Journal Summaries
Abstract
This paper analyzes three journal articles: Ezequeil, G. and Decety, J. (2013). Empathy in clinical practice: how gender, experience and individual dispositions moderate empathic concern burnout and emotional stress in physicians. Journal Pone; Rentfrow, P., and Gosling, S. (2003). The Do Re Mi’s of Everyday Life: The structure and personality correlates of music preferences. The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(6) and McCarty, C. (2005). Structure in Personal Networks. Journal of Social Structure, 3, 1-10.
This paper is a summary of 3 different journals relating to Allport’s (personal dispositions, study of the individual, structure of personality). A trait is defined as any readily-identifiable, stable quality characterizing an individual from others. Traits serve 3 main functions: to predict, summarize and explain the conduct of an individual. Traits also present particular ideas about the disposition of a person (the way an individual is likely to behave in different situations over a certain duration). According to Allport, personality traits and human behavior are placed on a continuum or organized into hierarchy. These three journals are Clinical Empathy Journal, Social network Journal and the Journal of Personality Processes and Individual Differences.
Ezequeil, G. and Decety, J. (2013). Empathy in clinical practice: how individual dispositions, gender, and experience moderate empathic concern burnout and emotional distress in physicians. Journal Pone.
Article summary
Ezekiel & Decety (2013) in this article sought a better understanding of clinical empathy and the factors that influence not just its experience but the outcomes of institutions dealing with care giving. The article made the discovery healthcare professionals who have a hard time regulating their negative arousal and identifying as well as describing emotions are likely to experience emotional exhaustion.
Clinical Empathy is major detector for quality care in enhancing better services to the satisfaction of patients and advanced treatments offered by physicians (Ezekiel & DEcety, 2013). The fact that is most challenging in empathy is medicine for the physicians exposed to emotional torture as they are often surrounded by disease and suffering of all kinds and eventuality of death. These horrific situations have severe effect on an individual’s empathic this making them extremely nervous to seek medical assistance leading to emotional exhaustion. As such, the majority look at empathy as physician-patient relationship and healthcare and it is ideal to note it has different meanings. However, in medicine, empathy is process of identifying an individual’s problem, sharing and understanding it then offering the required assistance like is the case of a doctor and patient (Ezekiel & Decety, 2013).
The Ethics Committee at the Institute of Cognitive Neurology (INECO) approved the technique applied to examine negative and positive effects of clinical empathy among physicians who are practicing. In this technique, the potential participants were certified by board accessed with intramed (www.intramed.net). As part of the procedure, there was provision of demographic and professional data like gender, age, current work status and field of practice among others as well as several questionnaires conducted. The results from the procedure resulted to the following results; make participants were 53.3 percent in their forties and they possessed more than 20 nationalities, they practiced medicine in varying fields and also had medical experience that amounted to more than seventeen years (Ezequeil & Decety, 2013). The majority also had spent most of their working years by the period they were being recruited and only a few were unemployed.
Therefore, empathy is of great importance especially to the art of healing and relationship noted between patients and physicians. Medical practitioners also need to be well armed with effective education in order to improve empathy.
McCarty, C. (2005). Structure in Personal Networks. Journal of Social Structure, 3, 1-10.
Article Summary
McCarty (2005) in this article seeks to use socioecentric networks in order to study egocentric networks. The author as well provides data that illuminates how individual norms and matrix are related.
An egocentric or personal network mostly covers study of social relations among people (McCarty, 2005). In order to identify social network acquaintances, family members and friends are chosen from respondents who do not relate with each other. The data is afterward examined and categorized in accordance to traits of every correspondent according to traits of each respondent and their correlating traits of respondents. The data gathered in then used in different studies such as HIV transmission, influence of work on gun-carrying behavior as well as traits of social networks among others (McCarty, 2005).
The kind of data accumulated in personal network studies get examined by McCarthy and Campbell et al. (1997) and Lee (1991). These measures then are combined from data to the contributions of members and compared to equal contributions of the respondents. In majority of cases, age, sex and race (social demographic variables) are used as network members and then converted into averages or percentages.
Data used are obtained from perceived study subgroups and applied in the research of personal networks. Researchers also come up with decisions then conduct a questionnaire and respondents give the best network member for example, a family member or a co-worker. The aim of the research is to examine ties between members and fair free lists of correspondent network members as well as key objective being provision of clusters that are grounded on perceived interactions and network members.
The study carried out in egocentric network is important in examining structures of personal network. The study also contributes to practical clusters of application, examination of client’s support team, relational data and MDS plots. Also, the study determines how calculations of personal network are conducted from several respondents resulting to personal network traits.
Rentfrow, P., and Gosling, S. (2003). The Do Re Mi’s of Everyday Life: The structure and personality correlates of music preferences. The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(6).
Article summary
Rentfrow & Gosling (2003) in this article evaluate individual differences in the preferences of music (beliefs about music and relationship between music and preferences). The study concluded that personal dimensions influence music preferences.
In individual differences and personality processes, the researcher exploits difference between music and individual preference (Rentfrow & Gosling, 2003). 6 different studies were conducted and the data resulting from it indicated majority of the individuals are involved in music activities and music is an important part of daily lives. Research has also shown close similarity between music and social behavior and as a matter of fact, at the moment, majority of offices, cars, clubs, people and restaurants are listening to music.
Techniques applied in this research involved multiple samples and geographic regions to portray dimension of music preference. The sample comprised 74 volunteers of Texas University where different kinds of data was collected like; 59.5percent were men and 40.5 percent were women, 9.5 percent Asians, 2.7 percent African American, 66.2 percent whites, 6.8 percent Hispanics. The average age bracket was 18.9 years and other ethnicities were 14.8 percent. Additionally a series of questionnaire were also conducted based on the data (Rentfrow & Gosling, 2003). The research outcome indicated music is essential in the lifestyle of everyone and toped first among hobbies. Music is broke down into different genres but irrespective of this, its sole function is to adjust one’s emotions in their day to day life. Music is also used as an ideal tool for identification where one is able to choose a specific genre of music that portrays to others who they actually are.
To conclude, music is vital as it attributes to different psychological fulfillments. From the discussions above, it is evident each individual relates to music regardless of the genre in day to day life. Music also has his unique way of relaxing the mind, healing souls that are wounded and brining much joy to depressed hearts (Rentfrow & Gosling, 2003).
References
Ezequeil, G. and Decety, J. (2013). Empathy in clinical practice: how individual dispositions, gender, and experience moderate empathic concern burnout and emotional distress in physicians. Journal Pone. Retrieved from http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0061526.
McCarty, C. (2005). Structure in Personal Networks. Journal of Social Structure, 3, 1-10. http://www.cmu.edu/joss/content/articles/volume3/McCarty.html
Rentfrow, P., and Gosling, S. (2003). The Do Re Mi’s of Everyday Life: The structure and personality correlates of music preferences. The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(6). 1236-1256. Retrieved from http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/HomePage/Faculty/Gosling/reprints/JPSP03musicdimensions.pdf