​Study Like A Champ: The Psychology-Based Guide to ‘Grade A’ Study Habits
Author: Regan A.R. Gurung and John Dunlosky
ISBN: 978-1-4338-4017-3

​APA Style Citation
Gurung, R. A. R., & Dunlosky, J. (2023). Study like a champ: the psychology-based
guide to grade A study habits. American Psychological Association. 

Book Description
This book is a must-read for high school and college students and educators alike. Study Like a Champ opens with a research-based answer to the frequent student question, “What do I need to do to get an A?” Written by psychology professors and longtime advocates for high school psychology. Regan A.R. Gurung, Ph.D., a​nd John Dunlosky Ph.D. The book is packed with practical tips for studying smarter, not harder, and lays out a method for students to plan, monitor, and evaluate their learning for optimal success. The book debunks many firmly held myths about how to study commonly held by students and illustrates effective and empirically based methods for improving study habits and academic results. The authors also address commonly held teacher myths, including the learning pyramid that proposes the amount of learning by students is correlated with the instructional strategy used. Lecture is depicted as having the worst outcomes for student learning retention. This myth causes teachers to avoid lectures out of concern for decreased student learning. Like many methods, lectures can be effective or ineffective depending on the quality and topics discussed. The authors discuss how active learning, such as teaching others or discussion, can sometimes be successful but also how many versions of active learning, such as group work and problem-solving out loud, can harm learning.

Throughout the text are numerous surveys that students can take to evaluate their practices and suggestions for how to utilize scaffolding to build better study habits. This is based on current research conducted by the authors. Each chapter ends with Key Training Tips to stick your landing and Go for the Gold recommendations highlighting advanced reading related to the topics presented.
Chapter one, titled, So You Think You Know How to Study? Let’s FoK About it, challenges students to evaluate their study habits to determine and compare them with evidence-based best practices. Fok, according to cognitive psychology, is a feeling of knowing that exists for any class, assignment, or topic and can be strong or weak. Unfortunately, cognitive science finds that FoKs are often inaccurate. Individuals can feel that they know something well and find out from an assessment that it was not the case or vice versa. This chapter has an excellent survey for students to evaluate their current study habits, Start Now: How Are Your Study Habits? The chapter then lays out in a compare/contrast style what helps learning based on research as opposed to what does not help learning based on research. The authors help students who use habits less supported by research improve those habits. Although highlighting and rereading (commonly used student study habits) do not support learning, even these habits can be improved. The authors suggest having students highlight strategically by indicating the areas they want to study more and following up on those areas using other methods. Rereading should not be a major strategy and works best if it is part of distributive study.
Subsequent chapters help students plan, monitor, and evaluate their learning and apply specific strategies to their classes and busy schedules. Important methods discussed in the book include self-assessments of metacognition, tools for utilizing class time, effective notetaking, spaced or distributive study, retrieval practice methods, interleaving, worked examples, and winning strategies for combining specific tactics. These practical methods are tied to supporting research, effective graphics, and student self-evaluations throughout each section.
The final chapter is an essential discussion of healthy behaviors and how to cope effectively with the rigorous course schedule and additional commitments modern students face. This book is an excellent tool for teachers that can be used to help students apply findings from psychological science to improve their learning.

Other Related Resources
 
Speaking of Psychology: American Psychological Association Podcast --
“How to Learn Better Using Psychology, with Regan Gurung, Ph.D., and John Dunlosky, Ph.D.”

Psych Sessions Podcast: Convos About Teaching N’ Stuff  Gurung and Dunlosky: Study Like a Champ

​Follow @studychamp22 on Instagram or TikTok — Practical science-based tips from the book to help students study more effectively. The feed includes many compelling graphics to use to highlight research on studying.https://www.instagram.com/studychamp22/https://www.tiktok.com/@studychamp22Inside the Mind of a

Master Procrastinator, TED Talk — Show students this engaging TED Talk by writer Tim Urban after they take the survey in the Open Your Class with This Today activity to get a sense of their current relationship to the topic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arj7oStGLkU
 
Top 20 Principles for Pre-K to 12 Education ­­
This booklet, produced by the American Psychological Association, clearly outlines the most effective methods for teaching and learning.
The Top 20 are categorized into five areas of psychological functioning:
Thinking and learning: How do students think and learn?
Motivation: What motivates students?
Social-emotional learning: Why are social context, interpersonal relations, and emotional well-being important to student learning?
Classroom management: How can classroom behavior best be managed?
Assessment: How can teachers effectively assess student progress?
Link to Top 20

Psychological Figures and Concepts
Hermann Ebbinghaus
John Hattie
William James
Walter Mischel

Avoidant coping
Blocked practice
Burnout
Conceptual knowledge
Cornell method
Cued recall
Distributed/spaced practice
Encoding
Emotion-focused coping
Flashcard plus method
Feeling of knowing (FoK)
Homeostasis
Hypothalamus
Interleaving
Key-word mnemonics
Massed practice
Matrix method
Meditation
Mental health
Meta-analysis
Method of loci
Mindfulness
Mindset (growth v. fixed)
Motivation
Multitasking
Overconfidence
Pomodoro method
Problem-focused coping
Procrastination
Retrieval practice
Rumination
Test-enhanced learning
Transfer tests
 

Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?
Author: Julie Smith
ISBN-10: 0063227932
ISBN-13: 978-0063227934
 
APA Style Citation
Smith. J. (2022). Why has nobody told me this before? Harper One.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Why-Nobody-Told-This-Before/dp/0063227932
​

Book Description
Dr. Julie Smith has been a clinical psychologist for over ten years and shares her knowledge of how to deal with difficult situations in healthy ways. She is known for making short videos (under 60 seconds) talking about mental health and sharing life skills. These videos offering advice in bite-size and tangible ways are grabbing everyone’s attention. Now, Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? explains the advice in a little more detail, and offers suggestions of how to put these research-based concepts to immediate use. The book is a mental health toolbox ready for use as you navigate whatever comes your way in life. Each tool takes practice and becomes more powerful the more you use it.
 
Dr. Julie tackles topics such as low mood, motivation, emotional pain, grief, self-doubt, fear and anxiety, stress, and finding a meaningful life. Each chapter has “toolkit” exercises, “try this” question and reflection prompts, and a chapter summary. She wants to pass on what the science says and what works for others. The research-based concepts are easily explained and the “science” is accessible to any reader. The advice is compact, organized, and easy to return to when you need it. There is power in establishing the basics of exercise, sleep, nutrition, routine, and human connection. Knowing how your mind works and believing you have the power to change goes a long way to leading a healthy lifestyle.
 
Other Related Resources
Dr. Julie Smith's Website
https://doctorjuliesmith.com/

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/drjulie/?hl=en

Twitter
https://twitter.com/drjuliesmith?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Tik Tok
https://www.tiktok.com/@drjuliesmith?lang=en

YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI8TEoIOnMq_5ntJOYMq-Zg

The Guardian- Dr. Julie Smith: "Mental health is no different to physical health. No one is immune."
https://www.guardian.com/science/2022/feb/12/dr-julie-smith-mental-health-tiktok-why-has-nobody-told-me-this-before

​Psychological Figures and Concepts
Thomas Gilovich
John Gottman
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
 
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Stress
All-or-nothing thinking
Anxiety
Attachment types
Attention
Awe
Burnout
Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT)
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Egocentrism
Emotional reasoning
Emotions
Gratitude
Grief
Meditation
Metacognition
Mindfulness
Motivation
Overgeneralization
Perfectionism
Positive psychology
Reframing
Resilience
Rumination
Self-compassion
Spotlight effect
Tend-and-befriend

​Book Description
In her follow-up to Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, Susan Cain begins Bittersweet with a quote from her favorite musician Leonard Cohen. “There is a crack, a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” Cain describes her love for Cohen’s music and the melancholic yearning it creates when she listens. While some might be inclined to move away from these feelings. Cain feels quite the opposite. She believes that feelings of pain can be transformed into art, passion, and creativity just as with Cohen’s music. 
 
Cain describes an instance in which her family had to put down their beloved pet as a child. As a family, they cried together and felt deep sorrow, but as Cain recalls the event many years later, she is overcome by the love in the room that was felt through her family’s common suffering. Cain proposes that those drawn to serious movies and thought-provoking books are honest with the pain that exists in the world and can appreciate these vulnerable moments when people allow themselves to emote in a truly authentic way. Cain uses the example of walking a child down the aisle at a wedding ceremony where a parent acknowledges the happiness their child is stepping into and the bittersweet sadness of sending the child into the next phase of their life. Many individuals who experience this bittersweet world are more sympathetic in response to the suffering of others. Humility is one of the most important components in empathizing with others, as we will not experience empathy if we believe we are better than others.
 
Because those who live in the bittersweet arena do not believe that the world is perfect, they do not expect a world of perfection. For example, they do not expect to find their “one true soulmate”; they know that relationships will be work and will involve both beautiful highs and miserable lows. They may have more reasonable expectations about their interactions in work, love, and socialization. Cain contends that this longing has always existed with the Greek myth describing two brothers, Pathos (longing) and Himeros (desire). They also describe Eros (love). The Germans have a word “Sehnsucht” that combines words meaning yearning and an obsession or addiction. Cain also describes many religious ceremonies as a transition between happiness and sorrow. The songwriter-poet Nick Cave describes longing as his “ultimate muse” driving his creative works.  Much of the Sufi religion is based on ideas of longing, for union, for God. 
Cain cites a study by psychologist Marvin Eisentadt that found an incredible number of highly creative people were orphans. Of the 573 creatives studied, 25% had lost one parent by age 10, 345 by age 15, and 45% by age 45. Could it be that this grief and sadness drove their creativity?
 
Sometimes these bittersweet moments are not ones that should last in time but can still create a sense of longing. For example, a short-lived romantic rendezvous or the end of a long friendship. Cain suggests it might be best to remember fondly what was, but it would not likely be the same again. Cain suggests taking solace in the love you once experienced rather than the love that was lost. It is our job to recognize love in its new form. She also warns about the danger of living in a world of false smiles and social media posts in which it seems that everyone’s life is better and happier than it actually is. One of the many challenges to this false front is to make those experiences grief, sadness or challenging emotions feel alone. Often individuals experiencing anxiety or depression feel that nobody could possibly understand what they are experiencing. Cain speaks with students at Princeton who describe the need to feel “effortless perfection, “to look great, perform great, and be happy all of the time without seemingly trying to achieve any of this. This causes the students to feel inferior or to experience a sense that they do not belong because they must work at their happiness and success.
 
This ability to accept difficult emotions is linked to long-term thriving. Recognizing and acknowledging these negative feelings can help people feel less alone in their suffering. The suffering of others may also spur us into action. After the national tragedy of 9/11, people moved into careers as firefighters, healthcare workers, and teachers. Cain suggests one way to deal with pain or sorrow and loss may be loving-kindness meditation, derived from ancient Buddhist practices. This practice attempts to develop empathy by emphasizing the similarities between the individual and another person. The benefits of this practice include a decrease in migraines, PTSD symptoms, chronic pain, and increased feelings of awe, joy, and gratitude. Other people find comfort in journaling to express anger, frustration or sadness and find it cathartic to release these emotions rather than to keep them bottled up.  Cain also suggests that bittersweet music may also fulfill this need and even offers a song list on her website. Cain suggests we embrace the pain and sorrow of the world as a way of living a more content and real life.
 
Other Related Resources
Author’s Website for Bittersweet
https://susancain.net/book/bittersweet/
 
TED Talk: The Power of Sad Songs and Rainy Days
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G2U0R0hOCU
 
The Psychology Podcast: Interview with Susan Cain, The Beauty of Bittersweet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abwczDuDCNs
 
Bittersweet Quiz
https://susancain.net/bittersweet-quiz-intro/
 
Bittersweet Playlist
https://susancain.net/wp-content/uploads/Screen-Shot-2022-02-24-at-1.35.13-PM.png
 
The Next Big Idea Podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bittersweet-an-audio-e-course-by-susan-cain/id1482067226?i=1000584069778
 
Greater Good Science Center
https://ggsc.berkeley.edu/who_we_are/our_people
 
Quizzes from the Greater Good Science Center
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/quizzes
 
Big Head Todd and the Monsters: Bittersweet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wyd9OcI37AY
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Charles Darwin
Paul Ekman
 
Catharsis
Empathy
Introversion
Meditation
Mind-body interaction
Mindfulness
Neuroscience
Prosocial behavior
Psychopharmacology

Never Enough: The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction
Author: Judith Grisel
ISBN-10:‎ 0525434909
ISBN-13: 978-0525434900
 
APA Style Citation
Grisel, J. (2020). Never enough: The neuroscience and experience of addiction. Anchor.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Never-Enough-Neuroscience-Experience-Addiction/dp/0385542844
​

Book Description
Never Enough: The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction talks of the epidemic and catastrophic effects of addiction. Author, Judith Grisel, shares her story as someone with a substance use disorder and a behavioral neuroscientist. She went from addiction in 7th grade, to using drugs for about a decade, to being clean for decades, to earning her Ph.D. in behavioral neuroscience. She is now an expert in neurobiology, chemistry, genetics, and addictive behavior.

Dr. Grisel defines drug addiction and provides a strong biological explanation for the reader. She explains how drugs of abuse stimulate both the mesolimbic dopamine system and nigrostriatal pathways. This is what makes  the experience pleasurable and why drugs of abuse are sought after. There is also an explanation of endorphins and how they are released in response to a wide range of environmental signals. In addition, the more predictable and frequent the dosing, the more addictive a drug will be.
 
The three general laws of psychopharmacology that apply to drugs are explained in detail. First, all drugs change the rate of what is already going on. They either speed up or slow down neural activity and act similarly to neurotransmitters at the receptor site. Second, all drugs have side effects. Unlike natural neurotransmitters, they are not targeted in their delivery but are delivered in the bloodstream and found in mostly uniform levels throughout the nervous system. For example, natural serotonin release targets particular cells to influence sleep, eating, etc. However, a drug enhancing serotonin acts in all these places simultaneously, often producing side effects in other motivated behaviors than its intended use. Third, the brain adapts to all drugs by counteracting the drug's effects. When drugs are used regularly, the brain adapts to compensate for the changes made by the drug. The brain responds to a drug by doing the opposite and returning to homeostasis. An addict doesn't drink coffee because she is tired. She is tired because she drinks coffee. For regular users to feel normal, they need to take the drug.
 
Richard Solomon and his student John Corbitt explained how the concept of homeostasis could be applied to emotion in what is known as the opponent-process theory. This theory helps the current understanding of addiction. Any feeling (e.g., good, bad, happy, depressed) that disrupts our balance will elicit a response by the brain that is exactly opposite to the effect of that stimulus. The brain counteracts the stimulus by producing its own opposite effect. The brain’s ability to respond and anticipate events is part of plasticity. For addiction, this is known as “acute tolerance.” The first cigarette of the day can be the most pleasing because after the brain site activates for nicotine, they become insensitive to additional exposures. For some drugs, such as SSRIs, adaptation is the point. The goal is to change the set point so that being depressed is no longer the patient’s normal state.
 
The middle part of the book devotes a specific chapter to each of the main drugs of abuse, including THC, opiates, alcohol, tranquilizers, stimulants, psychedelics, and others. Each chapter provides specifics while tying the drug to neuroscience. It is readable and relevant. While many other sources provide a great overview of symptoms and statistics, Dr. Grisel provides the connections many teachers want for a psychology class.
 
As the book draws to a close, Dr. Grisel explores how drug addictions form. There are numerous genetic and environmental contributions involved. She explains genetics, epigenetics, early exposure, and addictive personalities. However, some factors are vague and hard to quantify. Furthermore, because multiple influences interact, it is challenging to identify a root cause.  In addition, there is no current objective measure to use for addiction. The Diagnostic Statistic Manual (DSM) has changed the name and criteria, but we still have a long way to go to understand drug addiction.

Dr. Grisel provides this bottom line, "Despite small advances in understanding addiction, rates of addictive disorders are increasing." The field of neuroscience is still in its infancy. The author feels that recovery is a process of expansion and freedom, not restriction. She believes treatment is most effective when it combines a slow reduction and social support. The answer may be in the brain and social contacts. What caused Dr. Grisel to change her behavior was not a tragedy but rather human love and connection. Dr. Grisel states, "While we are at it, instead of wringing our hands, we might try reaching for another's."
 
Other Related Resources
NPR- A Neuroscientist Explores The Biology Of Addiction In 'Never Enough' https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/02/12/693814827/a-neuroscientists-explores-the-biology-of-addiction-in-never-enough

Never Enough: The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction / Judy Grisel /
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnt1eb9vQxA&t=8s

Judith Grisel, Ph.D.: "Never Enough: The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction" (02/25/19)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOkh9xC-dSg

Chemistry World- Never Enough: The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction
https://www.chemistryworld.com/review/never-enough-the-neuroscience-and experience-of-addiction/4011008.article
Psychological Concepts and Figures
Walter Cannon
James Olds and Peter Milner
Richard Solomon and John Corbitt
 
ADHD
Alcohol
Amphetamines
Analgesia
Antagonists
Barbiturates
Benzodiazepines
Caffeine
Cocaine
Cognitive dissonance
Dependence
Dopamine
Ecstasy (MDMA)
Endorphins
Epigenetics
Evolutionary perspective
Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)
GABA
GHB
Glutamate
Homeostasis
Human Genome Project (HGP)
LSD
Psilocybin
Marijuana
Medical model of addiction
Mescaline
Mesolimbic pathway
Methadone
Methamphetamine
Nicotine
Nucleus accumbens
Opiates
Opponent-process theory
Placebo
Plasticity
Polymorphic genes
Positive and negative punishment
Positive and negative reinforcement
Psychedelics
Psychopharmacology
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
Serotonin
Set-point
Spice
Suboxone
Synapse
THC
Tolerance
Tranquilizers
Vesicles
Withdrawal

Building a Life Worth Living: A Memoir
Author: Marsha M. Linehan, Ph.D.
ISBN: 9780812984996
 
APA Style Citation
Linehan, M. (2020). Building a life worth living: A memoir. Random House.
​

 Buy This Book
​Building a Life Worth Living – Amazon.com

Book Description
Marsha Linehan’s memoir, Building a Life Worth Living, is her personal story and the journey that led her to develop a life-saving therapy to treat highly suicidal individuals. She tells the story of how she went from a popular and successful teenager to a suicidal young woman who spent years in a psychiatric facility (The Institute of Living). During her stay in the psychiatric facility, her diagnosis of schizophrenia was treated in the manner typical of the 1960s, including psychotropic medications (e.g., Thorazine, Librium), electroconvulsive treatment (ECT), cold blanket treatments, and isolation. Dr. Linehan states that, in hindsight, a diagnosis of borderline personality would have been more accurate. During her treatment, she became increasingly more troubled, engaging in more and more severe forms of self-harm. She attempted to kill herself numerous times, including cutting and diving headfirst from her bed in an isolation area onto the concrete floor.  The popular and highly functional girl from high school was replaced by “one of the most disturbed patients in the hospital,” according to clinical notes. Marsha vowed that if she ever made it out of the institute and out of the emotional hell in which she was living, she would find a way to help others escape and create a life worth living.
After her release from the psychiatric facility where she spent two years, she worked hard to put herself through night school and college while living in a YMCA and taking odd jobs to pay for her basic needs. Ultimately, she graduated college and earned a Ph.D. in psychology with a focus on behavioral therapy. Her primary motivation and research interest remained to help develop effective therapies for highly suicidal individuals, including those with multiple severe mental illnesses (comorbidity). Her work eventually led her to dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), a method considered to be a major milestone in behavior therapy that has saved the lives of many and helped develop a treatment for individuals whom therapists often avoid or refuse to treat because they are high-risk.
The book covers her work on the clinical trials for DBT, her submissions to the Archives of General Psychiatry, and the initial rejections, highlighting the long process of developing a new evidence-based treatment. In clinical trials, DBT, which does not involve medications, dramatically reduced self-harm in individuals with borderline personality disorder and the number of days they spent in the hospital. Many insurance companies typically would not cover treatment for borderline personality disorder unless it involves DBT because of the efficacy of the treatment.
DBT involves building a series of key skills and requires patients and therapists to balance numerous contradictions (dialectics). Therapists must accept their patients as they are (angry, confrontational, in pain) yet guide them in changing disruptive thought and behavior patterns. Patients need to replace their black-and-white thinking patterns and learn to accept contradictions, including that their challenges will never completely disappear but that they can learn to cope and manage their negative feelings.
Despite developing Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Dr. Linehan kept her personal experiences with mental illness private for most of her career. DBT has helped individuals with depression, borderline personality disorder, and other mental illnesses cope with and overcome suicidal thoughts, but Linehan did not publicly share her experiences with suicidal thoughts. She told her story of suicidal behavior for the first time at the Institute of Living, the Harford Connecticut clinic, where she was treated at the age of 17 when she was 68. According to Linehan, she was sometimes questioned by her patients, “Are you one of us? Because if you were, it would give all of us so much hope”, potentially as a result of the faded scars and burns on her arms.” According to Linehan, “many people have begged me to come forward, and I just thought – well, I have to do this. I owe it to them. I cannot die a coward.”
Marsha Linehan founded the Behavioral Research and Therapy Clinics (BRTC) at the University of Washington, where she led research on developing and improving methods to help individuals with treatment resistance mental illnesses, especially those with high suicidal risk. Her work has focused on helping individuals with PTSD, addiction, and borderline personality disorder through DBT.
In 2018, Marsha Linehan was included in a special issue of Time Magazine: Great Scientists: Geniuses and visionaries who transformed our world. She was listed alongside Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, Stephen Hawking, and Charles Darwin. The section in the Time issue devoted to social scientists included Marsha Linehan, Sigmund Freud, Wilhelm Wundt, Margaret Mead, Alfred Kinsey, E.O. Wilson, and Albert Ellis. Despite her enormous contributions to treatment through the development of DBT for highly suicidal individuals, she does not appear in many introductory psychology textbooks. Marsha Linehan is a visionary who should be highlighted alongside other key contributors to treatment, such as Ellis, Beck, Wolpe, and Cover-Jones. Psychologist Angela Duckworth commented on Linehan’s memoir by calling it “ Throughout her extraordinary scientific career, Marsha Linehan remained a woman of deep spirituality. Her powerful and moving story is one of faith and perseverance. Linehan shows, in Building a Life Worth Living, how the principles of DBT really work—and how, using her life skills and techniques, people can build lives worth living.
SEE LESS
A brilliant memoir by one of the greatest pioneers in psychotherapy history… Marsha Linehan holds absolutely nothing back, making good on the vow she made as a young woman to escape hell and help others do the same. This book—in its fierce honesty and, for the careful reader, its practical advice—will help anyone who has struggled to build a life worth living.”

Other Related Resources
Author's Website- Marsha M. Linehan, Ph.D., ABPP – the University of Washington
https://depts.washington.edu/uwbrtc/our-team/marsha-linehan/

Author's Website – founder of Behavioral Tech
https://behavioraltech.org/about-us/

The University of Washington Q and A series with Marsha M. Linehan
https://depts.washington.edu/uwbrtc/resources/qa-with-marsha-linehan/

National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) article honoring Dr. Masha Linehan. 
https://www.nami.org/blogs/nami-blog/october-2015/nami-honors-dr-marsha-linehan%2C-the-creator-of-dia#%3A~%3Atext%3DMarsha%20Linehan%2C%20The%20Creator%20of%20Dialectical%20Behavior%20Therapy%2C-OCT

The University of Washington Center for Behavioral Technology 
​https://depts.washington.edu/uwbrtc/our-team/marsha-linehan/
 
Background information about suicide prevention from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/suicide-prevention
 
Background information on suicide and suicide rates from the World Health Organization (WHO). https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/mental-health/suicide-rates

Psychological Figures and Concepts
Albert Bandura
Aaron Beck
Sigmund Freud
Arnold Lazarus
Walter Mischel
Carl Rogers
Philip Zimbardo
Behavior therapy
Borderline personality disorder
Cognitive-behavioral treatment
Depression
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Eating disorders
Electroconvulsive shock therapy
Endorphins
Implicit bias
Marshmallow experiment
Meditation
Mindfulness
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Personality disorders
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Self-injury
Social learning theory
Suicidal thoughts and behavior
Suicide prevention
Sympathetic nervous system

​When Men Behave Badly: The Hidden Roots of Sexual Deception, Harassment, and Assault
Author: David M. Buss
ISBN: 978-0-316-41935-2
 
APA Style Citation
Buss, D.M. (2021). When men behave badly: The hidden roots of sexual deception, harassment, and assault. Little Brown, Spark, New York, N.Y.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/When-Men-Behave-Badly-Harassment/dp/0316419354
 

​Book Description
David Buss, a well-known evolutionary psychologist, tackles the challenging subject of conflict between the genders based on natural inclination and desires for reproductive success. Men generally need to know women for a shorter period of time before they are ready to have a physically intimate relationship. Women would generally prefer to wait to get to know the person better before taking a relationship to the physical level. Buss contends that this delay is because women want to be certain that their potential child has a father who can provide for potential offspring. Buss explains these behaviors as a cost-analysis system. A woman must invest time to carry a child to their birth and provide nourishment after birth. A man, however, can never be entirely certain that a child is his (without genetic testing). To improve the chances of passing his genes to the next generation, he may want to create many possibilities to pass his genes along; this is how Buss explains that men tend to have more intimate partners than women. These different approaches create conflict between the sexes and often need clarification about what people want in a relationship. Buss is careful not to excuse any behavior but rather explain, based on an evolutionary lens, why these conflicts may occur. 
 
Buss warns that men with what he deems the “Dark Triad” characteristics may take these behaviors to a dangerous and sometimes violent level. The Dark Triad personality characteristics include narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Narcissists care only about themselves and their wishes and will go to great lengths to satisfy their own desires. Machiavellianism is marked by the desire to exploit and manipulate others. Psychopathology involves a lack of empathy and indifference to the suffering of others. These traits exacerbate differences between sexes. Men with these characteristics are often smooth and are often portrayed as “the bad boy.” While women may initially be drawn to confident and poised individuals, this can quickly go downhill. These characteristics often lead to flattery, deception and exploitation of their partners. The Dark Triad characteristics are more likely than other personality characteristics to lead to violence in relationships. Buss explains that these behaviors still exist because it is a way to draw in a partner and then keep them by manipulation and exploitation. Once again, Buss is careful not to condone these behaviors but rather explain why they exist and have persisted.
 
Cross-cultural research demonstrates that men prefer more sexual partners (desired average 1.87 over the next month) than women (.078 over the next month). Biological sex was more important than sexual orientation in the results of this study. While most assume that people of similar levels of attractiveness are likely to wind up with one another, Buss finds that men tend to overestimate their attractiveness. This misperception can lead to disappointment when things do not work out as they expect in the dating market. Research in attraction has long demonstrated that individuals of similar physical attractiveness often partner with one another. When men are unrealistic about their own levels of attractiveness, they are often disappointed by their potential mates, and they are then more likely to treat relationships as a casual and perhaps not exclusive relationship. Women generally try to mate with the top 20% of males, which allows these males to have multiple relationships because of the number of options for relationships. This also leaves many men without any mating partners. Much of what is discussed in introductory psychology courses regarding evolutionary psychology dates back to Charles Darwin and the mating of finches. David Buss is one of the most well-known evolutionary psychologists of the modern era and presents much evidence that evolutionary factors regarding mating are very much present today.
 
Other Related Resources
Podcast: The Michael Shermer Show: Interview with David Buss
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/181-david-buss-when-men-behave-badly-the-hidden-roots/id1352860989?i=1000521802892
 
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Dan Ariely
David Buss
Charles Darwin
 
Post-traumatic stress disorder
 

Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art
Author: James Nestor
ISBN:  976-0-7352-1361-6
 
APA Style Citation
Nestor, J. (2020). Breath: The new science of a lost art. Riverhead Books.
 
Buy this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Breath-New-Science-Lost-Art/dp/0735213615
​

​Book Description
We breathe thousands of times per day, but according to James Nestor, at least half of the population is doing it wrong. Nestor is a science writer who has been studying the research behind breathing better. He has found endless evidence dating back thousands of years and proposes some simple approaches to modifications in breathing that can lead to living with fewer ailments, diseases, and sleep disorders.
 
Primarily, and perhaps, most importantly, Nestor recommends breathing through the nose whenever possible. The nose serves as a filter and humidifies the air as it travels toward the lungs. Those who breathe through the mouth are more susceptible to illnesses and respiratory problems. Long-term mouth breathing can even change the shape of the face by narrowing the mouth and making it more difficult to breathe deeply. Mouth breathing can also lead to crooked teeth and a slack jaw. This slack jaw creates problems, such as snoring and sleep apnea. Over many generations, human faces have become longer and narrower, which often limits the air that comes into the body. Further, some people undergo plastic surgery procedures that slim their nose and nasal passages, inhibiting their ability to breathe well. Wide faces and broad jaws help facilitate larger airways and smoother breathing. 
 
While it is more difficult to breathe through the nose, it leads to 20 percent more oxygen than breathing through the mouth. Nestor examines skulls from all over the world and notices the differences between modern skulls and ancient skulls. The teeth of modern peoples no longer fit into their mouths as faces have gotten thinner. While this might be aesthetically pleasing, it is not beneficial for our health. Orthodontists indicate the thinning of the mouth increases the necessity for teeth straightening. Nestor notes that ancient skulls all had straight teeth because there was more room in the mouth, which also led to more room in the air pathways.
 
Nestor uses himself as a subject with Stanford sleep researchers. In the first part of the study, he lives for two weeks with silicon balls placed in his nasal passages, forcing him to become a mouth breather. Nestor’s partner in the study is Anders Olsen, from Sweden, who has long been interested in research on breathing. Each day the two take their pulse and other vitals and wear a device that measures oxygen in the blood and heart rate. The men try to go about their normal day but feel sluggish and tired when forced to mouth breathe. Nestor also records any sleep apnea episodes and audio throughout the night, along with a night vision security camera to track his movements. On the first night of the mouth breathing study, Nestor’s snoring increased by 1300 percent, and his sleep apnea increased four times. 
 
In the second part of the study, Nestor tapes his mouth shut while he sleeps to keep his nasal breathing continuing while he sleeps. While this is difficult at first, it becomes more and more of a habit as he gets used to leaving the tape on his mouth night after night. Within a day of changing to nose breathing, Nestor’s and Olsen’s vital signs returned to normal. Nestor explains that when we are mouth breathing, we are placing undue strain on our bodies and causing ailments that could easily be prevented.
 
Nestor recommends practicing breathing better by breathing in the nose for 5.5 seconds, holding the breath for as long as possible, and then exhaling for 5.5 seconds. With practice, these long, deep breaths become more of a habit. When we breathe deeply, we activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps calm the body. This is in contrast to short, shallow breaths, which occur when somebody is hyperventilating or experiencing an asthma attack. In this case, the sympathetic nervous system causes a fight-or-flight response, causing the body to panic. We should use all of our lungs to take deep, long breaths, and we should expel all of that air before intaking new air. Nestor encourages counting when breathing in, holding the air as long as possible, and then counting to five or six while expelling that air. Again, he emphasizes the importance of breathing in using the nose 
 
This slow breathing is also known as resonant breathing and has many of the same health benefits as meditation. Some Olympic swimmers and marathon runners have significantly improved their performance using this method. Alternate nasal breathing is another method used in many ancient yoga practices. Hold one side of the nose closed while breathing deeply, holding the breath, and then letting go. Sitting upright by elongating the spine and trying to touch the shoulder blades will open up the chest. Each technique that Nestor recommends comes from years of research and is backed by science. The book ends with many recommendations for better breathing and, thus better health. Practice can make these breathing techniques them become routine over time. Nestor recommends we do this for the myriad of short- and long-term health benefits.
 
Other Related Resources
James Nestor Website
https://www.mrjamesnestor.com
 
Breathing Exercises with James Nestor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itlRu-nTd9s
 
The Guardian: How one hour of slow breathing changed my life: James Nestor
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/jul/26/every-breath-you-take-the-lost-art-of-breathing
 
Lewis Howes Podcast: The truth about breathing and why you are doing it wrong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD2PNVzzoZY
 
CBC Sunday Magazine: How we breathe has major impacts on our body, James Nestor’s recommendations for improving it.
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/sunday/the-sunday-magazine-for-january-17-2021-1.5874646/how-we-breathe-has-major-impacts-on-our-body-james-nestor-has-recommendations-to-improve-it-1.5874681
 
Stephanie’s business books: Three lessons from James Nestor’s book breath
https://medium.com/stephs-business-bookshelf/three-lessons-from-the-book-breath-by-james-nestor-272c9f56b7a8
 
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Anxiety
Autonomic nervous system
Fight-or-flight
Neuropsychology
Parasympathetic nervous system
Sleep apnea
Stress
Sympathetic nervous system

The Undoing Project
Author: Michael Lewis
ISBN: 978-0-393-35477-5
 
APA Style Citation
Lewis, M. (2017). The undoing project. W.W. Norton & Company.
 
Buy This Book
https://wwnorton.com/books/The-Undoing-Project

Book Description
This story starts with two brilliant men on their own, who become an inseparable pair, and finally experience a tragic breakup. Author Michael Lewis, shares the remarkable story of Danny Kahneman and Amos Tversky in The Undoing Project. The story leaves the reader rooting for the pair at times, and struck at other times by the human nature of self-doubt and competitiveness that kept these two apart.
 
Danny Kahneman’s story starts with the German occupation of Paris and his family’s move to Palestine in 1946. It was in Israel that Danny built his own identity. After graduating from Hebrew University with a degree in psychology, he was required to serve in the Israeli army. He was assigned to the psychology unit. Danny was responsible for evaluating candidates for officer training school. The interview method of new recruits often led to a general impression, and he wanted to avoid human judgment. He created a personality test and the scores on the personality test predicted the recruit’s success at any job. The results became known as the “Kahneman score.” With minor adjustments it is still used today. He also helped the Israeli Air Force train fighter pilots and taught a course on perception. Danny was known as a genius in the classroom, but outside of the classroom, he was insecure. His mood was volatile and criticism often set him off. In 1965, he went to the University of Michigan for postdoctoral study. He was going to return to Hebrew University, but when his tenure was refused, he went to Harvard. He eventually put his feelings aside and returned to Hebrew University and studied attention.
 
Amos Tversky was an Israeli paratrooper, who was well-respected by his peers. When Hebrew University forced him to pick a concentration, he chose psychology. He rarely took notes and often taught himself. While in school, he came across a paper on the economic theory of decision-making that sparked his interest. In 1961, he left for the University of Michigan due to a lack of teachers at Hebrew University. In 1966, Amos returned to Israel with a wife and new interests.
 
Even though Amos and Danny were both at the University of Michigan at the same time, they rarely crossed paths. They didn’t seem to mix well together and often argued. The two met for a few lunches, but then went their separate ways. In 1969, both had returned to Hebrew University and in a twist of fate became inseparable. Two people with totally different personalities became soul mates. Danny thought he was always wrong, and Amos was sure he was right. Danny’s office was a mess, while Amos had a pencil on his desk. As they wrote together, you could hear laughter coming from the room. Amos helped Danny feel confident. They also taught a class together at Hebrew University, but it didn’t go very well from Danny’s point of view. They either finished each other’s sentences or were competing with one another. Their relationship was intense.
 
In 1973, Arab countries attacked Israel. Despite being abroad at the time, Amos and Danny headed back home to fight another war. They were both assigned to the psychology field unit where they were tasked to improve morale. With enthusiasm, they headed out to the battlefield. Danny would jump from the car and question people. He had the gift of finding solutions to problems when others failed. They analyzed the garbage left by the soldiers and supplied them with what they really wanted (canned grapefruit). They also looked at how tank drivers learned better in small bursts of time. Amos helped create a questionnaire to diagnose psychological trauma. While they were both excited about decision-making before the war, they lost faith in decision analysis after the war. How could the Israeli intelligence fail to anticipate the attack? Danny was beginning to realize decisions were made on stories, not numbers.
 
Soon after, Danny and Amos appear to have lose their way. They went back and forth on ideas and struggled to follow through. At one point Danny remembers Amos declaring, “We’re finished with judgement. Let’s do decision making.” By 1975, the two were working on risk-value theory. This was Amos’s field, so he did most of the talking. They explored the isolation effect and framing. It was during this time that Danny left his family and declared his love to Anne Treisman. Anne refused to move to Israel, so Danny moved to take a position beside her in Vancouver. Amos and Danny’s relationship began to crack.
 
For most of the 1980s, Amos was a professor of behavioral science at Stanford University and Danny was at the University of British Columbia. They agreed to take turns flying to visit each other on weekends. Danny was working on new ideas, and while Amos seemed interested, he didn’t contribute. Danny shared his new work on the rules of undoing and was excited about receiving the glory. When asked after a talk about where the ideas came from, Amos said, “Danny and I don’t talk about these things.” To Danny this was the beginning of the end of them. When asked about Amos, Danny said they were no longer working together. Danny began to collaborate with someone else on a paper. Meanwhile, Amos was sprinting around giving his own lectures and talking with the Soviet Union. Amos was interested in Danny’s thoughts, but they were no longer in the same room. With the separation, ideas became more personal, which was not the case when the two began working together. There was tension and they struggled to collaborate.
 
In 1983, the two were approached by a Harvard psychiatrist, Miles Shore, who was writing a book on people who worked together for at least five years and produced interesting work. Danny shared how it was hard since he got married and moved to North America. Amos was vague, but many of the problems had happened since leaving Israel. Danny admitted feeling like he was in Amos’s shadow. However, it was believed that the worst was behind them, and they would move forward together. In 1984, Amos received the MacArthur “genius” grant. Even though the work was done with Danny, his name was not mentioned. Amos was the brilliant one and Danny was the careful one. Danny noticed the sole attention Amos was receiving for their joint work.
 
Throughout the 1980s, they appeared to be still working together. Their work was being criticized, but it failed to bring them together. Danny disliked conflict and would not review papers that made him angry. Amos embraced conflict. He wanted to write an article, to demonstrate the power of heuristics. His favorite vignette was about Linda (see activity). Danny gave the “Linda problem” to 12 students at his university, and all fell for it. When giving participants just the two alternatives being tested, 85% still insisted Linda was more likely to be a bank teller in the feminist movement. They wrote a paper and ended the argument about whether the mind reasoned probabilistically. The paper was jointly written, but it was painful for the two.
 
In 1986, Danny moved to Berkley and soon after went into a depression. He saw Amos often, but it was causing more pain. He wrote a letter to Amos acknowledging their relationship had changed. Danny wanted Amos to correct the perception that they were not equal partners. However, Amos lashed out and hurt Danny deeply when he shared that Harvard had wanted only him and not the both of them.  Danny left Berkley for Princeton and wanted Amos out of his mind. Amos was hurt and couldn’t understand the need for the distance. Amos still wanted to write a book together, but in Danny’s mind, they were over.
 
In 1993, Amos asked Danny to help him silence a critic. Danny was more sympathetic and wanted to reason with the critic. He agreed to help as a friend, but was soon miserable. Danny was staying with Amos in New York when he had a dream that he was told he only had six months to live and he didn’t want to be working on this garbage. When he told Amos of the dream, he scolded him and said he would expect him to finish this with him. Shortly after this incident, Danny read a list of new members of the National Academy of Sciences, to which Amos belonged for nearly a decade, and his name was still not on the list. Danny was hurt and walked out on his friend. Three days later, Amos called and told him he had malignant melanoma. He had six months to live. In May, he gave his final lecture at Stanford and few even guessed that he was ill. Danny spoke to Amos almost daily leading up to his death. They were writing together, but Amos died before they could finish their last project. He died on June 2, 1996.
 
In 2002, Danny won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his work in applying psychology to economics, especially in the areas of judgment and decision-making under uncertainty. The two disciplines of psychology and economics have struggled to work together. But from the work of these two greats came the discipline “behavioral economics.” In addition, the US government has become sensitive to framing and loss aversion. The food pyramid turned into MyPlate and Americans could more easily see a healthy diet thanks to psychology. Amos and Danny’s work showed economists and policymakers the importance of psychology. It had practical importance and was not just stuff done in a lab.
 
Note: If recommending this book to students, be aware there is a limited amount of swear words used in the book.
 
Other Related Resources
New York Times- From Michael Lewis, the Story of Two Friends Who Change How we Think About How We Think
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/06/books/review/michael-lewis-undoing-project.html
The New Yorker- The Two Friends Who Changed How We Think About How We Think
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-two-friends-who-changed-how-we-think-about-how-we-think
Psychological Concepts and Figures
Sigmund Freud
Danny Kahneman
Kurt Lewin
George Miller
Walter Mischel
B.F. Skinner
Edward Thorndike
Amos Tversky
 
Algorithm
Anchoring adjustment
Aptitude tests
Behaviorism
Behavioral economics
Cognitive bias
Cocktail party effect
Framing
Gambler’s fallacy
Gestalt psychology
Halo effect
Heuristics (availability and representativeness)
Hindsight bias
Hypnosis
Isolation effect
Mϋller-Lyer optical illusion
Myers-Briggs personality test
Peak-end rule
Reference point
Purkinje effect
Regression to the mean
Reinforcement
Sample size
Similarity
Selective listening
Subliminal perception

Give and Take: Why helping others drives our success
Author: Adam Grant
ISBN: 978-0-670-02655-5
 
APA Style Citation 
Grant, A. (2013). Give and take: Why helping others drives our success. Penguin Book.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Give-Take-Helping-Others-Success/dp/0143124986
​

​Book Description
Adam Grant discusses the potential benefits and drawbacks of being a giver, matcher or taker. We can all think of individuals who fall into each of these given categories, and Grant sets out to determine how each of these types of individuals fares in a competitive environment. What he finds is somewhat surprising. Grant examines students in the first year of medical school and finds that those who are identified as “givers” wind up at the bottom of their medical school class. In large part, this occurs because they are spending time helping others instead of focusing on their own work. Takers, on the other hand, wind up on top because they are utilizing their most generous classmates to help them prepare for exams. Matchers wind up in the middle as they will help others if they believe that in the future, that favor can be returned. These results may cause you to believe that givers are often taken advantage of to their own detriment. Grant does find evidence that givers make, on average, 14 percent less than takers, who are far more likely to aggressively negotiate their salaries. 
 
Givers however, often have unseen advantages. They are likely to benefit from dormant ties, having done a favor for someone years before, when the giver needs something in return, people are more than happy to help out. Givers do not help others out with this intention in mind, and that becomes clear to others who appreciate their genuine assistance. Givers are willing to provide with no expectation of reciprocity. Matchers, on the other hand, let reciprocity drive their decisions to help (or not) others. Conversely, takers often “kiss up and kick down.” They look for ways that others can help them get ahead and often treat those who cannot give them an advantage with disdain. Samuel Johnson once wrote, “The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.” Grant gives the example of the disgraced former CEO of Enron Kenneth Lay, who filled his company’s annual reports with photos of himself. His leadership at Enron became about himself (a telltale sign of a taker) rather than the company and how the company could do good for others and benefit its shareholders. Takers burn bridges over time, looking out only for themselves and seeking out others whom they can use to their own benefit and then discard after those benefits no longer bear any returns. 
 
Famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright is a classic taker. He took advantage of clients, charging them exorbitant amounts of money to build what he wanted, disregarding their requests. He had his associates do most of the work but rarely gave them credit and often did not pay them, believing the opportunity to work with him was payment enough. Eventually, people stopped working with him, and he earned fewer and fewer commissions over time, leaving him nearly destitute. Grant indicates that takers may be geniuses, but givers are genius makers.
 
Givers are happy to rely on the expertise of others and give them recognition without fearing that the abilities of others poorly reflect on themselves. The taker wants to claim all of the credit for themselves and often put others down both privately and publicly. Givers enjoy mentoring, they like finding diamonds in the rough and helping smooth out the edges. Givers are also more likely to demonstrate grit and recognize it in others, they, on the whole, work harder and longer than matchers and takers.
 
There are downfalls to being a giver, and Grant points to the potential for burnout, but givers often thrive when helping others, and the five-minute rule is one that many high-powered givers practice. If helping someone out takes less than five minutes it should be done almost immediately. This short time commitment can serve a great benefit to others and can be executed quickly by the giver. Much research has now demonstrated that helping others is a main factor in increasing happiness, so these small actions serve as a win-win for both the giver and the person they are helping. A bit more work from givers provides benefits for both themselves and others.
 
Givers may be more prone to being taken advantage of, so they must recognize agreeable takers who seem sincere but are only looking out for themselves. Givers often initially give more than they receive but do not seem bothered by this. Once they figure out where to best focus their energies and can identify people who may be taking advantage of their generosity they fare better. In some cases, givers must be more assertive to stand up to unrelenting takers. However, successful givers are happy to stop helping takers when they realize it takes away from helping those who can genuinely benefit and do good for others because of their assistance. Givers advance themselves without cutting others down and find ways to expand the pie so that everyone benefits. 
 
Grant returns to the medical school in the fifth year and finds, at this point, the givers are on top of the class. Over the many years, medical students spend together, they realize whom they can count on for help and who is in it just for themselves. This causes the takers to be rejected and isolated, whereas the givers benefit from their generosity towards others and people are more than happy to return a favor or help them out. Givers create a ripple effect of success around them, and while they may seem to lose out in the short run, it often serves to the advantage of both themselves and others in the long run. It takes time for people to understand what givers have to offer, and Grant likens it to losing the 100-yard dash but winning the marathon. 
 
Other Related Resources
Adam Grant’s Webpage for Give and Take
https://adamgrant.net/book/give-and-take/
 
Give and Take Quiz by Adam Grant
https://adamgrant.net/quizzes/give-and-take-quiz/
 
YouTube Are you a Giver or a Taker? 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyXRYgjQXX0
 
Why should you be a giver?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl-jqIoAxEw
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Dan Ariely
Elliot Aronson
Susan Cain
Raymond Cattell
Robert Cialdini
Angela Duckworth
Jonathan Haight
Daniel Kahneman
Daniel Pink
Robert Rosenthal
Herbert Simon
Frans De Waal
 
Cognitive dissonance
Commoner’s dilemma
Common identity
Empathy
Fight-or-flight
Grit
Motivation
Reciprocity
Responsibility bias
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Sunk-cost fallacy
 
 
 
 
 

Brain Hacks:  Life-Changing Strategies to Improve Executive Functioning
​Author: Lara Honos-Webb, PhD
ISBN number: 13. 978–1641521604
 
APA Style Citation
Honos-Webb. (2018). Life-changing Strategies to Improve Executive Functioning. Althea Press.
 
Buy This Book
BRAIN HACKS: Life-Changing Strategies to Improve Executive Functioning: Honos-Webb PhD, Lara: 9781641521604: Amazon.com: Books

Book Description
According to the APA dictionary, executive function refers to a wide range of high-level cognitive processes (planning, decision-making, problem-solving, action sequencing, task assignment and organization, effortful and persistent goal pursuit, inhibition of competing impulses, flexibility in goal selection, and goal-conflict resolution. These skills often involve language, judgment, abstraction, concept formation, logic, and reasoning). They are related to neural networks in the frontal lobes and especially the prefrontal cortex.
 
Although there is no definitive set of executive functions (researchers define them differently), in Brain Hacks, the author focuses on five specific areas of executive functioning: focus and attention, planning and organization, cognitive flexibility, emotional regulation, and impulse control. Each of the areas is interconnected, and increasing one ability will improve the others. The author is a practicing clinical psychologist who shares her ideas for improving executive functioning across multiple areas. The text begins with short yes/no questionnaires for each of the five executive functioning areas.
 
Sample Questions from the Organization and Planning Executive Function Assessment

• Do you have multiple calendars or apps to manage your time, yet use them infrequently?
• Do you miss out on opportunities because you forget to follow up or track important contacts you have made?
• Do friends, teachers, or family members complain that your space is sloppy?

 
By counting the number of yes responses, students will have a general idea of which of these areas of executive functioning are the most likely sources of challenges or problems. The areas with lower numbers of yes responses are areas of greater strength.    
 
The book provides specific exercises and methods to improve each area of executive functioning, which can be incorporated into classroom activities and projects. Improving in these areas of functioning, according to author Lara Honos-Webb increases personal, academic, and professional success. Improving executive functioning also can lead to increased work-life balance, reduced stress, and improved relationships. The exercises emphasize how small, continual efforts over time create meaningful growth. 
 
Each chapter emphasizes a separate area of executive functioning, provides a summary and background information, including psychological and biological influences, and ends with a bulleted list of key takeaways. There is also a series of exercises, tips, and special “brain hacks” to improve executive functioning. Brain hacks are tips for using the mind’s innate abilities to learn and improve to the greatest advantage. The book is designed as a tool to be used continually instead of being read once as inspiration and is laid out efficiently to find ways to increase functioning in everyday life mindfully. In the psychology classroom, the “brain hacks” and exercises can become engaging classroom activities and projects that allow students to apply what they learn in a personal manner. These activities can be spread across various units in a psychology course, including motivation and emotion, stress and health, neuroscience, memory, clinical, and developmental to increase student engagement and build metacognitive skills.

Psychological Figures and Concepts
Cognitive flexibility
Emotional regulation
Executive functioning
Exposure therapy
Fixed mindset
Focus and attention
Growth mindset
Impulse control
Metacognition
Motivation
Multitasking
Neuroplasticity
Planning and organization
Prefrontal cortex
Resilience
Working memory

​Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning
Authors: Peter C. Brown, Henry Roediger and Mark A. McDaniel
ISBN: 978-0-674-72901-8
 
APA Style Citation
Brown, C.B., Roediger, H., & McDaniel, M. (2014). Make it stick: The science of successful learning. Harvard University Press.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Make-Stick-Science-Successful-Learning/dp/0674729013
 

Book Description
Peter Brown, Henry Roediger, and Mark McDaniel set out to give practical advice on strategies to study more efficiently and effectively. Often, students spend hours poring over material while using rote memorization to cram information into their memories before a large exam. Cognitive science has demonstrated that these strategies are ineffective, but change has been slow to move to more effective strategies. Make it Stick sets out to dispel myths of learning that many use but to little effect, and instead replace these methods with more effective strategies that have been vetted and supported by research.
 
Educators hope that students remember content for exams, but more generally, almost any educator will speak to the importance of applying the content to practical situations and critical thinking skills. This book is for any student or educator who wants to implement successful study strategies that lead to long-term retention.
 
The interleaving process allows students to see how seemingly disparate topics are related. If a psychology class teaches parts of the brain in the biological bases of behavior chapter, they can review these concepts in the memory chapter and again in the clinical chapter. By reviewing the content and finding the relationship between concepts, students understand that information does not exist in silos, and that the information can be applied in multiple settings. Interleaving can also occur when practicing skills, recursive skills applied in different ways can help students transfer these skills to novel situations. If an educator practices the skill of writing an FRQ, students can practice mini-FRQs at the start of the course, complete verbal FRQs via short videos, and apply the same FRQ skill in partners or small groups.
 
Information can be layered and reviewed until students master both content and skill.
Students often sit in class and claim to understand what the teacher says. They can look at flashcards and read their notes, but when it comes time to take the exam, they often still struggle to retrieve the content. Retrieval practice must involve the testing effect in which students actually test themselves on what they know or do not know. Teachers can conduct class discussions in which students take notes but test themselves at the end of the class and write down everything they can remember. What they cannot recall will guide their studying as they have a clear path and focus on what they still need to study. This can also be done electronically with online quizzing sites or paper and pencil exit slips. These tests need not be extensive; a few questions can often allow both instructor and student to understand better where students need extra support in their learning. Using mnemonics can also support student learning by serving as a quick retrieval cue to bring back the information to be remembered. Buzz words or visual analogies are also helpful to achieve this goal. 
 
Once a major assessment has been given, time should be provided to reflect on what students have or have not mastered. They should examine the incorrect questions and review the options to determine the correct response. They should write down what confused them and then continue to explain how they will remember this concept in the future. This metacognition alone has been demonstrated to improve student understanding of the material. Learning is taking place by focusing on what still needs to be understood and thinking deeply about how that can be achieved.
 
Students should also be careful to check their biases, such as confirmation bias or overconfidence, that may now allow them to understand and process all available data. 
Multitasking is a tremendous suck of time, and changing between tasks necessitates that the student reorientates themselves around the task at hand. The Pomodoro method asks students to set a timer for 25 minutes in which they are solely focused on a singular task. This efficiency should allow for more concentration, and the effect will be to create a better project in less time than if multitasking. After the 25 minutes are up, the student can take a break, text a friend, have a snack, or engage in another activity that they enjoy. 
 
We know that when students use rote memorization to recall information, it is ineffective. Instead, they should try to make the material relevant to their own lives. This semantic encoding provides a deeper processing level and leads to long-term information retention. Any opportunity to demonstrate how material is relevant to the individual (self-referent effect) will create a deeper level of understanding.
 
Finally, students who cram for an exam may remember information the next day for a test, but they will find that this information is not retained in the long term. Distributed practice or studying in small chunks is an effective way to transfer information into long-term memory. All things being equal, a student who spends 4 hours studying in 30-minute chunks should perform better and remember information longer than if they were to study for 4 hours straight.
 
Make It Stick provides learning strategies that are backed by cognitive science and that have been demonstrated to be effective. These strategies can be applied or amended to apply to all content areas and across all grade levels. 
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Carol Dweck
Howard Gardner
William James
Daniel Kahneman
B.F. Skinner
Robert Sternberg
Paul Tough
 
Confirmation bias
Consolidation
Context-dependent learning
Distributed practice
Effortful processing
Elaboration
False consensus effect
Feedback
Fluid Intelligence
Flynn effect
Framing effect
Free recall
Forgetting curve
Hindsight bias
Information processing model
Interleaving
Metacognition
Misinformation effect
Mnemonic devices
Neurogenesis
Overconfidence
Repetition
Retrieval practice
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Spaced practice
Synaptic pruning
Systems 1 and 2
Testing effect
Trial and error
Varied practice
Working memory
 
 
Other Resources
Book Website
https://www.retrievalpractice.org/make-it-stick
 
APA Blog: Takeaways from Make it Stick
https://blog.apaonline.org/2020/02/19/takeaways-from-make-it-stick-the-science-of-successful-learning/
 
Online Learning Insights
https://blog.apaonline.org/2020/02/19/takeaways-from-make-it-stick-the-science-of-successful-learning/
 
Experience Life: Make it Stick: How to Learn Effectively
https://blog.apaonline.org/2020/02/19/takeaways-from-make-it-stick-the-science-of-successful-learning/
 
The Scope of Science: 3 Study Tips from the Book Make it Stick
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyHAjVJlGFo
 

Generation Sleepless: Why Tweens and Teens Aren’t Sleeping Enough and How We Can Help Them
Author: Heath Turgeon and Julie Wright
ISBN-10:‎ 0593192133
ISBN-13:‎ 978-0593192139
 
APA Style Citation
Turgeon, H. & Wright, J. (2022). Generation sleepless: Why tweens and teens aren’t sleeping enough and how we can help them. Penguin Random House LLC.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Generation-Sleepless-Tweens-Sleeping-Enough/dp/0593192133
​

​Book Description
What if you could easily enhance your focus, remember more, make stronger decisions, control your emotions and interact better with others, and get sick less often? All it takes is sleep! The benefits of sleep are endless. The father of sleep medicine, William Dement, once described sleep as life’s mood music. If you get good sleep, your background music is positive, and the world is seen through an optimistic lens. However, when sleep deprived, your background music becomes negative, and the world becomes dark and gloomy. We know that sleep is important for babies and children, but what about teenagers? The answer is, yes! Sleep is necessary for the important reconstructive processes of pruning and myelin formation. We have all heard the stereotype that teens are lazy and unmotivated. However, teens’ sleep clock starts to change in middle school. They generally can’t fall asleep until 11 p.m., and want to sleep until at least 8 a.m. Contrary to negative stereotypes, it has nothing to do with laziness. In addition, they have been accused of spending too much time on screens and are struggling with mental health issues. Yet, these symptoms are also associated with a lack of sleep. The first part of Generation Sleepless: Why Tweens and Teens Aren’t Sleeping Enough and How We Can Help Them focuses on the science of the teenage brain and sleep. Teens today are the most sleep-deprived we have ever seen. By some estimates, only five percent of teens get the necessary sleep on school nights.
 
The book’s second part provides the tools to improve teens’ sleep. Teenagers can start to regain their sleep loss by simply adding 30 minutes a night, totaling 2.5 hours by the end of the school week. The book provides lots of helpful hints to becoming a sleep-forward family. One of the greatest sleep predictors of adolescent sleep is the family’s sleep habits. Adolescents with parent-set, earlier bedtimes have the best indicators of positive mental health.
 
Teens simply do not get enough sleep! It might be due to the perfect storm of their shifting biology, technology, academic pressure, early high school start times, and the myth that sleep is a luxury rather than a necessity. Teens need 9-10 hours of sleep, not the current average of 6.5 hours of sleep they are typically getting on a school night. When teens sleep for only 6 hours, they are missing a quarter of their night’s sleep and half their REM sleep. The problem is often that we don’t see the issues associated with sleep loss. Instead, we see anxiety, depression, ADHD, apathy and underperformance, and drug use. Many teens and parents don’t recognize sleep loss as a problem. Sleep deprivation is a real problem and the signs include: waking up more than once a week, sleeping two hours or more on weekends, falling asleep quickly during passive events or morning hours, having low energy, being irritable, having a lack of interest, drinking caffeine or vaping, and late-afternoon or evening naps. A study found almost 10% of seniors in the U.S., say they have fallen asleep behind the wheel.
 
Middle childhood (6-10 years) is the ideal time for good sleep. But by middle school, many have lost their healthy sleep habits, and by age 15 most are sleep deprived. The child’s brain is known for its growth period, but the adolescent brain is going through an equally important stage of growth. During adolescence, the brain is beginning a new wave of brain reorganization. The prefrontal cortex is becoming stronger and efficient. Thanks to pruning, the unused neural connections are dying off and others are strengthening. While pruning is in process, myelin encases the pathways and increases speed. The authors use the analogy of how a town with small roads over time lays down major highways connecting places that are frequented. The flashy, billion-dollar upgrade happens largely while asleep. Brain cells in the frontal lobe are connecting to the limbic system during sleep. Many scientists believe that sleep deprivation during adolescence may permanently alter brain development and behavior. When you are not getting enough sleep it raises the risk of mental health issues, increases stress levels, decreases memory storage, and hampers learning and academic success. With less sleep, there are more risky behaviors. The higher powers of reasoning and impulse control are compromised. Teens, especially 15 to 16-year-olds, feel dopamine more intensely, leading to thrill-seeking and addictive behaviors. When you are getting enough sleep, neurotransmitters are released to increase positive emotion and focus, hormones strengthen and repair muscles, and the immune system works properly. Proper sleep leads to a healthy metabolism, positive eating behaviors, and weight management. Sleep is necessary to encode information from short-term memory to long-term memory.
 
Sleep is controlled by the circadian rhythm or the “master clock” that keeps time and creates the 24-hour cycle. Kids have a natural cycle of falling asleep by 8 p.m. and waking by 6 a.m. But the teenager has a “sleep phase delay” of two hours or more. It is hard for many teens to fall asleep before 11 p.m. Sleep is also controlled by the homeostatic sleep drive that increases the pressure to sleep, the longer you are awake. As adenosine, the by-product of burning energy, levels increase, you are more likely to sleep. The circadian rhythm works to give you a burst of energy late afternoon to help counteract the homeostatic sleep drive and keep you away into the evening. This is why you feel drowsy mid-afternoon and then get a second wind. Not only is the teen circadian rhythm delayed, but the sleep pressure builds more slowly across the day and the teen’s second wind happens around 9 p.m. The teen’s biology is working against the schedule created for them.
 
Teens are faced with several additional factors that contribute to their sleep problems. Teens suffer from a social jet lag, where their brain’s clock and the outside world are not aligned. When students sleep on different schedules during the school week and break, it is equivalent to flying cross-country twice a week. They face similar side effects of feeling hungry, tired, and out of sorts. Some additional symptoms include: daytime fatigue, weight gain, concentration issues, digestive problems, moodiness, negative thoughts, chronic health conditions, insomnia, and family conflict. In 2011, the smartphone gained popularity, and now over 95% of teens have smartphones or access to them. While many studies are finding a negative correlation between digital media and well-being, the fine print is also showing that screen time is connected to sleep loss. Sleep debt is a consequence of too much technology and the two share the same symptoms. The light from the screen tricks the body into keeping you awake. Technology also creates flow and keeps teens engrossed where they lose track of time. Smartphones have become the new teddy bear. Around 90% of teens have at least one device in their sleep environment. A final piece to the puzzle is early school start times and academic overload. Currently, over half of the public schools in the U.S. start during the 7 a.m. hour. When teens wake up at 5 a.m. to get ready for school, it is equivalent to an adult waking up at 3 a.m. Research has shown that when schools shift to later start times, students continued to go to bed at the same time, but had more time to sleep in the morning. There is resistance to changing school start times, but the benefits have been proven.
 
So, what can you do? While it may feel like there is no possibility for change, there is! The authors use the second part of the book to help teenagers and families create a plan of action. At home, teens can choose to limit time on homework, rethink commitments, understand sleeps benefits, and remember the power of a FOND family. The acronym stands for family rituals, open play, nature, and downtime. Parents set the example for their children. The authors go further by providing examples of how to take a sleep-forward approach as a family. They talk about how to use family meetings to set up an environment and schedule for success. They also provide the five habits of happy sleepers. Individuals can create a sleep bubble with the five habits that spell SLEEP. First, Set your sleep times. Regularity is important. Second, Lay out your three routines. Select two routines before sleep, and one after sleep to provide a cushion around your sleep bubble. Third, Extract your sleep stealers. Identify what is stealing your sleep and remove them, while also paying attention to environmental cues that enhance sleep. Fourth, Eliminate light and make your bedroom a cave. A wind-down time of decreased light an hour before bed can be especially helpful. Fifth, Practice a sleep-friendly daytime. What happens during the day impacts your night. Pay attention to early sunlight, exercise, daytime foods, caffeine, alcohol, bedtime snacks, and smart napping. This advice sounds amazing and you want teens to implement it right away, but it is important to recognize the need for teen motivation and independence. Instead invite teens to learn, brainstorm, and problem-solve around their own sleep issues. Point out the value of good sleep to students and let them decide to make the changes on their own. The authors provide a more clear and effective communication method called ALP. Attune- pause, listen, and lead with empathy. Limit-set- set and hold reasonable limits on a consistent basis. Problem-solve- help teens come up with their own solutions. Sleep is easy to dismiss because we are unconscious when it happens. However, it is a very important process for teens. Give the five habits, all five, a try for two weeks to create a sleep bubble that promotes natural sleeping powers.
 
Other Related Resources
Authors’- Press
https://www.thehappysleeper.com/press
 
Authors’ Website- Happy Sleeper
https://www.thehappysleeper.com/
 
Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School- Resources section
https://sleep.hms.harvard.edu/resources
 
Psychological Concepts and Figures
William Dement
Ivan Pavlov
 
Adenosine
Adolescence
Amygdala
Circadian rhythm
Cognitive-behavioral therapy
Creativity
Delayed gratification- Marshmallow experiment
EEG
Evolutionary perspective
Excitatory vs. inhibitory
Flow
Frontal lobes
Glial cells
Habits
Homeostatic sleep drive
Hormones- Leptin, Ghrelin
Immune system
Learned helplessness
Light therapy
LTP
Melatonin
Memory
Mental health
Myelin sheath
Negative reinforcement
Neurotransmitters- Serotonin, Dopamine
NREM
Paleo-sleep
Plasticity
Prefrontal cortex
Pruning
Puberty
Punishment
Rebound sleep
REM
Reticular activating system
Sensitive period
Sleep bubble
Sleep debt
Sleep deprivation
Sleep disorders
Sleep spindles
Social jet lag
Suprachiasmatic nuclei
Unconditional positive regard

Cultural DNA: The Psychology of Globalization
Author: Gurnek Bains
ISBN-10: ‎ 9781118928912
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1118928912
 
APA Style Citation
Gains, G. (2015). Cultural DNA: The psychology of globalization.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Cultural-DNA-Globalization-Gurnek-Bains/dp/1118928911
​

Book Description
How can humanity be alike and different at the same time? Humans express similar fears, challenges, desires, and motivations. However, if we oversimplify with stereotypes or assume that everyone is the same, these assumptions can become problematic. Humans do have different behaviors and preferences, and seeing the individual for who they are is helpful. But exaggerating these differences is also problematic. Author, Gurnek Baines, explores the cultural DNA of eight regions around the world, including North America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East, India, China, Europe, Latin America, and Australia. He explains cultural DNA as “the deeply grained aspects of culture that are replicated over generations rather than biological differences.” While he acknowledges biological factors, he points out the environmental challenges that each culture faced historically. He uses primary data, secondary sources of information, and explanatory research as his evidence. While the discussion of culture can be a sensitive topic, his exploration of the main regions has the reader analyzing culture on a deeper level. He hopes to foster empathy and respect and have readers question their implicit bias.
 
Each chapter of the book explores a particular region more in-depth. Baines describes the founders and their effects. In his “looking ahead” section of each chapter he summarizes the gifts each culture offers the world and some attributes to be addressed so the gifts do not hold them back in a changing world.
 
America- The Change-Makers
Gifts

• Culture of change-makers, embrace the new
• Positivity and optimism, tolerance of plurality, preparedness to take risks, functionality

 
Sub-Sahara Africa: Under Nature’s Shadow
Gifts

• Energy, daily joy, laughter, intellectual flexibility, creativity, live in the moment
• Human relationships are valued, interdependence
• Desire to control the environment, used to nature being extreme and unpredictable

 
India: Beyond this World
Gifts

• Preference for thinking, talking, and perceiving, as well as looking within
• Diversity and nonviolence
• Business strengths in IT, pharmaceutical research, finance

 
Middle East: Ambivalence and Uncertainty in the Modern Age
Gifts

• Intellectualism, openness to learning, respect for knowledge
• Commercial instinct and skills

 
China: The Seekers of Harmony
Gifts

• A striving for balance and harmony
• Introverted

 
Europe: The Equal Society
Gifts

• Deep sense of equality, tolerance of individuality, rigorous and systematic approach to thinking
• Environmental mastery and resulting dynamic creativity

 
Latin America: The Ever-Changing Melting Pot
Gifts

• Challenging power and rebellion; movement to more open, balanced, and transparent systems
• Resourcefulness, flexibility, creativity, collaboration

 
Australia: Mateship in a Far-Off Land
Gifts

• Practical-mindedness, pulling together, incredible resilience in difficult conditions

 
Other Related Resources
Gurnek Bains- CEO and Founder of Global Future
https://ourglobalfuture.com/about-us/

People Matters-Big Interview with Gurnke Bains
https://www.peoplematters.in/article/strategic-hr/big-interview-gurnke-bains-11601
 
Psychological Concepts and Figures
Charles Darwin
Sigmund Freud
Carl Jung
Abraham Maslow
Walter Mischel
 

Tales From Both Sides of the Brain: A Life in Neuroscience
Author: Michael S. Gazzaniga
ISBN-10: ‎0062228803
ISBN-13: 978-0062228802
 
APA Style Citation
Gazzaniga, M.S. (2015). Tales from both sides of the brain: A life in neuroscience. HarperCollins.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Both-Sides-Brain-Neuroscience/dp/0062228803
​

Book Description
Michael Gazzaniga stated, “Science results from a profoundly social process.” Tales From Both Sides of the Brain: A Life in Neuroscience is an autobiography about his research, but also the friendships, opportunities, and professional moves Dr. Gazzaniga made as he changed how we think of the brain. He shares his story of how scientists are a blend of both scientific and personal life experiences. The book focuses on six split-brain patients that helped change much of what is known in cognitive neuroscience. As he quickly points out, while much of scientific work is routine, the discoveries are still exciting! His story is one with a beginning and middle, but no end.
 
Gazzaniga’s early days started at Caltech, under Dr. Roger Sperry. While Gazzaniga was the novice, Sperry was the pro in split-brain research. Most of Sperry’s work was done with cats, but he was a great surgeon and fiercely competitive. Under Sperry’s guidance, Gazzaniga moved from studying animals to human patients in 1962. Their first human patient was William (Bill) Jenkins. They had to figure out the basics of how to test someone with a split brain. The left half of the body sends MOST information about touch to the right hemisphere. However, the mere presence or absence of being touched goes to both hemispheres. They used the visual system because it was simple and highly lateralized. The two had their differences, but when Sperry won the Nobel Prize in 1981, Gazzaniga wrote an appreciation article for him published in Science magazine.
 
Research shows that the left brain specializes in speech and language processes, while the right brain specializes in visual tasks. However, many split-brain patients used external self-cueing to help unify some of their disconnected information. Most eventually gained control of their ipsilateral (same-side) arm. It was this dual control of both the contralateral (opposite-side) and ipsilateral (same-side) that made it hard to evaluate the specialization of the left and right brains. Gazzaniga had no idea how rich split-brain research would become until more cases were added to the pool, and these newer cases were complicating. Like an old married couple…subtle cueing between the two is going on all the time. Similarly, half of the brain is living next to the other half and the ability of split-brain patients to look as if they were integrated develops over time. The two mental systems were being forced to share the same resources, and somehow, they worked it out.  This made it hard to do the research.
 
Gazzaniga’s professional career involved many moves. Wanting his own lab, he moved to the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was both a teacher and researcher, and quickly moved up to department chair. It was here that he began his closest lifelong friendship with David Premack. During this time, he also led his first interdisciplinary forum. Dr. Gazzaniga wanted to be associated with a medical center to see a wider range of neurological patients and with a little east coast fever, he moved to New York. There he set up a weekly lunch with Leon Festinger for the next 20 years. It was his friendships with Premack and Festinger that helped him continually reassess his and Sperry’s claim that there were two minds in one brain. Once again, Gazzaniga was on the move. This time to Dartmouth. His graduate student was Joseph LeDoux and they created a mobile lab to go to the patients. It was a time of new patients, discoveries, and insights. It was discovered that the left brain was an interpreter. When the left brain had no clue what was going on, it would try to explain it away. Gazzaniga moved again to Cornell University Medical College and convinced LeDoux to join him. Together they continued to complete critical experiments to understand the brain. It was in New York that Gazzaniga met up with George Miller. While he found him and his office intimidating, they quickly became friends and together launched cognitive neuroscience, the study of how the brain creates the mind. An important part of Gazzaniga’s academic life was holding special meetings in special places. He led an annual, weeklong conference. When he moved back to Dartmouth, he brought with the Cognitive Neuroscience Institute and created the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. But the west coast was calling and Gazzaniga moved to the University of California, Davis. His patients traveled to him and he did a PBS special hosted by Alan Alda. Dr. Gazzaniga continued his training of the next generation by holding an annual conference, and publishing their work in one large reference book. He also helped with efforts to build a database for brain imaging experiments done around the world. He requested researchers submit data in order to be published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. It ended up not working out, but was a great step for more public communication.
 
While science has always been important to Gazzaniga, he is also interested in many other issues. Early on as a graduate student, he hosted a political debate on campus that garnered much attention. He credits this first experience to his ability to organize future scientific meetings and help translate complicated topics for public communication. Over the next several decades, Gazzaniga and his second wife, Charlotte, hosted somewhere around 300 dinner parties. These social gatherings played a significant role in the field of cognitive neuroscience. He also talked his friend, the political commentator, into interviewing his friends (e.g., B.F. Skinner, Premack, Festinger) on his show Firing Line. He became interested in public affairs and wrote on the problem of crime prevention. Gazzaniga also served on the President’s Council of Bioethics and worked to help answer the embryo question- when human life begins? Pursuing diverse issues has always been important to him.
 
Gazzaniga’s story is one of science, people, and experiences. He concludes with reminding the reader the story has not ended. While some of the easy, low-hanging fruit, has been picked in neuroscience, there are still more answers to find.
 
Other Related Resources
Author's Website- University of California, Santa Barbara
https://people.psych.ucsb.edu/gazzaniga/michael/
Lessons Learned from a Life in Science
https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/lessons-learned-from-a-life-in-science

Psychological Figures and Concepts
Paul Broca
Noam Chomsky
Leon Festinger
Clever Hans
David Hubel
Daniel Kahneman
Karl Lashley
Joseph LeDoux
Kurt Lewin
Margaret Mead
George Miller
Daniel Pinker
David Premack
Stanley Schachter
B.F. Skinner
Roger Sperry
Endel Tulving
Robert Zajonc
 
Attention
Basic research
Bioethics
Blindsight
Brain plasticity
Cognitive dissonance
Cognitive neuroscience
Confabulation
Contralateral vs. ipsilateral control
Corpus callosum
EEG
Embryo
Episodic memory
fMRI
Global aphasia
IRB
Korsakoff’s syndrome
Lateral ventricles
MRI
Parallel processes
Semantic memory
Split-brain research
Synesthesia
Syntax
Theory of mind
Top-down vs. bottom-up processing
WAIS

​Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism
Author: Amanda Montell
ISBN:  978-0-06-299315-1
 
APA Style Citation
Montell, A. (2021). Cultish: The language of fanaticism. Harpers Collins Publishers.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Cultish-Language-Fanaticism-Amanda-Montell/dp/0062993151
 

​Book Description
When you think of cults, some names come to mind immediately, such as Heaven’s Gate, Jonestown, Waco. Each of these cults were led by a charismatic and powerful leader who used persuasive language and controlling techniques to isolate and manage their followers. Amanda Montell explores the language used in these cult and cult-like environments that expand to pyramid schemes and athletic groups, such as SoulCycle. She argues that each of these groups have a particular language that those on the outside do not understand. This language can work to build a sense of community, but it can also lead to isolation as the individuals interact more and more only with those who share the same “language”. Sometimes language can be inspirational as in athletic teams that push their members to their physical limits. Or it can be more destructive when it is used to deflect questions and further ingratiate members by asking them to ramp up their commitment, as in Scientology. While Montell clarifies that language does not cause someone to believe something they do not want to believe, it does give them a way to support and express ideas they are already open to. Some aspects of cultish life have made it into the public vernacular. “Drinking the Kool-Aid,” which essentially means buying into what someone is saying is a reference to the more than three hundred Jonestown members (children included) who died after drinking a concoction of Kool-Aid mixed with cyanide as federal authorities were closing in on the group.
 
Montell has long had an interest in cults because her father had grown up in the cult Synanon. He was eventually able to extricate himself by sneaking off to attend high school. He had the added advantage of working in a science lab, which taught him to question the beliefs of those around him by applying the scientific method to what he was being asked to believe. Montell poses that the increase in athletic fads that border on cult-like behavior and expectations come from the human need to belong to a group and feel affiliated with others. People are less likely to be involved in organized religion than ever before and she suggests this may account for increased membership in other types of group activities that work together towards a common goal. Membership provides identity, purpose and belonging. 
 
Surprisingly, the most typical person who joins a cult is a middle class, well-educated individual. Members are often gradually drawn in by a shared belief or common experience. This eventually leads to an “us” and “them” mentality in which members of the group must ban together against those from the “outside” who are trying to disband or break up the group. Leaders of cults often use psychological manipulation, which can lead to financial and sexual manipulation. In Synanon (the cult Montell’s father belonged to) there was a mandatory activity called “the Game”. This ritualistic weekly activity had people called out publicly for personal violations or missteps that could later be used against the person. 
 
Once a person’s entire identity and resources are connected to the group, it is difficult for a person to leave even if they start to question some of the practices. There is often a sense of hero worship towards the cult leaders. Members dare not ask questions or raise concerns as this would identify them as disloyal and come with serious repercussions. Confirmation bias is a powerful force that often keeps those inside of cults from questioning the practice and language used, while those outside of the cult are shocked by the level of delusion demonstrated by members. Even if members do start to question the beliefs of the cult, they often fall prey to the sunken cost fallacy meaning they have given everything they have to the cult and so desperately want what they believe to be true they remain in the group. 
 
Montell closes the book with many examples of cult-like behavior from the way in which pyramid schemes work to the latest workout fads that share a common language, ingratiate themselves to members, and make promises that their workout will transform people’s lives. Many of these programs are built on a hierarchy intended to keep people who are trying to work their way up or who have already gained some status and are looking to make it to the next level of the organization. Montell acknowledges the draw of the sense of community that may be part of joining any organization, but warns against language meant to manipulate or isolate. She also encourages readers to check what they think they know and if the group really represents the ideals and belief system of the individual. She believes that by understanding how cults work to draw people in, we can better fight against being manipulated against our will. 
 
Other Related Resources
Preacher Boys Podcast interview with Amanda Montell 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m78Eqc9orYQ
 
WGN News Interview with Amanda Montell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMGHw1xRqy4
 
The Atlantic: We Choose Our Cults Everyday
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/06/review-cultish-amanda-montell-language-fanaticism/619165/
 
Podcast and Blog about Cults
https://thecultishshow.com
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Solomon Asch
Albert Bandura
Daniel Kahneman
Phillip Zimbardo
 
Amygdala
Anti-depressants
Cognitive dissonance
Confirmation bias 
Conformity
Control group
Dissociation
Dopamine
Endorphins
Frontal cortex
Foot-in-the-door
Group therapy
Heuristics
In-group bias
Obedience
Out-group bias
Oxytocin
Placebo
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Pseudoscience
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
Sunken cost fallacy
 
 

​Educated: A Memoir
Author: Tara Westover
ISBN:  978-0-399-59052-8
 
APA Style Citation
Westover, T. (2018). Educated: A memoir. Random House.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Educated-Memoir-Tara-Westover/dp/0399590501
 

​Book Description
Tara Westover’s book describes her upbringing in an ultra-religious, paranoid, and isolated household in rural Idaho. Because of Tara’s father’s paranoia, the household lived mostly off grid. Tara’s mother made medicinal herbs for other families who did not trust traditional medicines and served as a midwife for families who did not want to go to the hospital or did not want the requirement of registering their newborn for a social security card involving recognition from the government. Tara’s father ran a scrap metal business from of their property and was occasionally hired out to do construction work. Tara and her siblings were homeschooled, which mostly involved reading a few old textbooks in their basement. 
 
Tara was the youngest in her family and some of her siblings got married early to others in their ultraconservative church, while others drove trucks, and one brother went off to study at university, which outraged her father essentially ending their relationship. Tara began working in the family scrap yard at a young age with metal being flung over her head and her father expecting her to use and operate heavy mechanical equipment as her older brothers had done. Safety protocols were non-existent and cuts from the metal were frequent, as were accidents with equipment that could have easily been avoided. Tara’s father was badly burned and nearly died and her mother often served as a pseudo-surgeon because of the families refusal to go to the local hospital after a scrap metal injury. 
 
Tara discovered a love for singing and performed at church, as well as in a number of local plays. Surprisingly, her father supported this and encouraged her signing but her attire often had to be modified to adhere to the strict requirements for how females in the church should dress.
 
In addition to the lack of education and dangerous back-breaking work, Tara faced abuse by her older brother. While her brother often supported her and encouraged her, he would fly into a rage and pull her by the hair, put her head in the toilet, or find other ways to abuse her both emotionally and physically. Eventually, she put a lock on her door to protect herself and while it was evident to all in the family that the abuse was occurring, neither of her parents intervened to stop it. 
 
By the time Tara was a teenager, she decided she also wanted to attend university and studied independently for her SAT in order to score high enough to attend. Her father knew she was studying but did little to support her perhaps believing that she would not get in. She did.  
 
When Tara arrived at Brigham Young University (BYU) a whole separate world opened up to her. While she did not have the type of clothes or behaviors as others (washing and cleaning up the apartment became sources of tension with her roommates), she did excel at her studies and worked hard to catch up on all that she had missed out on. Basic historical facts had been distorted in her world and she had never done much writing, so she had to work hard to meet the expectations of the university.
 
Despite the distance from her family, they expected Tara to adhere to the same conservative standards as when she was growing up. She felt tension between her new and old worlds and began to question the teaching of her parents, as well as the neglect, denial, and abuse that had taken place. She earned a scholarship, which allowed her to stay at school and eventually attended graduate school at Trinity College in Cambridge. Despite her outstanding academic record, she still felt uncomfortable in social situations and still lacked funds for stylish clothing or knowing how to behave in novel situations. 
 
Tara eventually attended graduate school at Harvard and found new confidence in her academic abilities and in calling out her family for not intervening while she suffered abuse at the hands of her older brother. While her older sister confided that he had done the same to her, she was mute when it came time for a family confrontation. Tara’s father did not believe the accusation even though he had witnessed the abuse himself. Her brother harassed Tara and threatened to kill her or hire an assassin, still her parents did not believe her. Eventually, she cut them out of her life but was able to rekindle a relationship with some of her other brothers. 
 
She recalls her tragic upbringing no longer as a harrowing story of terror and isolation, but now describes it as “An Education.”
 
Other Related Resources
PBS NewsHour- “Educated” author Tara Westover answers your questions (extended version)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvYg_gp0JPc
 
Aspen Institute- Educated: A Conversation with Tara Westover
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2XWYT-t47E
 
National Public Radio Interview with Tara Westover
https://www.npr.org/2022/02/10/1079882235/author-tara-westover-says-we-need-to-consider-how-people-have-been-educated
 
Vogue: Tara Westover on living off the Grid
https://www.vogue.com/article/tara-westover-memoir-educated-vogue-march-2018-issue
 
Oprah’s podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tara-westover-educated/id1264843400?i=1000437295457
 
 
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Bipolar disorder
Paranoia
Schizophrenia
 

The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business
Author: Erin Meyer
ISBN-10: ‎1610392507
ISBN-13: 978-1610392501
 
APA Style Citation
Meyer, E. (2014). The culture map: Breaking through the invisible boundaries of global business. New York, NY: PublicAffairs.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Culture-Map-Breaking-Invisible-Boundaries/dp/1610392507/ref=asc_df_1610392507/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312006100296&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16864645460974634994&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9018727&hvtargid=pla-406163964393&psc=1
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Book Description
Looking at culture is not always easy and it can be challenging to hear cultural stereotypes about one’s own culture. Stereotypes are also problematic as they can lead to bias and discrimination. There are individual differences in every culture and it is important to not make assumptions about individual traits based on where individuals are from. However, assuming culture doesn’t matter is also problematic. Cultural stereotypes can help reduce our cognitive load. Being aware of cultural differences can improve communication and effectiveness, especially for those involved in international business.  In "The Culture Map", author Erin Meyer shares eight scales that map the world’s cultures and helps create a better understanding of how each culture functions. It is important to note that each graph provides norms for a culture, but individual differences are still important to consider. Individuals can map their own culture on these graphs, and then compare and relate to other cultures.
 
The first scale is about communication. Cultures are classified as having either low-context or high-context communication. Cultures with low-context communication, such as the United States, assume a low level of shared context and want simple and clear communication. Messages are accepted at face value and repetition is valued. Cultures with high-context communication, such as Iran, assume a high level of shared context and do not need explicit communication. Individuals often read between the lines and messages are implied. This difference in communication could be especially important when emailing.
 
The second scale is about evaluating performance and providing feedback. Cultures are classified as either providing direct or indirect evaluation. Cultures that provide direct negative feedback, such as Germany, often upgrade by providing stronger words before or after feedback, such as “absolutely” or “totally.” Negative feedback is blunt and honest and may be given in front of others. Cultures that provide indirect feedback, such as Thailand, often downgrade, by providing words that soften the criticism, such as a “little” or “maybe.” American culture is in the middle of the scale.  Stereotypes about how a culture speaks is often associated with their position on the communication scale as opposed to the evaluation scale. When working with other cultures it is important to take into consideration their position on both the communication and evaluation scales.
 
The third scale is about persuasion. Cultures are classified as either principle-first (deductive reasoning) or applications-first (inductive reasoning). Cultures that use deductive reasoning, such as France, often begin with facts and later support or explain the conclusion as necessary. The preference for a business meeting might be to start with a summary and discussions are practical and concrete in nature. Individuals may want to know why the boss is making a request before moving on. Cultures that use inductive reasoning, such as the United States, often begin with the theory before the facts. The preference for a business meeting would be to start with a theoretical argument before reaching a conclusion. Individuals focus less on the why and more on the how.
 
The fourth scale is about leadership, hierarchy, and power. The leading scale classifies cultures as either egalitarian (lower power) or hierarchal (high power). In egalitarian cultures, such as Denmark, the distance between a boss and their employee is low and the boss is seen as equal. Communication often skips the hierarchy. The boss riding a bike to work may symbolize equality. Many cultures claim to prefer egalitarian, but evidence suggests the opposite. In hierarchal cultures, such as China, the distance between a boss and their employee is high. The boss leads from the front and status is valued. Communication follows a hierarchy. The boss riding a bike to work may cause embarrassment. Americans believe they are egalitarian but often fall more in the middle of the scale.
 
The fifth scale is about decision making. Cultures are classified as either consensual or top-down. Consensual countries, such as Germany, make unanimous group decisions. Top-down countries, such as Nigeria, have decisions made by individuals who are in a position of power. Many cultures that are egalitarian are also consensual decision-makers. The American culture is more of an outlier because it combines egalitarian leadership with top-down decision making. Germany is also an outlier combining hierarchal leadership with consensual decision making. Japan is even more unique with strong hierarchal leadership and very strong consensual decision making.
 
The sixth scale is about trust. Cultures are classified as either task-based or relationship-based. Task-based countries, such as the United States, build trust through business-related activities. Work relationships are quickly formed and easily broken. Personal relationships do not impact business interactions because “business is business.” Relationship-based countries, such as Brazil, build trust through sharing meals and meeting in communal areas. Work relationships form slowly and on a deeper level.  Personal relationships enhance business interactions because “business is personal.” American culture can be tricky to understand on this scale. There are team-building activities and icebreakers, but once the relationship is created often individuals get down to business. American work relationships are often based on function and practicality. Icebreakers are rarer in relationship-based cultures because relationships are built more slowly and on deeper emotional levels. It is important to note that being friendly is not the same as being relationship-based. American are more likely to smile at strangers, but later when they don’t follow through it may be interpreted as being hypocritical.
 
The seventh scale is about disagreeing productively. Cultures are classified as either confrontational or avoiding confrontation. Cultures viewed as confrontational, such as France, view debate as a positive attribute. Open disagreement is seen as appropriate and does not hurt the relationship. Cultures viewed as avoiding confrontation, such as Japan, view debate as negative to the group. Open disagreement is seen as inappropriate and harmful to group harmony. The Unites States fall somewhere in the middle. It is also important to note that emotional expressiveness is not the same as being comfortable with openly disagreeing. For example, Peru is seen as having an emotionally expressive culture, but people strongly avoid open disagreement because it may destroy a relationship.
 
The final scale is about scheduling and perception of time. Cultures are classified as being linear-time or flexible-time. Linear-time cultures, such as Germany, approach projects sequentially. The focus is on the deadline and schedule. Being prompt and having good organization is valued. Flexible-time cultures, such as India, approach projects in a fluid and changing manner. Interruptions are accepted and there are many balls in the air at once. The focus is on flexibility and adaptation. The American culture leans more to linear-time.
 
Remember it is not always about where a culture is located on the scale, but rather its relative location to another culture. Knowing where a culture is mapped on these eight scales is the starting point to successful interactions. But it goes well beyond the awareness of culture. Having more information about how a culture functions may help avoid miscommunication and frustration. The Culture Map also helps to better understand the multi-dimensional ways in which cultures interact with one another. Check out the book for successful strategies for working with people from all different cultures.
 
Other Related Resources
Author's Websites
https://erinmeyer.com/books/the-culture-map/

Harvard Business Review
https://hbr.org/2014/05/navigating-the-cultural-minefield

Global Leadership Network-Video
https://globalleadership.org/videos/leading-others/the-culture-map-2?locale=en

Psychological Concepts and Figures
Kurt Lewin
 
Active listening
Cultural norm
Cultural relativity
Culture
Deductive reasoning
Dialectical reasoning
Emotional expressiveness
Hierarchy
In-group
Low or high-context communication
Out-group
Personality
Persuasion
Relationship-based
Stereotypes
Task-based

10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voices in my Head, Reduced Stress, without Losing my Edge, and found Self-Help that actually Works
Author: Dan Harris
ISBN: 978-0-06-291760-7
 
 
APA Citation: Harris, D. (2014) 10% Happier: How I tamed the voices in my head, reduced stress, without losing my edge, and found self-help that actually works. Harper Collins, New York, N.Y.
 
 
Buy This Book 
https://www.amazon.com/10-Happier-Revised-Self-Help-Works/dp/0062917609/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1B5K18DUIKJP9&keywords=10%25+happier&qid=1646527637&sprefix=10%25+happier%2Caps%2C91&sr=8-1
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​Book Description
Dan Harris is perhaps best known from his time as an anchor and correspondent for World News Tonight and Nightline. Dan found himself in an incredibly competitive industry where everyone was vying to get more air time and to have their stories picked up and covered. As a young correspondent Harris learned many beneficial and some difficult lessons from more senior news correspondents like Peter Jennings and Diane Sawyer. He became a better anchor correspondent as a result and found himself moving up to bigger and more public jobs. Despite the outward appearance of thriving in his professional career, Harris was besieged by feelings that he did not belong, he experienced nearly constant stress and anxiety as a result of his high pressure career coupled with memories of the traumas he had witnessed as a war correspondent. Harris starting using drugs was finding ways in which to temporarily alleviate his stress and anxiety while becoming increasingly more dependent on illegal substances. Eventually, this caught up to Harris and he experienced a panic attack on air. While the network was supportive, Harris knew he needed to make a change and went to see a therapist who made the connection between the drug use and the on-air panic attack.
 
Fear for losing his career that he had fought so hard for made Harris explore alternatives to slowing the constant chatter in his brain. Harris began reading much about mindfulness and meditation but when he initially tried to clear his mind and live in the present moment he could not focus even for a few minutes. Instead, he found himself  thinking of the next project or the next newscast. Consistent with his journalistic nature, Harris sought out experts in the field, some of whom were selling their followers of false hope and other like the Dali Lama and Dr. Park Epstein that Harris found more authentic and honest about the challenges of meditation. Harris tried to make time each day for meditation and eventually found that his practice was slowly improving. In order to make a more significant difference, Harris attended a 10 day silent retreat to focus his energies on improving his practice further and perhaps experience a breakthrough. While the first few days were excruciating, on day 4, Harris did have his breakthrough becoming completely lost in the practice and more finely attuned to the happenings in his environment. Harris felt great happiness in the moment much like what he had been reading about for years. 
 
This breakthrough was enough for Harris to continue his practice with a new renewed vigor. He even convinced the network to do  series of stories in mindfulness and meditation. Many co-workers and his family reported that he was easier to get along with and more patient since he began regularly practicing meditation. Some people gave Harris grief for his newfound passion and he often felt embarrassed when defending his practice. He found that he was better able to manage the stress in his job and was able to enjoy the moment without chasing the next job opportunity. He eventually began telling other who asked that meditation was not a cure all, but on the whole he would describe himself as about 10% Happier. He found that this piqued the interest of his colleagues and friend many of whom began the practice for themselves. 
 
More recently Harris has resigned from ABC new to work on his 10% happier podcast and app in an effort to help as many people as possible find a more peaceful and Happier existence. He encourages those new to the discipline to give themselves credit for clearing their mind even for a few moments and to keep practicing even if it sometimes feels like they are not making any progress as with time they will improve.
 
 
 
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Sigmund Freud
 
Addiction
Anxiety
Depression
Mindfulness
Medication
 
 
Other Related Resources:
 
10% Happier App
https://www.tenpercent.com
 
10% Happier podcast
https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast
 
10% Happier Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/tenpercenthappier/?hl=en
 
Dan Harris talk at Google
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt5Qv9tUObI
 
Everyday Mindfulness with Jon Kabat Zinn
https://www.mindful.org/everyday-mindfulness-with-jon-kabat-zinn/
 
The Guardian: The Master of Mindfulness
https://www.mindful.org/everyday-mindfulness-with-jon-kabat-zinn/
 
TED talk Jon Kabat Zinn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr2ATJkxzGA
 

Think Again: The Power Of Knowing What You Don’t Know
Author: Adam Grant
ISBN: 978-1984-4878-106
 
APA Style Citation
Grant, A. (2021). Think again: The power of knowing what you don’t know. Viking, Penguin Random House; New York, New York.
 
Buy the Book
https://www.amazon.com/Think-Again-Power-Knowing-What/dp/1984878107
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​Book Description
Adam Grant a psychologist at the Wharton School argues that being wrong can lead to growth and development, perhaps even more than being right. Grant uses research and real-life examples to demonstrate the significant challenges of unlearning what we think we know and then relearning and refining that knowledge. He compares the overconfidence cycle, which consists of pride, conviction, confirmation and desirability biases and validation to the rethinking cycle, which consists of humility, doubt, curiosity and discovery. The author contends that the rethinking cycle is consistent with scientific research and will result in growth and new learning, while the overconfidence cycle will likely result in stunted learning and limitation on being able to incorporate new information into our knowledge base. While change can be difficult, those who insist that new ideas never work are likely to remain caught in a cycle in which change prevents learning. This can relate to cognitive or physical tasks. An Olympic swimmer who has learned a stroke incorrectly will have to work harder to unlearn the ineffective stroke and then learn the correct technique if they want to continue to improve. 
 
Confirmation bias is a powerful force that pushes us to look for information that reaffirms what we think we know. Grant proposes that many of us are stranded on Mt. Stupid, because we think we know more than we do. The more we know, the more we realize we do not know, and this itself can be a growth  experience. Grant titles a chapter, The Joy of Being Wrong, and describes how participants who scored highest on Henry Murray’s early IQ tests actually enjoyed the process of finding out that their previously held beliefs were incorrect. 
 
Changing an individual’s thinking is challenging enough but changing a groups thinking can be even more challenging. Often in the highest performing groups there is much task conflict (in which people disagree about ideas and opinions) but lower relationship conflict than in lower performing groups. Grant uses the example of the Wright brothers, who often fought about the design of a plane that would work, but were open to one another’s new ideas. Grant calls the absence of conflict apathy and finds that this happens most often because it is the path of least resistance. 
 
If we want to change someone’s mind to have them come around to our way of thinking, we must also be open to changing our own minds. This can start to occur by having genuine curiosity and asking questions. For those who remain resistant, Grant proposes by asking the person who is hesitant to change, “What evidence would change your mind?”, if the answer is “nothing” then there is no point in continuing to debate the person because they have closed themselves to any new learning. This can be seen in individuals who refuse to acknowledge the science behind the benefits of vaccines. Some of these individuals lost their lives because of their insistence on clinging to erroneous beliefs.
 
Previous held beliefs about people and the groups to which they belong can create an in-group and out-group bias often seen in sporting rivalries. Fans often make assumptions about the personal characteristics of the opposing team, which Grant claims are ridiculous because the members and managers/coaches of the team change. He argues that you are rooting for the clothes because if your favorite players switch teams, they immediately become the enemy. To overcome the stereotype, we must question the stereotype and then circle back to question our original beliefs. 
 
Grant touts the benefits of becoming a great listener. This skill is a show of respect and care for the speaker and allows people the time to reflect on their own views. Grant explains how rethinking can be introduced in educational settings and argues that good teachers introduce new thoughts but great teachers introduce new ways of thinking. He describes the process of creating multiple drafts of a paper, drawing, or other piece of work based on feedback from peers. The student then looks at the changing progress overtime to see the change and improvement of the final product. Creating an environment in which errors are celebrated as learning opportunities creates the opportunity to try new things, even if they are initially loaded with mistakes. This also helps create an atmosphere of collaboration and respect. Constructive criticism must be viewed as helpful momentum to move forward and learn more. Grant suggests creating a challenge network of trusted colleagues who provide honest feedback in an effort to improve a product.
 
Other Related Resources
Author’s website
https://www.adamgrant.net/book/think-again/
 
Rotman School of Management: Interview with Adam Grant
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWjf8XIoENQ
 
Quillette: Six Great Ideas from Adam Grant’s Think Again
https://quillette.com/2021/05/28/six-great-ideas-from-adam-grants-think-again/
 
Blinklist: Key Insights from Think Again
https://www.blinkist.com/en/books/think-again-en
 
Psychological Concepts and Figures
Daniel Goleman
George Kelly
Henry Murray
 
Belief perseverance
Confirmation bias
Conformity
Defense mechanism
Dunning-Kruger effect
Emotional intelligence
Fight-flee-freeze
Grit
Group polarization
In-group bias
Meditation
Mindfulness
Organizational psychology
Out-group bias
Overconfidence
Prejudice
Stereotypes
 
 
 
 
 

Why We Act: Turning Bystanders into Moral Rebels
Author:  Catherine A. Sanderson, PhD
ISBN:  9780674241831

APA Style Citation
Sanderson, C. A. (2020). Why we act: turning bystanders into moral rebels. Belknap Press Harvard University. 

Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Act-Turning-Bystanders/dp/0674241835

Book Description
 
Author Catherine Sanderson, Chair of Psychology at Amherst College, has published over 25 journal articles, several trade books, four university-level textbooks, as well as textbooks for middle and high school students. Her research has received funding from the National Science Foundation and National Institute of Health for her work on topics ranging from social norms, health, parenting, bystander apathy, heroism, health, and longevity.
 
In Why We Act, Sanderson explores the various factors that explain why good individuals engage in bad behavior, fail to act when faced with the bad behavior of others, and how this inaction leads to more bad behavior. She explores bad behavior, including bullying in school and unethical workplace behavior, corporate fraud, political corruption, sexual harassment, and the inaction of bystanders. Her book also explores individuals who are more likely to act, who she calls moral rebels, and what we can learn from their examples.
 
In Part 1, The Silence of Good People the book explores what Sanderson calls the myth of monsters and the various reasons good people engage in bad behavior or fail to intervene. She combines classic research in social psychology (e.g., Philip Zimbardo, Stanley Milgram) and modern neuroscience research to explore the impact of deindividuation, obedience to authority, and gradual escalation of both bad behavior and inaction. Research indicates that gradual escalation plays an important role in unethical behavior due to the foot-in-the-door effect. For example, she cites examples of corporate fraud that began with small unethical actions but slowly built to substantial unethical and criminal behaviors. The author compares this to findings in Milgram’s study that began with small “shocks” and gradually escalated to extremely dangerous ones. This section also explores research on social loafing in various settings. For example, restaurants add a minimum gratuity or tip to bills for larger groups. This is because, left to their own devices, individuals contributing to a group bill are likely to tip poorly because they believe the group will not notice their contribution amount. The text also offers current research on other reasons behind the phenomenon of social loafing, the bystander effect, and diffusion of responsibility, including the cost of helping, ambiguity, connection, and the influence of social groups.
 
In Part 2, Bullies and Bystanders, the author explores these different roles (bully and bystander) in various contexts. For example, the author discusses bullying in schools and how most students who witness bullying do not stand up for the victim but actively watch. It is also disturbing to note that more students join in the bullying than intervene. Neuroscience research partially explains this lack of intervention — deviating from the group activates the same areas of the brain as physical pain. Research has revealed that students who intervene in cases of bullying have social capital (e.g., support from peers or teachers, social skills, or high social status in the group). This may seem counterintuitive, as earlier research found that bullies often have high social status. Researchers believe bullying is a social tool, and only a few students at the very top of the social hierarchy have enough security in their level of popularity to stand up for the bullied students. In addition to high social status, research has found that other factors predict if a student will stand up for bullied students, including high levels of self-confidence and self-efficacy. The section on bullying in schools ends with research on how to reduce bullying in schools. Subsequent sections address bullying and bystander apathy in university and career settings.
 
In Part 3, Learning to Act, the book explores developing moral courage and tactics for becoming a moral rebel. Key characteristics of moral rebels include a lack of social inhibition and high levels of empathy. Sanderson provides a range of examples for resisting the pressures of conformity, social loafing, and the bystander effect. Regarding building moral rebels, the author suggests developing a belief in change and practicing strategies for speaking up as a bystander. She recommends paying attention to the “small stuff” because of the effect of the foot-in-the-door phenomenon on how small acts can easily build to increasingly more unethical responses. She provides tools for building empathy, widening the in-group, utilizing ethical leaders, finding a friend, shifting social norms, and changing the culture.
 
Why We Act provides a research-based explanation for bad behavior and addresses how that research can be used to train individuals to stand up to bullying in schools, online, and in the workplace. By acknowledging the forces that prevent individuals from intervening or engaging in unethical behaviors, it is possible to build strategies for resilience and resistance.
 
Other Related Resources
 
Author Catherine Sanderson’s website
https://sandersonspeaking.com/
 
Author Catherine Sanderson’s TEDx talk – The Psychology of Inaction (17:42)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_Lmf7ZT_04
 
Author Catherine Sanderson - The Psychology of Courage and Inaction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMPDkPU1hps
 
Resources for the Teaching of Social Psychology
http://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/crow/
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Solomon Asch
Albert Bandura
Carol Dweck
Kitty Genovese
Bibb Latane
Stanley Milgram
Philip Zimbardo