Over the past decades, psychology and sociology researchers have independently identified similar patterns of cultural dispositions. These patterns notably involve differences in terms of eclecticism, openness, and aesthetic disposition. While some scholars have theoretically fused these constructs, the extent to which they empirically overlap is unclear. In addition, the extent to which personality traits vary with social factors has received insufficient attention to date. The present study had 3 main goals. First, we assessed the respective influence of social and psychological factors on aesthetic disposition and eclecticism. Second, we sought to clarify the contours of the constructs of aesthetic disposition, eclecticism, and openness. Third, we examined the social contingency of personality traits. Based on the assessment of aesthetic disposition and of both cinematographic and musical eclecticism in high-school students (N = 873), the conducted analyses revealed that personality trait openness and socioeconomic status were the best psychological and social predictors of cultural dispositions. In addition, our results suggest that the constructs of aesthetic disposition and eclecticism, on the one hand, and of "cultural openness" and personality trait openness on the other hand, cover distinct phenomena. Our findings also indicated that cinematographic and musical eclecticisms correlated moderately. The view of a general, or cross-area, eclecticism might thus be misleading. Finally, a strong positive association between socioeconomic status and personality trait openness was found. All in all, these findings stress the importance of adopting an interdisciplinary approach to cultural dispositions.

Over the past few decades, quantitative research on musical tastes and consumption has extensively relied on methods involving music genre labels. These methods generally assume participants to share a general and common label knowledge. However, such an assumption has not been empirically tested to date. The present study aimed to (a) estimate adolescents’ ability to identify music genres and (b) examine the influence of social factors on this ability. Results indicated that genre identification constituted a rather difficult task for a majority of participants. They also showed that genre identification depended on social class, age, musical background, and, to a lesser extent, on sex and the importance attached to music. All in all, the study findings further pinpoint the flaws pertaining to genre-based methods and invite sociology researchers to use complementary indicators of musical tastes in the future.

Aesthetic disposition has been defined as the propensity to prioritize form over function and to approach any object as potentially valuable from an aesthetic standpoint. In this study, we examined whether and how aesthetic disposition was predicted by educational capital, personality trait openness, and sex. In addition, we investigated the association of educational capital and sex with openness. We compared students from a general high school (“high” educational-capital group) with students from a vocational high school (“low” educational-capital group). We found that (a) aesthetic disposition was positively associated with educational capital and, to a lesser extent, with openness, (b) sex was of minor importance in the distribution of aesthetic disposition, and (c) openness was positively linked to educational capital and unrelated to sex. Our findings support the view that educational capital plays an important role in the social distribution of aesthetic disposition and highlight a link between education and openness.

To identify and classify musical tastes, researchers have extensively relied on the use of music-genre labels. However, the validity and reliability of such a method remain unclear. In this study, we examined the extent to which 873 high school students felt able to assess their musical tastes based on music-genre labels. Participants were expressly asked to evaluate the usability of such labels. Results showed that a majority of respondents were uncomfortable with the use of music-genre labels, mainly because of music-genre labels’ complicatedness and internal heterogeneity. Sex and social milieu predicted the perception of the usability of music-genre labels only weakly. Overall, our findings suggest that the reliance on music-genre labels in research on musical tastes might be problematic. We recommend that complementary indicators of musical tastes be more widely employed in the future.

The investigation of the link between personality and musical tastes has led certain psychology researchers to examine the latent dimensions of musical tastes. In this area of research, investigators have largely relied on genre-based analysis, the relevance of which remains unclear. In this study, we examined the impact of changes in the selection of musical items on the identification of musical taste dimensions. Indeed, investigators have employed heterogeneous sets of music genres in prior research. Such a heterogeneity may partly explain why no clearly reproducible structure of musical tastes has emerged in the literature. Based on principal component analysis, our results indicate that the apparent structure of musical tastes is highly affected by even subtle variations in the items selected. Our findings also suggest that the identified structure of musical tastes strongly depends on the social background and cultural capital of respondents. Finally, our results highlight the limitations of the models that interpret the dimensions of musical tastes in terms of intrinsic musical properties.

Developed by Peterson in the early nineties, the thesis of omnivorousness involves a profound transformation of the principles thought to structure the distribution of cultural tastes and consumption. More specifically, this thesis posits that eclectic dispositions have replaced snobbish inclinations among high-status people. While the influence of this thesis has been important in the field over the past two decades, Peterson eventually questioned the reliability of the research literature dealing with omnivorousness. Notably, he raised the possibility that the thesis of omnivorousness may be grounded in a mere methodological artifact. In the present article, I examine such a possibility by focusing on potential flaws that may affect Peterson's studies. Based on theoretical analyzes as well as empirical investigations, I point out the inconsistencies of Peterson's operationalizations of omnivorousness, the poor association between taste and consumption in the data that the author mobilized, the arbitrariness of the musical hierarchies that he created, and the lack of validity of Peterson's main findings regarding the dynamics of omnivorousness over time. All in all, this study supports the "artefact hypothesis" formulated by Peterson and invites investigators to be cautious when theorizing and contextualizing omnivorousness.

Gunderman [ 1 Gunderman R.B. Burnout: a mismatch made in hell. J Am Coll Radiol. 2017; 14: 854-855 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (12) Google Scholar ] recently drew readers’ attention to six areas of work life [ 2 Maslach C. Schaufeli W.B. Leiter M.P. Job burnout. Annu Rev Psychol. 2001; 52: 397-422 Crossref PubMed Scopus (8114) Google Scholar ] that may play a role in the development (and prevention) of job burnout among radiology staff: workload, control, reward, community, fairness, and values. Doing so, the author stressed the importance of clear diagnoses and sound classification schemes in (occupational) medicine: “Unless the appropriate diagnostic category is applied, further evaluation and treatment are likely to prove unproductive and may even cause harm, such as when a patient with one type of disease is treated for another disease.” We salute Gunderman’s [ 1 Gunderman R.B. Burnout: a mismatch made in hell. J Am Coll Radiol. 2017; 14: 854-855 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (12) Google Scholar ] efforts to promote occupational health in radiology units. We have, however, two concerns regarding the consistency of the author’s line of reasoning. Burnout: A Mismatch Made in HellJournal of the American College of RadiologyVol. 14Issue 6PreviewOne of the foundational principles of medical diagnosis is the need for a classification scheme. For example, diseases can be classified into different pathologic categories, such as congenital versus acquired, medical versus surgical, and infectious versus neoplastic. Such schemes not only help to identify the different disease processes afflicting patients, but also guide approaches to diagnosis and treatment. Unless the appropriate diagnostic category is applied, further evaluation and treatment are likely to prove unproductive and may even cause harm, such as when a patient with one type of disease is treated for another disease. Full-Text PDF Author’s Reply–Re: Burnout: A Clinical and Sociological ReflectionJournal of the American College of RadiologyVol. 14Issue 12PreviewI thank the authors for their comments. It is heartening to discover that JACR counts European occupational psychologists among its readers. What impresses me most about current discourse on burnout is not its robust nosologic foundation but the number of sincere and lively discussions it has spawned around the sources of discouragement in medical practice and the steps physicians and others can take to enhance engagement and fulfillment in work. Full-Text PDF

Journal of the American College of Surgeons 224(1):p 87, January 2017. | DOI: 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2016.09.006

This study examines the consistency of Pierre Bourdieu’s homology thesis by assessing, at a class-fraction level, the statistical significance of the differences in taste and lifestyle reported in Distinction. According to Bourdieu, taste and lifestyle vary not only from one social class to another, but also within social classes themselves, depending on the type of capital (notably, cultural or economic) that prevails among class fractions. In this article, we estimate the cultural distance separating eight fractions of the middle and upper classes by performing bilateral between-proportion comparison tests. Two levels of analysis are considered: the intra-class and the inter-class fraction levels. The first level only involves within-class comparisons. It aims to test the empirical basis of the concept of capital composition. The second level only involves comparisons between middle-class and upper-class fractions. It aims to test Bourdieu’s representation of social space. Results indicate that 1) the composition of capital is associated with taste variability in both the middle and upper classes, and 2) taste similarities and dissimilarities between fractions belonging to different classes are linked to cultural capital. In sum, this study provides additional evidence for the consistency of Bourdieu’s homology thesis.

Burnout has been commonly regarded as a job-induced syndrome. In this 468-participant study (67% female; mean age: 46.48), we examined the extent to which individuals with burnout and depressive symptoms attribute these symptoms to their job. Fewer than half (44%) of the individuals with burnout symptoms viewed their job as the main cause of these symptoms. The proportion of participants ascribing their depressive symptoms to work was similar (39%). Results from correlation and cluster analyses were indicative of burnout–depression overlap. Our findings suggest that burnout may not be a specifically job-induced syndrome and further question the validity of the burnout construct.

We investigated whether burnout and depression differed in terms of public stigma and help-seeking attitudes and behaviors. Secondarily, we examined the overlap of burnout and depressive symptoms. A total of 1046 French schoolteachers responded to an Internet survey in November-December 2015. The survey included measures of public stigma, help-seeking attitudes and behaviors, burnout and depressive symptoms, self-rated health, neuroticism, extraversion, history of anxiety or depressive disorder, social desirability, and socio-demographic variables. The burnout label appeared to be less stigmatizing than the depression label. In either case, however, fewer than 1% of the participants exhibited stigma scores signaling agreement with the proposed stigmatizing statements. Help-seeking attitudes and behaviors did not differ between burnout and depression. Participants considered burnout and depression similarly worth-treating. A huge overlap was observed between the self-report, time-standardized measures of burnout and depressive symptoms (disattenuated correlation: .91). The overlap was further evidenced in a confirmatory factor analysis. Thus, while burnout and depression as syndromes are unlikely to be distinct, how burnout and depression are socially represented may differ. To our knowledge, this study is the first to compare burnout- and depression-related stigma and help-seeking in the French context. Cross-national, multi-occupational studies examining different facets of stigma are needed.

The aim of this study is twofold: first, to assess the statistical significance of the data used by Pierre Bourdieu in Distinction; second, to test the hypothesis that the volume of capital (i.e., the global amount of capital) allows for a finer discrimination of dispositional differences than the composition of capital (i.e., the respective weight of the different types of capital in the global amount of capital). To these ends, five data samples were submitted to bilateral between-proportion comparison tests. The findings (1) reveal that about two-thirds of the differences reported by P. Bourdieu are significant and (2) support the view that the volume of capital prevails over its composition. Cette etude poursuit deux objectifs : etablir, d'une part, la significativite statistique des donnees ayant servi de base empirique au modele que Pierre Bourdieu propose dans La distinction ; mettre a l’epreuve, d'autre part, l'hypothese selon laquelle le volume de capital (i.e. la quantite globale de capital) constitue, en matiere de differenciation dispositionnelle, une variable plus determinante que la structure du capital (i.e. le poids respectif des differents types de capital au sein du volume global de capital). A cette double fin, les donnees relatives a cinq echantillons sont soumises a des tests de comparaison bilaterale de proportions independantes. Les resultats obtenus (1) revelent que pres des deux tiers des differences observees par P. Bourdieu sont significatives et (2) soutiennent l'hypothese de la preponderance du volume de capital sur sa structure.

Introduction It has been assumed that a key difference between burnout and depression is that burnout is job-related and situation-specific whereas depression is context-free and pervasive. This view has recently been challenged at a theoretical level and additional empirical investigation has been called for. Objectives The aim of this study was to examine whether chronic occupational stress—the putative cause of burnout—discriminated burnout from depression. Following a scope-based approach to the burnout-depression distinction, chronic occupational stress should be primarily related to burnout and only to a lesser degree to depression. This hypothesis was tested. Methods A total of 2124 French teachers took part in this study (mean age: 41.36; 73% female) during the last trimester of the 2013-2014 school year. Burnout was assessed with the Maslach Burnout Inventory and depression with the 9-item depression module of the Patient Health Questionnaire. The Effort-Reward Imbalance Questionnaire short form (ERIQ) was used for assessing chronic occupational stress. Results Burnout and depression were almost identically correlated to effort-reward imbalance at work. Interestingly, the job over-commitment component of the ERIQ was slightly more correlated to depression than to burnout. Multiple regression analyses showed that effort-reward imbalance at work and job over-commitment predicted depression as much as burnout, controlling for gender, age, and length of employment. Conclusions Chronic occupational stress was not found to discriminate burnout from depression. These results further question the relevance of a scope-based distinction between burnout and depression and supports the idea that burnout overlaps with depression.

Within the field-dominating, multidimensional theory of burnout, burnout is viewed as a work-specific condition. As a consequence, the burnout syndrome cannot be investigated outside of the occupational domain. In the present paper, this restrictive view of burnout’s scope is criticized and a rationale to decide between a work-specific and a generic approach to burnout is presented. First, the idea that a multidimensional conception of burnout implies a work-restricted scope is deconstructed. Second, it is shown that the burnout phenomenon cannot be confined to work because chronic, unresolvable stress – the putative cause of burnout – is not limited to work. In support of an integrative view of health, it is concluded that the fielddominating, multidimensional theory of burnout should abandon as groundless the idea that burnout is a specifically job-related phenomenon and define burnout as a multi-domain syndrome. The shift from a work-specific to a generic approach would allow both finer analysis and wider synthesis in research on chronic stress and burnout.

Within the field-dominating, multidimensional theory of burnout, burnout is viewed as a work-specific condition. As a consequence, the burnout syndrome cannot be investigated outside of the occupational domain. In the present paper, this restrictive view of burnout's scope is criticized and a rationale to decide between a work-specific and a generic approach to burnout is presented. First, the idea that a multidimensional conception of burnout implies a work-restricted scope is deconstructed. Second, it is shown that the burnout phenomenon cannot be confined to work because chronic, unresolvable stress - the putative cause of burnout - is not limited to work. In support of an integrative view of health, it is concluded that the field-dominating, multidimensional theory of burnout should abandon as groundless the idea that burnout is a specifically job-related phenomenon and define burnout as a multi-domain syndrome. The shift from a work-specific to a generic approach would allow both finer analysis and wider synthesis in research on chronic stress and burnout.

The study of olfactory lateralisation in humans has given rise to many publications, but few studies have been focused on possible differences in relation to the experience towards specific odorants. The aim of the present study was to compare unilateral detection thresholds for three wines between expert and novice judges. Additionally, irritation and hedonic valence were also evaluated using monorhinal stimulations. Results showed that the novices had lower detection thresholds with the left nostril—whatever the wine—compared to the experts. Concerning hedonic rating, no nostril difference existed in the expert group contrary to the novice group, which evaluated wines as more pleasant with the left than with the right nostril. Irritation rating appeared not to be lateralised in both groups. However, the novices rated the three wines as more irritant than the experts with the right as well as with the left nostril. These findings suggest that the level of experience induced specific differences in terms of lateralisation between wine experts and novices.

La présente recherche poursuivait deux objectifs principaux. Elle visait en premier lieu à tester la validité de la thèse de l’homologie structurale auprès d’adolescents. Élaborée sur la base d’études réalisées auprès d’adultes, cette thèse soutient que les goûts et les pratiques culturelles sont fonction de la position sociale et s’enracinent dans la prime enfance. La présente recherche visait en second lieu à mesurer l’impact respectif de facteurs sociaux et de facteurs psychologiques sur la distribution des dispositions culturelles. Dans l’ensemble, les résultats suggèrent que les logiques sous-jacentes à la stratification des goûts et des pratiques culturelles généralement observées chez les adultes opèrent dès la prime adolescence. Les analyses menées indiquent également que le trait de personnalité « ouverture » constitue un meilleur prédicteur de la disposition esthétique et de l’éclectisme que le milieu social ou le sexe. Toutefois, ce trait s’est révélé fortement dépendant du milieu social, jetant ainsi les bases de futures recherches relatives à la genèse des traits de personnalité. Abstract: This doctoral dissertation pursued two main research goals. First, it aimed to test the validity of the structural-homology thesis in adolescents. Based on studies in adults, this thesis posits that cultural tastes and practices depend on socioeconomic status and are rooted in early childhood. Second, this doctoral dissertation aimed to assess the respective influence of social and psychological factors on the distribution of cultural dispositions. Overall, results suggest that the underpinnings of the stratification of cultural tastes and practices generally observed in adults are already operative in early adolescence. In addition, the conducted analyses indicate that personality trait openness is a better predictor of aesthetic disposition and eclecticism than socioeconomic status and sex. However, openness was found to strongly vary with social milieu, thus paving the way for future research dedicated to the genesis of personality traits.