Personality Works Cited
Much of the research on 5 factor personality theory and self-esteem comes from this helpful introductory psychology textbook:
Gazzaniga, Micheal, et al. Psychological Science. 3rd ed. Norton & Co., Inc., 2010.
On the idea that most of us are Ambiverts, as well as a more detailed exploration of the Introvert-Extrovert trait spectrum for a general audience, see:
Cain, Susan. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. Crown, 2013.
Reiss’s theory of the 16 motivating drives is explained for a general audience in his book:
Reiss, Steven. Who Am I? The 16 basic Desires That Motivate Our Actions and Define Our Personalities. The Berkley Publishing Group, 2000.
An article that was helpful in thinking through the similarities and differences between Reiss and the big 5 personality traits is:
Olson, Kenneth R. and Dale A. Weber. “Relations Between Big Five Traits and Fundamental Motives.” Psychological Reports, vol. 95, 2004, pp. 795-802.
On rats and nurturing, see:
Meaney, Michael J. and Moshe Szyf. “Environmental Programming of Stress Responses through DNA Methylation: Life at the Interface between a Dynamic Environment and a Fixed Genome.” Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, vol. 7, no. 2, 2005, pp. 103-123. DOI: 10.31887/DCNS.2005.7.2/mmeaney
A good summary of Howard Gardner’s different types of intelligence is here:
Northern Illinois University Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. “Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences.” Instructional Guide for University Faculty and Teaching Assistants, 2020.
https://www.niu.edu/citl/resources/guides/instructional-guide/gardners-theory-of-multiple-intelligences.shtml Accessed 27 Dec. 2022.
On empathy, see:
Greenberg, David M., et al. “Musical Preferences are Linked to Cognitive Styles.” PloS One, vol. 10, no. 7, 2015, e0131151. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0131151.
Vedantam, Shankar, host. “You: 2.0. The Empathy Gym.” Hidden Brain. NPR, 29 July 2019, https://www.npr.org/transcripts/744195502 Accessed 24 Dec. 2022.
On Moral Foundations Theory, see:
Haidt, Johnathan. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. Pantheon Books, 2012.
But the comment from Haidt on Dan McAdams’s work is from his earlier book:
Haidt, Jonathan. The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom. Basic Books, 2006.
And speaking of Dan McAdams, there are a number of sources he’s written explaining his work on the different levels of personality, but the one that was primarily relied on here is:
McAdams, Dan. “The Psychology of Life Stories.” Review of General Psychology, vol. 5, no. 2, 2001, pp. 100-122.
On the Cultural Dimensions, including many not covered here, see:
Hofstede, Geert. “The 6D Model of National Culture.” Geert Hofstede, https://geerthofstede.com/culture-geert-hofstede-gert-jan-hofstede/6d-model-of-national-culture/ Accessed 27 Dec. 2022.
The material on how social class affects personality is from:
Macionis, John J. Sociology. 15th ed. Pearson, 2014.
Macionis also supplied the data on religion mentioned in the penultimate strip on this topic.
On the role that luck plays in our success:
Mark, Clifton. “A Belief in Meritocracy is Not Only False: It’s Bad for You.” Aeon, Mar. 8 2019, https://aeon.co/ideas/a-belief-in-meritocracy-is-not-only-false-its-bad-for-you Accessed 3 Mar. 2023.
Kaufman, Scott Barry. “The Role of Luck in Life Success is Far Greater than We Realized.” Scientific American, 1 Mar. 2018, https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/the-role-of-luck-in-life-success-is-far-greater-than-we-realized/ Accessed 9 Feb. 2023.
A quick overview to the characteristics of HSPs can be found in:
Geall, Lauren. “9 Signs You Might Be a Highly Sensitive Person (and What That Actually Means).” Stylist, https://www.stylist.co.uk/health/mental-health/borderline-personality-disorder-bpd-diagnosis-start-of-healing-journey/841770Accessed 24 Nov. 2023.
On that webpage is a link to Dr. Elaine Aron’s website for those who want a deeper dive into the topic from a practicing psychotherapist and academic researcher: https://hsperson.com/ Accessed 24 Nov. 2023.
The info. on addiction is from:
Sussman, Steve, Nadra Lisha, and Mark Griffiths. “Prevalence of the Addictions: A problem of the Majority or the Minority?” Eval Health Prof., vol. 34, no. 1, 2011, pp. 3-56. DOI: 10.1177/0163278710380124
Lembke, Anna. Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence. Dutton, 2021
Happiness Works Cited
The main source for this series is Jonathan Haidt’s excellent overview of the psychological research on the topic: Haidt, Jonathan. The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom. Basic Books, 2006.
Unless their work is cited here, the work by all researchers mentioned by name in the series is taken from Haidt.
The other primary source was written by a philosopher: Haybron, Daniel. Happiness: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford UP, 2013.
Additional sources (listed in approximate chronological order based on when their material was used in the strip):
Stephens-Davidowitz, Seth. “The Rich Are Not Who We Think They Are. And Happiness Is Not What We Think It Is, Either.” The New York Times, 14 May 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/14/opinion/sunday/rich-happiness-big-data.html?searchResultPosition=1 Accessed 15 May 2022.
Newport, Cal. So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love. Grand Central Publishing, 2012.
Kamer, Foster. “Are You Anxious, Avoidant, or Secure?” The New York Times, 6 Nov. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/06/style/anxious-avoidant-secure-attached-book.html?searchResultPosition=2 Accessed 23 Nov. 2022. This article is a very nice overview of Levine and Heller’s book, which is a lengthier introduction to attachment theory for a general audience: Levine, Amir, and Rachel S.F. Heller. Attached. Bluebird, 2019.
Gottman, John M., and Nan Silver. The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work. 2nd ed. Harmony Books, 2015.
“Beauty.” Explained, season 2, episode 9, Netflix, 21 Nov. 2019.
Sima, Richard. “Why It Is Awesome that Your Brain Can Experience Awe.” The Washington Post, 15 Sept. 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/09/15/awe-mental-health/ Accessed 9 Sept. 2022.
Bernstein, Elizabeth. “How You Make Decisions Says a Lot About How Happy You Are.” The Wall Street Journal, 6 Oct. 2014, https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-you-make-decisions-says-a-lot-about-how-happy-you-are-1412614997 Accessed 23 Nov. 2022.
Jamison, Christopher. Finding Happiness: Monastic Steps for a Fulfilling Life. Liturgical Press, 2008.
Cross, Jeni. “Three Myths of Behavior Change—What You Think You Know That You Don’t.” TEDxCSU, TEDx Talks, 20 March 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5d8GW6GdR0
Rauch, Jonathan. The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After 50. Thomas Dunne Books, 2018.
Henrich, Joseph. The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous. Picador, 2021.
The Enlightenment Works Cited
A, ahem, very short overview of the topic can be found in: Robertson, John. The Enlightenment: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford UP, 2015. On a side note, I highly recommend any one of the hundreds of titles in this series. Some are definitely not the best introductions (despite the title), but most of the ones I’ve read were a great place to start on an unfamiliar topic.
Also useful as a secondary source was: Schmidt, John. “Making Man in Reason’s Image: The Enlightenment and the Birth of Modern Humanity.” Portable Professor. Barnes & Noble, 2006. It’s too bad this series never took off; most of the “courses” in it were excellent.
Finally, on the topic of curiosity, see: Kahan, Dan M. “Why Smart People are Vulnerable to Putting Tribe Before Truth.” Scientific American, 3 Dec. 2018, blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/why-smart-people-are-vulnerable-to-putting-tribe-before-truth/#. Accessed 9 June 2022.
Cognitive Biases Works Cited
The best place to start is with Daniel Kahneman’s book introducing the foundational work on this subject to a mass audience: Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 2011.
An article that helped with defining the concept: Wilke, A., and R. Mata. “Cognitive Bias.” Encyclopedia of Human Behavior, 2 ed., Vol. 1, 2012, pp. 531-535.
The application of these ideas to issues of race and racism is explored in: Velasquez-Manoff, Moises. “Want to Be Less Racist? Move to Hawaii.” The New York Times, 30 June, 2019, pp. SR1+.
Part of the closing advice in the final strip on the topic is from: Vedantam, Shankar, host. “The Double Standard.” Hidden Brain. NPR, 4 Jan. 2021, https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/the-double-standard/ Accessed 10 Jan. 2021.
And last but not least, a very astute analysis of what went wrong with Game of Thrones: Tufekci, Zeynep. “The Real Reason Fans Hate the Last Season of Game of Thrones.” Scientific American, 17 May 2019, https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/the-real-reason-fans-hate-the-last-season-of-game-of-thrones/ Accessed 13 Dec. 2020.