied 19.0%
Gentle type 41.5%
Dissatisfied 49.2%
Explosive type 23.2%
Indifferent 16.6%
Types of melancholy 21.4%

Students' preference for music was analysed
from four music types: lively type, soft type, hit type
and melancholy type. The results are shown in Table
6 and Figure 7. It can be seen that students prefer a
wider and more balanced type of music, and all
types have their own listeners, with the highest
proportion up to 28.9% and the lowest of 21.4%,
indicating that students do not over-praise certain
type of music, because all types of music can meet
their comprehensive needs, and satisfy the different
Through this survey, it’s found that college
students’ psychology of music preference has three
characteristics: trend-pursuing, depth and diversity:
first, under different life background, learning
pressure, and family environment etc., students
more tend to pursue the trend of things, which can
meet the needs of both emotional needs and their
individuality; second, students are more willing to
appreciate music, explore the emotions and words
in music, and understand music with rational

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thinking and sensible emotion; third, college
students' emotional instability, psychological
complexity and gender differences make them have
demand for music types and music content at
different levels.
CONCLUSIONS
Taking different music teaching modes of college
students as examples, this paper attempts to analyse
the subjective and objective factors affecting college
students' music preference behaviour and
psychology, and studies the intrinsic relationship
between music preference and psychology. The
main conclusions are as follows:
(1) Different living environments, personalities,
life experiences and educational environments have
different degrees of influence on college students'
music preferences; under the influence of cultural
background, college students prefer Chinese pop
music;
(2) The practical teaching method is guiding
students to participate in music practice activities,
which is the favourite method of students, and 45%
students prefer this method; the exploratory
teaching method is favoured by music majors;
(3) College students are more willing to
appreciate music, explore emotions and words in
music, rationally think and perceptually understand
music; due to their emotional instability,
psychological complexity and gender differences,
they have varying degrees of demand for the type
and content of music.
Acknowledgement
This study was supported by National Social
Science Fund: Research on the assessment-
accountability linkage mechanism of local
government ecological civilization performance
under the background of environmental inspecting
of general project (No. 18BGL207); Hainan Provincial
Philosophy and Social Science Planning Project:
Research on the Reform of Ecological Supervision
System in Hainan Province (No. HNSK(YB)18-07);
Special Project of Hainan University learning and
implementation the party's 19th National Spiritual:
Study on the spirit of the 19th National Congress and
the reform of Hainan's ecological environment
supervision system (No. 19DZX1804).
2020, Vol. XXIX, N°1, 880-886
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