Personality Isn’t Permanent: Break Free From Self-Limiting Beliefs and Rewrite Your Story
Author: Benjamin Hardy
ISBN: 9780593083314
Bottom of Form
​
APA Style Citation
Hardy, B. (2020). Personality isn’t permanent: Break free from self-limiting beliefs and rewrite your story. New York, NY: Portfolio/Penguin.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Personality-Isnt-Permanent-Self-Limiting-Beliefs-ebook/dp/B07N5H5C4N
 

​Book Description
Who do you want to be? Is your personality determined for you or do you have a choice? Personality Isn’t Permanent: Break Free From Self-Limiting Beliefs and Rewrite Your Story takes you on a journey of self-discovery. The mainstream perspective is that personality is innate and fixed. You are born the person you are and cannot change that. However, many people are at least partially dissatisfied with their personality. Why do so many of us think personality is fixed? We rely on causal determinism, where everything is caused by the past. However, you can make choices, and your social and cultural environments help guide you. Your personality isn’t permanent and you are not bound by your past.
 
The field of personality is filled with myths. One myth includes personality can be split into “types.” The mother-daughter team of Katherine Briggs and Isabel Myers created personality types to help individuals feel comfortable with who they are, but type-based personality tests are unscientific. Instead, leading research focuses on five factors that describe traits along a continuum that also allows for change. Research has supported that personality can be changed with personal effort and goal-setting. Intentional change is challenging, but possible. Another myth is that personality is innate and fixed, stemming from your past. Longitudinal studies have found that personality changes. You will not be the same person as you are now in ten years. Who you want to be is more important that who you are now, so make decisions based on your future rather than present desires. As you grow and develop, your past changes with you. The personal narrative changes with each retelling and new experience. Your present context changes everything, including your memories. Another myth is one must discover their personality. Individuals are often encouraged to find their passion, but perhaps they should focus on finding a need that needs to be filled. Dr. Hardy talks about how passion and motivation should be viewed as effects rather than causes. Passion is the prize, but you will have to invest first. Personality is the same, it is the consequence of your life decisions. Purpose feeds personality and purpose isn’t something you discover, but rather something you choose. Finally, finding your personality will help you find your “authentic” self. This belief allows individuals to only do what is natural or easy to them and take a fixed approach to personality. Instead, your authentic self should be who you want to become.
 
It is your goals that shape your personality. What are your goals? Goals have three sources: exposure, desire, and confidence. Knowledge helps build your goals. Find sources of inspiration, read biographies of those who wish to emulate, pursue your desires, be courageous, and build your confidence. Peak desires happen not by random chance, but with intention. Who is your future self? Build your identity based on who you want to become. Dr. Hardy encourages individuals to set one goal. According to him, “One goal creates focus. Focus creates momentum. Momentum and confidence spill into all other areas of your life.” In order to stay motivated, you need a clear goal, a path to achieve that goal, and the confidence that you can succeed. Commitment to that goal should be 100%! Each decision should be based on helping you achieve that goal and individuals should measure their performance towards that goal. Dr. Hardy believes success at night and in the morning are important to your success. If your willpower is weak at night, then just go to bed. Going to bed after you search social media or watched some Netflix, gets you no closer to your goal. However, an extra hour of sleep does wonders. Get up early and seize the day! The positive effects of gratitude journals have been well documented. Daily journaling can also keep you on track to achieve your goals.
 
According to Dr. Hardy, there are four “personality levers” that shape your future self. These levers include: trauma, identity narrative, subconscious, and environment. Once you understand how they work, you can change your personality. Transform your trauma. The author talks of having an empathetic witness to help transform the trauma into growth. Painful experiences need to be faced rather than avoided. Shift your story and make your identity narrative about what you can attain in the future. Meaning is used to understand our life. You can control the meaning of your experiences by controlling your emotions. You have to get better at identifying and labeling your emotions, and finally letting the negative emotions go. Recognize that memories change. A horrible experience can be turned into a learning experience, and you can choose the story to remember. Dr. Hardy said, “The past is just raw material to work with. It’s entirely malleable and flexible. You get to take the pieces and choose which one’s to discard and how you’re going to frame them.” Be more aware of your subconscious. Emotions and memories are physical. Our body becomes addicted to the repetitive behaviors we do. Some individuals become addicted to stress. When not feeling stressed, they become uneasy. Dig deep and find out what you are hiding within. Some suggestions offered by the author include fasting (i.e., food or technology) and making charitable donations.  Both are connected to happiness and techniques to enhance your subconscious. Finally, pay attention to your environment. Putting yourself in a new environment (i.e., people, places, roles) is a quick way to change your personality. As we age, we tend to stop having “first experiences.” We also tend to stop trying new environments and stick with what is comfortable, which helps strengthen the belief that personality is fixed and stable over time. Your personality is shaped by the culture that surrounds you and the peer group you choose. Learn to control your environment, by picking one that reminds you of your future self. A culture wall, consisting of illustrations representing your beliefs and aspirations, can be used as a visual reminder of who you want to become. Change your computer password to a phrase that is consistent with your future self. Reorganize your surroundings, even your closet, to match your goals. Be selectively ignorant of anything that gets you off track of finding your future self. As Dr. Hardy stated, “Your input shapes your identity, biology, and personality. When you change your inputs, all of these change.” Sometimes it is necessary to have a forcing function, which is a situation that forces you to take action and produce a result. They are designed to force individuals in the direction of growth. Sometimes they can be financial investments, such as paying for a gym membership to inspire positive health habits. Get to know your environment and the impact it has on you, then be strategic about picking an environment that steers your future.
 
Personality isn’t fixed, it is a choice. Your personality isn’t permanent and you are not bound by your past. Instead, the future helps change your past. Dr. Hardy believes, “Your past isn’t happening to you. Your past is happening for you.” It is purpose that drives your personality. Many people put stock in their personality test results, but personality tests are usually self-reported and therefore constantly changing based on current circumstances. Personality tests can provide different scores at different times and even different settings. Personality is so much more than the results on a simple test. You have the power to pick your future personality, it is not permanent. Make it a good one!
 
Other Related Resources
Author’s Website
https://benjaminhardy.com/
 
Author’s YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC07WXGmXVbNrv3VMOp5DvDw
 
Benjamin Hardy, Medium’s Most Popular Write, Shares the Three Keys to Writing Great Non-Fiction
https://www.writingroutines.com/benjamin-hardy/
 
Psychological Concepts and Figures
Abraham Maslow
Carol Dweck
Daniel Gilbert
William James
 
Altruism
Authenticity
Big Five personality traits
Causal determinism
Confidence
Context
Cortisol
Culture
Decision fatigue
Dopamine
Ego
Emotional regulation
Empathetic witness
Enhance imagination
Enneagram
Environment
Fight-or-flight
Fixed mindset
Flow
fMRI
Gratitude
Homeostasis
Ideal self
Identity
Inkblots
Innate
Instant gratification
Labels
Longitudinal
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
NEO Personality Inventory
Peak experiences
Personality
Primary and secondary emotions
Refractory period
Reliable
Selective attention
Selective ignorance
Self-actualization
Self-esteem
Self-report tests
Subconscious
Traits
Trauma
Type A personality
Valid
 

Pursuing the Good Life
Author: Christopher Peterson
ISBN:  978-0-19-991645
 
APA Style Citation
Peterson, C. (2013). Pursuing the good life.  New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
 
Buy This Book 
https://www.amazon.com/Pursuing-Good-Life-Reflections-Psychology-ebook/dp/B00AF6MZY8/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=pursuing+the+good+life&qid=1610937893&sr=8-1

​Book Description
Positive psychology is the study of what makes life most worth living.  Christopher Peterson, along with Martin Seligman, are two of the founders of positive psychology. Peterson wrote a blog for Psychology Today, and many of those entries make up the bulk of the “chapters” in the book. Each chapter is only a few pages and contains amusing anecdotes, information about positive psychology, and recommendations regarding how to implement positive psychology in everyday life.  The book is broken up into four different themes:  work/school, relationships, play, and service.  
 
Peterson is clear from the start that positive psychology is a psychological science that uses research-based evidence to determine what components help someone live a better life. His first chapters identify what positive psychology is and, perhaps more importantly, what it is not (self-help books). Also, he addresses the criticisms of positive psychology and creates a sound rationale for why this is a discipline worthy of study.  
 
Peterson addresses how we can either enhance or diminish the positive emotions we feel, and he explains how we can savor or squelch the experiences that we have. He examines the connection of heritability and happiness and how to tell if someone is genuinely happy. Peterson discusses finding ways to utilize our strengths and discusses how to build resistance in the face of setbacks. He addresses the impact of friends and family on our level of happiness and makes recommendations regarding how we can implement more positive psychology in the workplace. 
 
Peterson addresses the many institutions that can introduce more positive psychology to improve the overall organization, he places particular emphasis on schools.  Finally, he looks at the cross-cultural aspects of positive psychology and proposes measuring gross national happiness.
 
Because the chapters are so short, they can easily be incorporated into a psychology course, and students can read a single chapter, or similarly themed chapters can be assigned together. The chapters can also be read in any order.  These short and accessible former blog posts are a great way to introduce positive psychology ideas by incorporating a short chapter into different parts of the curriculum.
 
Other Related Resources
Tribute to Christopher Peterson
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-one-lifespan/201312/pursuing-the-good-life-reflections-positive-psychology
 
Eleven Reasons to Own, Love, and Give Pursuing the Good Life
https://positivepsychologynews.com/news/bridget-grenville-cleave/2013052726221
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Ed Diener
Albert Ellis
Jonathan Haidt
Howard Gardner
Daniel Kahneman
Kurt Lewin
Abraham Maslow
Martin Seligman
 
Applied research
Basic research 
Cross-sectional studies
Collectivist culture
Correlation coefficient
Correlation does not prove causation
Duchenne smiles
fMRI
Gratitude
Individualistic culture
Habituation
Heritability
Little Albert
Lobotomies
Locus of Control
Multiple Intelligence
Myelinated nerves
Neuroscience
Optimistic explanatory style
Oxytocin
Pessimistic explanatory style
Sociocultural perspective
Subjective well-being
 

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
Author:  Isabel Wilkerson
ISBN-13:  978-0-593-23025-1
 
APA Style Citation
Wilkerson, I. (2020). Caste: The origins of our discontents. New York, NY: Random House.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Caste-Origins-Discontents-Isabel-Wilkerson/dp/0593230256
​

​Book Description
Isabel Wilkerson's follow-up to her epic first book, The Warmth of Other Suns about the migration of American blacks out of the South, tackles the long history of race in America. It is clear from the title that Wilkerson contends that race in America is comparable to the longstanding caste system in India.  Wilkerson defines caste as "the granting or withholding of respect, status, honor, attention, privileges, resources, benefit of the doubt, and human kindness to someone based on their perceived rank or standing in the hierarchy of order and a justification for the classification of people." Wilkerson describes the eight pillars of a caste system, which provide a sense of entitlement and ingrains this into people's subconscious so that the system perpetuates itself generation after generation.  While the untouchables in India still face discrimination and oppression despite the official eradication of the caste system, so do blacks in America despite many laws and court cases that propose all people are treated equally.  
 
Wilkerson traces the origins of the American caste system back to colonial times in which America invented this system to benefit the dominant caste and then created laws and customs to ensure that the system remained intact. Wilkerson describes that Europeans were initially considered Italian or German, etc. Africans were Igbo or Yoruba, etc. It was not until all of these individuals came to America that they were considered "white" or "black."  Wilkerson describes how Paul Broca tried to use thirty-four shades of skin color to delineate the races but could make no conclusion because of the many variations in skin tones within a given culture. Even the name Caucasian is a socially constructed term.  German medical professor Johann Friedrich studied human skulls. He deemed the skull from the Caucasus Mountains of Russia to be the most beautiful, thereby associating "better" characteristics to white skulls and associating the name far more broadly than it was initially intended. Jane Elliott explains how an arbitrary division can create a sense of superiority or inferiority as she did in her famous Brown-Eyes, Blue-Eyes study.  She first told her class that all of those with brown eyes were lazy and not smart, and within hours they were ostracized by their classmates. 
 
Black bodies became dehumanized, deemed as property in the courts, and inspected as if cattle at slave auctions.  Even the father of gynecology came to his discoveries by conducting unnecessary surgeries on enslaved women without the use of anesthetic. Psychological research from Stanley Milgram to Philip Zimbardo tells us that dehumanization makes violence more likely. Many in the dominant caste even convinced themselves that what they were doing was righteous and "noble." Even after the Civil War, in which enslaved people were free by law, the caste system, as well as a series of Jim Crow laws, made the caste system as strong as ever for African-Americans. This system of subordination was passed through many generations, and those in the dominant caste consoled themselves by placing child-like qualities on African-Americans and believed the system they had created was somehow "just." 
 
Acts that were intended to protect Americans mistreatment at work and provide for a secure retirement with the Wagner and Social Security Acts often excluded black workers who were in the 1930’s still often farm laborers and domestics based on the jobs available to their caste. Even as some African-Americans came to be well-known, certain careers were deemed acceptable such as athletes or entertainers.  Many well-known African-Americans today still fit this profile. These separate worlds created an implicit bias demonstrated by the association of "good" with white dolls and "bad" with black dolls demonstrated by psychology professors Kenneth and Mamie Clark.  This work was used as part of the 1954 Supreme Court case of Brown vs. Board of Education, which demonstrated that separate educational facilities for black and white children were inherently unequal. 
 
Wilkerson sets out to understand how the hierarchy of class continues to oppress African-Americans today. She recounts one instance in which she arrives at a shop to interview the owner as a journalist for the New York Times. He is running late, and Wilkerson looks around the shop until he arrives. When she approaches him, he indicates that he cannot talk because he is late for an interview with the New York Times.  Wilkerson indicates that she is the journalist, but the man cannot seem to understand that a black woman could be the journalist, and he demands to see her credentials. She leaves without the interview but with a clear message that he believes her to be an imposter in her own career.  
 
Wilkerson explains the health implications that come with keeping one's head constantly on a swivel and dealing with the daily slight or blindness that comes with one's placement: the stewardess's expectation that you are sitting in coach, the person who grasps their purse as you pass by, the interview you do not get because of your African sounding name, the low expectations that teachers may place on you because of skin color.  While Wilkerson does provide examples of moving beyond this system to find common ground with those who may hold stereotypes, she provides ample evidence that we are not living in a post-racial America and that the acceptance and understanding of this is a step towards compassion and understanding.
 
Other Related Resources
Authors website
https://www.isabelwilkerson.com
 
Isabel Wilkerson interview with NPR
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/898574852
 
Muck Rack: Articles by Isabel Wilkerson
https://muckrack.com/isabel-wilkerson/articles
 
Armchair Expert: Dax Shepard podcast with Isabel Wilkerson
https://armchairexpertpod.com/pods/isabel-wilkerson
 
Psychological Concepts and Figures
Paul Broca
Kenneth and Mamie Clark
Jane Elliott
Stanley Milgram
Philip Zimbardo
 
Dehumanization
Discrimination
Heritability
Implicit bias
In-group
Narcissism
Out-group
Out-group homogeneity
Prejudice
Scapegoat theory
Stereotype
Stereotype threat
Stockholm syndrome

So You Want To Talk About Race
Author: Ijeoma Oluo
ISBN:  978-1-58005-882-7
 
APA Style Citation
Oluo, I. (2019).  So you want to talk about race. Hachette Book Group, New York, N.Y.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QBQF4GS/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
​

Book Description
Given the racial tensions that came to a head after the killing of George Floyd this past summer, demonstrations by many white supremacy groups, and the increasing diversity in the United States, a better understanding of how to discuss the issue in a way that promotes greater understanding is essential.  Ijeoma Oluo provides these tools in So You Want To Talk About Race.  As a social activist, Ijeoma often fielded questions about conversations regarding race that did not go well or addressed questions about how to bring up issues of race with family members, co-workers, or others who have behaved in a racially insensitive way.  Oluo describes her intention to write this book as a toolkit that people can go back to as different issues regarding race come up in their own lives.  
 
Oluo does not suggest that moving towards racial equality will be easy or comfortable. The intention of the book is to find constructive ways to engage in the conversation. Starting the conversation means accepting some facts about racial disparities in the United States:  Someone with a black sounding  (Jamal) name is less likely to be called back for a job interview than someone with a white sounding (Peter) name even when the credentials are equivalent. Living in a "black neighborhood" means that the value of a house will be less than a house in a "white neighborhood," and the person who owns the house is more likely to be paying a higher interest rate on the house's loan. One in three African-American men will spend some time in prison despite committing crimes at the same rate as Caucasian men. Black boys and girls are more likely to face more severe disciplinary actions at school (i.e., referrals, suspensions, expulsion) than their white counterparts for the same infractions. 
 
Oluo makes a clear distinction between race as a social construct and dismisses the idea that social class rather than race is the primary factor in the oppression of African-Americans. A mistake that many will make in conversations about race is that intention drives offense. The first guideline Oluo provides is that if a person of color thinks it's about race-its about race.  The second rule is that it is about race if it disproportionately or differently affects people of color. While there are many acts of overt racism (but not all), it is the daily slights that Oluo says add up to anger and frustration on the part of African-Americans.  She describes being black in the United States as being in an abusive relationship with the world. To her, each time a person assumes she was promoted because of her race, told she is "too loud," or asked if someone can touch her hair is a cut that eventually leads to a huge wound.  
 
Oluo is clear that these conversations are likely to go poorly, at least some of the time, but they are still important to have and continue having. We have to recognize that we might screw it up and have to work on doing things better in the future.  She shares a conversation she had with her own mother (who is white) and assumed that she could understand her children's day-to-day life.  Even though her mother had good intentions, as a white woman she could not understand what it was like to live as a black person.  While Oluo provides many recommendations for engaging in these conversations, a few need particular attention. 

1. Don't make your anti-racism argument oppressive against other groups.
2. When you start to feel defensive, stop and ask yourself why.
3. If you are white, watch how many times you say "I" and "me".
4. Ask yourself, "Am I trying to be right, or am I trying to do better?"
5. Do not force people of color into discussions of race.

 
Oluo goes on to explain privilege and provides some questions for reflection regarding your own privilege. She recognizes her own privilege and challenges and encourages those who want to engage in meaningful discussions to address the advantages they may have experienced because of their gender, race, socioeconomic status, educational background, marital status, etc. 
 
Oluo discusses intersectionality, which addresses the interconnectedness of many social categorizations.  All of us have numerous identities, and each of these contribute to our interactions with the world.  We cannot just look at an individual's race as their only defining factor.  This makes fighting racism more complicated because elements of race are interwoven with other elements of a person. For example, a single black mother is more likely to live in poverty than a white single mother.
 
The book serves as a workbook for tackling tough conversations and provides a space for self-reflection about how each of us can contribute to changing racism one conversation at a time, it also dispels many myths and assumptions about discussions of race but does not shy away from the challenges ahead.  
 
Other Related Resources
Google Talks: Ijeoma Oluo
Discussion with Ijeoma Oluo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnybJZRWipg
 
Author's Website
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnybJZRWipg
 
NPR: Want to have better conversations with your parents about racism? Here's how
https://www.npr.org/2020/06/09/873054935/want-to-have-better-conversations-about-racism-with-your-parents-heres-how
 
The Cavalier Daily: So you want to talk about race
A toolkit for starting tough conversations
https://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2020/07/so-you-want-to-talk-about-race
 
Interview with Ijeoma Oluo
https://www.vox.com/2020/6/9/21285062/ijeoma-oluo-interview-talk-race-book-george-floyd-protests
 
Psychological Concepts and Figures
Discrimination
In-group
Microaggressions
Out-group homogeneity
Prejudice
Stereotyping
 

​The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Author:  Rebecca Skloot
ISBN:  978-1-4000-5218-9
 
APA Style Citation
Skloot, R. (2010).  The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks. New York, NY: Random House.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Immortal-Life-Henrietta-Lacks/dp/1400052181
 

The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living
Author: Meik Wiking
ISBN-10: 0062658808
ISBN-13: 978-0062658807
 
APA Style Citation
Wiking, M. (2017). The little book of hygge: Danish secrets to happy living. New York, NY: William Morrow.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GONJFZ2/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
​

​ 
Book Description
What is the secret behind the happiest people on earth? The Danes have consistently ranked at the top of global surveys on happiness. But where does happiness come from? Is it genetics, relationships, health, money, employment, or a sense of purpose? Author Meik Wiking, who works at the Happiness Research Institute based in Denmark, believes one important but perhaps overlooked cultural component is hygge (pronounced hoo-ga). He offers tips to increase hygge. While many are stuck at home, this book might offer just the right inspiration to create a little happiness in your life.
 
Denmark consistently ranks as one of the happiest countries in the world. To be fair, Danes do not have the best weather and they pay some of the highest taxes in the world. However, there is wide support for paying such high taxes because it is seen as an investment in society and quality of life. There is a strong sense of trust between Danes. Perhaps a part of the recipe for happiness that sets Denmark apart from other countries is hygge- a Norwegian word for well-being. Hygge is that coziness and security that brings contentment. While many cultures have a similar term to describe this feeling of coziness, warmth, and togetherness, Danes are obsessed with it and believe it to be uniquely Danish. It is truly a part of their cultural identity. So how does one increase hygge? Candles, fireplaces, blankets, good food, and hanging with friends are just a few ways to build hygge. It doesn’t have to be expensive and it can happen anywhere.
 
Hygge can be achieved in many ways and take on many forms. It can be those slow weekends, the comfy pair of pants you slip into when you get home, the nook where you sit and relax, or a cozy conversation. One area of focus is a healthy work-life balance.  Danes have figured out this balance. Individuals with children usually leave work at 4 p.m. and those without at 5 p.m.  About 78% of Danes socialize with others a minimum of once per week.  Equality is also an important element in hygge. For example, it is important that everyone helps prepare the food, instead of the host working alone in the kitchen. Time spent with others creates an atmosphere filled with warmth and fullness and a release of oxytocin. Basic living standards are essential for happiness. However, once the baseline has been met, happiness is more about the quality of social relationships. The best predictor of whether we are happy or not is our social relationships. In 2008, one study found that an increase in social involvement may produce an increase of life satisfaction equivalent to an extra $110,000 a year. There is a strong correlation that the more satisfied people are with their social relationships, the happier they are in general. We are social creatures. Danes prefer smaller groups of friends. Many believe the best number of people for hygge is 3 to 4. However, one drawback is Danes tend not to readily admit new friends to their friendship circles. On the flip side, hygge is the best thing for introverts. Those that seek smaller groups gain much from the qualities of hygge.
 
Light- Approximately 85% of Danes associate hygge with candles to create that cozy feeling. Each Dane burns an average of 13 pounds of candle wax per year. They also prefer natural and organic products over scented candles. In addition, lamps are carefully placed to create a soothing mood. The lower the temperature of the light, the more hygge. Usually, it is better to have several smaller lamps around the room rather than one big lamp from the ceiling.
 
Food and drink- Nordic cuisine has gained some popularity. Noma, a popular restaurant in Copenhagen, has attracted global attention. At a pop-up location in Japan, one dish consisting of live shrimp covered in ants made headlines. Danes love their meat, confectionery, and coffee; and all of these are directly linked to hygge. Denmark is at the top of the list of sweet-crazed nations, obsessed with cakes and pastries. Hot drinks are also popular. Approximately 86% of Danes associate hygge with their favorite drink of coffee. A common belief is “Live life today like there is no coffee tomorrow.” It is about giving yourself a treat, not indulging in the fancy and expensive. These treats are viewed as the same thing as happiness by the brain’s reward system. We associate a certain food with a feeling of pleasure that leaves us wanting more. When it comes to food, the rule of thumb is the longer a dish takes to cook, the more hygge it is. It is about the process, not the end product. 
 
Clothing- The key to Danish dress code is casual. Scarves are a must and the golden rule is the bigger, the better. In Denmark, everyone wears black, layers, and woolen socks. To experience hygge, it is suggested to link purchases with positive experiences. For example, buy a sweater or nice pair of socks that will now be associated with a special event.
 
Home and Outside the Home- Danes are obsessed with interior design because the home is the heart of hygge.  A wish list for hygge at home may include a nook, fireplace, candles, wood elements, nature, books, ceramics, tactile experiences, vintage pieces, blankets, and cushions.  Having a comfortable home is about relaxation and finding that well-deserved break. Hygge is built on casualness.  Connecting with nature enables you to relax and be present to savor the moment.  Cabins include all the ingredients of hygge, such as the smells, sounds, and simplicity. If you need hygge at work, try organizing a potluck, setting up an office garden, bringing your dog to work, or making the office homier.
 
Year-Round and on the Cheap- The typical season for hygge is fall or winter. However, it can be experienced year-round. It can include orchards, barbecues, community gardens, picnics, or bike rides. Danes love their bikes and cycling. In Copenhagen, 45% cycle to their place of education or employment. It is an easy way to get a bit of exercise, but it also makes people happier. Riding a bike in your daily commute adds 3 to 14 months to your life expectancy.  It’s also an indicator of community and trust.  If a lot of people cycle, you probably live in a healthy neighborhood. Hygge is about being simple and modest. It does not have to be expensive. It is about appreciating the simple pleasures of life. The author offers a list of activities each month to inspire a feeling of coziness and a list of inexpensive activities that surround you.
 
Christmas- The Danish Christmas is first about family and friends. The quality of social relationships has been shown to predict our happiness. Second, are the traditions.  The Christmas menu is usually pork or duck. There is also risalamande, a dish made of whipped cream, boiled rice, and finely chopped almonds topped with hot cherry sauce. Hidden in the bowl is one whole almond.  Whoever finds the almond gets a present and good luck. There are also special decorations, such as woven paper hearts and a Christmas or Advent candle. The candle is painted like a tape measure with dates from December 1st to 24th.  Each day the candle is lit with company and brings the family together. Most TV stations have Advent calendars that count down the days until Christmas. While the preparation for this holiday may sound overwhelming, some stress makes the hygge that follows all that more comforting.
 
Hygge encompasses all of the senses. The taste is familiar and sweet. The sound is silent or soft. The smell is individualized and relates to your past experiences. The sights are of slow movements, such as falling snow. The touch is of old, homemade belongings that take a long time to make. Finally, there is a sixth sense of feeling safe. The author takes the reader back to a Winnie the Pooh quote, “How do you spell love? You don’t spell it...you feel it.” Hygge is about all of the feelings of coziness and warmth wrapped around you.
 
Hygge is everyday happiness. It is about making the most of what we have each and every day. Savoring is about enjoying the moment now and hygge is all about the current moment. Evidence-based studies show that practicing gratitude also has many benefits. Those who are grateful are often happier, more helpful and forgiving, sleep better, recover faster, and are less likely to get stressed. Danes plan for hygge times and reminisce about them afterward. The author leaves us with a quote from Benjamin Franklin “Happiness consists more in the small conveniences or pleasures that occur every day, than in great pieces of good fortune that happened but seldom to a man in the course of his life.”
 
Other Related Resources
Author’s Websitehttps://www.meikwiking.com/
Author’s Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/meikwiking/?hl=en
What Is Hygge? Everything You Need To Know About The Danish Lifestyle Trend
https://www.countryliving.com/life/a41187/what-is-hygge-things-to-know-about-the-danish-lifestyle-trend/
 
The Year of Hygge, the Danish Obsession with Getting Cozy
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-year-of-hygge-the-danish-obsession-with-getting-cozy
 
6 Ways to Practice Hygge, the Danish Secret to Happiness
https://www.health.com/mind-body/hygge
 
Psychological Concepts and Figures
Sigmund Freud
Abraham Maslow
 
Belongingness hypothesis
Cerebral cortex
Correlation
Cultural identity
Dopamine
Evolutionary psychology
Gratitude
Happiness
Health
Introverts
Life satisfaction
Nature
Nucleus accumbens
Oxytocin
Positive emotions 
Senses
Social relationships
Tactile
Well-being

Prognosis: A Memoir of My Brain
Author: Sarah Vallance
ISBN-10: 0525534105
ISBN-13: 978-0525534105
 
APA Style Citation
Vallance, S. (2019). Prognosis: A memoir of my brain. Little A.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Prognosis-Memoir-Brain-Sarah-Vallance-ebook/dp/B07MDBSVNK/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr

​Book Description
Note: This book offers a perspective on traumatic brain injuries. The text mentions profanity, sexual activity, and suicidal thoughts. Please make sure to read before making a recommendation to students.
 
Prognosis: A Memoir of My Brain is a story told by Sarah Vallance of her recovery after falling from a horse, causing a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI).  Her story takes you on a journey through her struggles with memory, employment, relationships, and survival. Sarah told her story so she could remember and record it, while acknowledging far too many individuals with TBIs cannot tell their story. 
 
At the age of 31 Sarah was living in Australia and believed she was invincible. While riding a horse, she was thrown to the ground and hit her head on a rock. After regaining consciousness, she was confused and had a headache but could walk. The left side of her head hurt, but there was no visible mark. She thought she was fine and headed home. The next day she found her reading lamp in the refrigerator, her groceries in the sink, and her toaster in the freezer.
 
Sarah held an important government position, and upon returning to work, her boss noticed her left eye had turned inward slightly and didn't seem to move. He encouraged her to make a doctor's appointment and get a brain scan. She learned that she has a mild TBI, which can be used interchangeably with concussion, and they ran psychometric tests. The tests revealed her IQ was 80 (at age 11, she had an IQ of 127). The doctors sent her on her way and told her to avoid another blow to the head. Immediately she was saddened because she realized she would not be able to finish her PhD. She chose not to return to work. Eventually, she received a disability pension, but it was not much. Luckily, she had savings to help cover the next few months of bills.
 
Life as she once knew it changed for Sarah. Sleep became impossible, and she experienced vivid dreams. She was consumed with grief making her insomnia worse. She also turned to painkillers to help with the pain. Her ability to think was taken from her, and making choices confused her. Her biggest fear was appearing stupid in front of others. Her emotions centered around anger and depression. Rage robbed her of her self-respect. She would not see a specialist for the next nine years. Instead, she turned to drinking. She broke up with her boyfriend, and her challenging relationship with her mother only worsened. 
 
Two months after the accident, she recognized her memory was terrible. She struggled with timing and chronology. She wanted to continue with her PhD but was having problems concentrating. Her thesis was about the influence of culture on administrative practice in Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines. She poured over the books in her study and devoted the entire day to interpreting a single paragraph. Before the accident, she would read a book a day, now she settled for a page. Each sentence contained words she did not recognize or understand. Thinking caused her pain, but she continued to work and record the meaning of every word she didn't know into an empty notebook. She had forgotten how to type, and using a computer took forever. She would often write sentences with words that she didn't plan to use. Sarah's brain damage occurred in the language zone where the left parietal lobe met the temporal lobe. She struggled to understand written English for a couple of years after the accident. Each day she copied from her books and conducted what she believed to be important research. This was the reason she locked herself away from the world and stopped seeing her friends. But really, she could not let them see the person she had become. Sarah met someone in the park who was doing a thesis on head injuries and told her about how the brain repairs itself after trauma. After her chance meeting, this was her hope for her brain.
 
The next large chunk of time still remains a mystery for Sarah. While working on her PhD, she decided to travel, however, does not remember much. She remembers her job-hunting experience. She often used two expressions to trick people into thinking she was okay. First, she gave a long serious look or second, a look of mild curiosity.  She had lost the art of conversation. Around 10-12 months after her injury, she accepted the job of policy director with a nonprofit organization in aged care. She was doing well until she was asked to give a presentation and take questions in front of a live audience. She was nervous, spoke too fast, and fumbled for answers. Later she approached her boss with a proposal: I will write the presentations, and you can give them. She learned to adapt and keep her brain injury a secret.
 
Sarah's personality and cognition changed. She found it hard to think, concentrate, and remember. Her charm disappeared along with her humor. Her impulse control vanished, and she had an unexpected side effect of craving sex. She explored her sexuality and drank heavily. Then she met Laura, an extrovert that made conversation easy. After ten weeks, they moved in together. Sarah loved her dogs, as they offered her unconditional positive regard. While Laura liked dogs, she believed they should be outside. These differences festered under the surface. Laura helped push Sarah to finish her PhD. She helped her break the material into small chunks, supported her, and brought her food. It was at Laura's suggestion that Sarah applied for a fellowship to live and study in the United States for a year. The distraction of a new city helped Sarah to forget about her depression and rage. She spent her days wandering the streets and exploring neighborhoods, but struggled to come up with a topic for her research and did not get along with her mentor. She met a friend that suggested that she transfer and finish her coursework under a friendlier mentor. She made the transfer, and at Harvard, she completed her case study for her dissertation.
 
Back in Australia, it had been four years since her accident, and she was starting to feel normal. On paper, no one would suspect that she had a damaged brain. In 1999, she became the HR manager at one of the largest papers in Australia.  In 2000, she earned her PhD. In just five years, she achieved what she once thought was impossible. However, her temper started to become a roadblock. Because she could not control her anger, her relationship with Laura deteriorated. Sarah started to have affairs. In hopes of saving their relationship, she took a new job and moved with Laura to Melbourne. Within a few months, they separated, and Sarah had to put down one another of her beloved dogs.
 
In 2004, Sarah moved to Singapore. She was not ashamed about her sexuality but fiercely guarded the truth about her brain injury. Stigma exists around those with head injuries, such as being viewed as intellectually challenged, violent, unpredictable, and untrustworthy. This time of Sarah's life was marked by loneliness, travel, problems with her mother, and learning that she lost the ability to play violin. Years after her accident, she was still discovering new brain problems. Sarah met Giulia, who was 15 years younger.  Quickly they fall in love, and Sarah shared her secret about her brain disorder. In 2008, Sarah took a job with a big Tobacco Company and moved to Hong Kong. Nine months later, Giulia moved there as well. Life began to resemble normalcy for Sarah. 
 
In 2010, Sarah recognized problems with her memory. She was concerned she had Alzheimer's disease or CTE. She struggled with words and could not spell anymore. Her writing had become awkward. She went to the doctor and had another MRI done. There was no evidence for Alzheimer's disease, but there was significant atrophy around the motor cortex and some atrophy around the posterior parietal region and parieto-occipital cortex. She was told to cut back on alcohol, exercise four times a week, read, write, keep working, and take up a foreign language. She was also advised to keep a positive outlook. Sarah was consumed with her symptoms. She was told that for many smart people, it is hard for others to notice a decline. Frustrated with Sarah's moods and preoccupation with her symptoms, Giulia left her. Sarah retreated from life and stayed at home with her dogs and cats. 
 
In 2013, at the age of 50, Sarah was researching euthanasia and considering ending her life. Soon after, she traveled to Sydney to see her neurologist and have more tests done. The MRI revealed that the brain changes were very slow and only in the area where she had her accident. It did not appear she had dementia, but the doctor wanted to run tests again in four years. Writing saved her brain after her accident, now she needed to get back to writing. Nothing stopped her depression, like helping an animal in need. She rescued a stray dog and named him Scout. Having a puppy helped her think about her life ten years into the future. She wanted to move back to Australia and reconcile her relationship with her mother. However, her mother's health and cognitive abilities were deteriorating, and it was taking a toll on Sarah.  She started to see a psychiatrist who offered her some hope. 
 
Sarah was lonely, so she tried online dating, but it didn't work. Finally, she met Louis, who happened to be a psycho-geriatrician specializing in dementia. Sarah told her the truth, and they fell quickly in love. Louis helped convince her that she did not have dementia. TBIs are complicated, and every TBI is different. Every brain is different. She pointed out Sarah wasted seven years worrying about something that didn't happened. She also helped Sarah navigate the relationship with her mother. In 2017, Louis and Sarah married in New York City. They live in Sydney and lead a simple life. On Sarah's wall is a quote by Norman Cousins: The tragedy of life is not death, but what we let die inside us while we live. Sarah decided to skip her next brain scan and live her life without fear. 
 
Other Related Resources
Author's Website
https://sarahvallance.com/
 
BBC Outlook
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csyfcx
 
Psychological Concepts and Figures
ADHD
Aggression
Alcohol
Alzheimer's disease
Antidepressants
Autobiographical memory
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)
Compensation
Concussion
Dementia
Depression
Dysphasia
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
Glasgow Coma Scale
Grammar
Impulse control
Insomnia
Introvert
IQ
Morphine
MRI
Musical alexia
Pain
Parietal lobe
Pica
Plasticity
Psychiatrist
Psychometric tests
Retrograde amnesia
Serial memory
Sexuality
Spectroscopy
Suicide
Syntax
Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
Unconditional positive regard
Visuospatial skills

​Darius the Great is Not Okay 
Author: Adib Khorram
ISBN:978-0-5255-5297-0
 
APA Style Citation
Khorram, A. K. (2018).  Darius the Great is not okay. Penguin Random House.
 
Buy This Book 
https://www.amazon.com/Darius-Great-Okay-Adib-Khorram/dp/0525552960
 

​Book Description 
Darius the Great is Not Okay is a young adult fictional novel that depicts the life of Darius (Darioush) Kellner. Darioush is half Persian and is named after the Persian King Darius the Great, although he feels the name is a clear case of misidentification. Darius lives in Portland, Oregon, and loves Persian tea, his little sister Laleh, and watching Star Wars with his father. None of these make for the perfect combination of popularity in high school. Darius is often on the receiving end of pranks and verbal ridicule from many of his classmates despite his school’s zero-tolerance policy on bullying. To add to his anxiety, Darius is targeted because he looks different than many of his classmates. He has thick curly hair and is overweight as a result of his love for pizza and spaghetti. Darius also suffers from clinical depression, as does his father, Stephen Kellner. Darius has one friend at school who shares his Persian background and a supportive family. Yet, he cannot help but think he is always disappointing people, especially his father, who Darius describes as the perfect Aryan. His father, Stephen Keller, is tall and muscular with blond hair and blue eyes. He is a successful architect who drives his beloved Audi, and Darius feels like he can never live up to his father’s expectations for him to fit in or play sports. Instead, he enjoys working at a tea shop and speaking in Klingon.
 
This book is a good read for high school students who can likely relate to many of Darius’s challenges. He is always concerned about fitting in and what other people think about him, and he worries about his future and his grades. Perhaps more importantly, however, the book allows the reader to peek into Darius’s brain to see how his depression distorts his thoughts and, as a result, his day-to-day interactions. The book is told from Darius’s perspective, and it eventually becomes clear that he is distorting his interactions to make them worse than they actually are. Darius is a sweet and caring boy, and he wants to make his parents proud, but he interprets any recommendation as a suggestion that he has done something wrong. Even when his classmates are trying to be kind, he interprets their words as mocking or threatening. 
 
Darius’s grandfather is gravely ill, so the family plans a trip to Iran, where Darius and Lelah will meet their grandparents face-to-face for the first time. Darius’s mother was worried about returning since she has married an American and had not seen her parents for 18 years. Darius worries about what he will say to his grandparents and what it will be like to meet them rather than talk to them on a computer screen. He knows he should love them, but he wonders if he will. Right after arriving, Darius meets Sorhab, a neighbor who helps Darius’s grandfather around the house. Darius and Sorhab bond over their outsider status. Sorhab is Baha’i, which is a religion that some people in Iran look down upon in Iran. Sorhab and Darius quickly become friends, visiting the sites around Yazd, where Sorhab and Darius’s grandparents live, enjoying Persian treats, and mostly playing soccer. Darius feels like he can be himself around Sorhab and even shares the worries and negative thoughts that he never tells other people about. Sorhab does not judge Darius even if he cannot quite understand how Darius’s mind works. Darius gradually comes to understand that he has not been a disappointment to his family. They want him to be happy and accepted and worry for him. He understands that his father’s need to be away from Darius does not mean he does not love Darius, but it often means he needs to cope with his own depressive symptoms. The trip to Iran helps him understand that even though his younger sister speaks perfect Farsi, it does not mean he is a failure. His parents just realized that this would be a priority with their second child.  
 
When the family returns from their trip, Darius accepts the compliments of his physical education coach, who encourages him to try out for the soccer team, which he makes. He realizes that some of the boys who he thought were making fun of him were really trying to be friendly. He also realizes that his depression and challenging his irrational thinking is something that he will have to live with for the rest of his life, but that many tools can help while he still remains the quirky and interesting Darius that he has always been.
 
Other Related Resources
Talk by author Adib Khorram
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmuX3yqn5Us
 
Discussion questions for Darius the Great Is Not Okay
https://www.penguin.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/DariusGreat_DiscussionGuide_Web.pdf
 
Asian Pacific Library Association (APALA) Interview with Adib Khorram
https://www.apalaweb.org/apala-author-interview-adib-khorram/
 
Interview with Adib Khorram from Ya Sh3lf
https://www.yash3lf.com/interview-with-adib-khorram-author-of-darius-the-great-is-not-okay/
 
10 Reasons you should read Darius the Great is Not Okay
https://www.yash3lf.com/10-reasons-why-you-should-read-darius-the-great-is-not-okay/
 
Psychological Concepts and Figures
Anxiety
Bullying
Depression
Internalized thoughts
Irrational thinking
Pessimistic explanatory style
Stigma
 
  

Facts and Fictions in Mental Health
Authors: Hal Arkowitz and Scott Lilienfeld
ISBN-13: 978-1118311295
ISBN-10: 1118311299
 
APA Style Citation
Arkowitz, H., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2017). Facts and fictions in mental health. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley Blackwell.

Buy This Book 

​Book Description
Facts and Fictions in Mental Health is comprised of a series of chapters organized by section categories that each focus on a specific myth related to mental illness, treatment, or mental health. Each chapter addresses the myth, provides examples from clinical practice, pop culture, or events in the news, followed by evidence from recent scientific inquiry on the topic. The source for most of the chapters is “Facts and Fictions” articles previously published in Scientific American Mind, although six additional entries were created for this book.
 
Each of the first seven sections corresponds roughly to a diagnostic category: Anxiety-Related Disorders, Mood Disorders, Child and Adolescent Disorders, Addictions, Personality Disorders, and Shattered Selves:  Schizophrenia and Dissociative Identity Disorder.  The remaining three sections address Popular Myths About the Brain and Behavior, Psychotherapy and Other Approaches to Change, and Other Myths. Each section opens with an engaging introduction to the broader category within psychology, followed by bite-sized chapters of three to five pages that briefly address the myth and provide the scientific evidence which dispels the myth.  Each chapter also ends with several sources for additional information on that topic.
 
The book provides an excellent tool for teachers of psychology because it addresses head-on many of the incorrect beliefs held by students surrounding issues related to mental illness. The book also addresses some of students’ most frequent questions about mental illness and treatment. There are also chapters related to other popular myths about human behavior and mental processes.

• What are the causes and most effective treatment methods for hoarding?
• Is mindfulness good medicine for anxiety and depression?
• Are bipolar disorders linked to creativity?
• Four myths about suicide, including the myth that talking about suicide increases suicidal tendencies.
• Is electroconvulsive treatment effective?
• Is there an autism epidemic?
• Do all Tourette’s patients swear?
• Are all psychopaths psychotic?
• Is schizophrenia the same or similar to dissociative identity disorder?
• Are people with dissociative identity disorder faking?
• How violent are people with mental illness?
• Are individuals either left- or right-brained?
• Is hypnosis a distinct state of consciousness?
• Are all psychotherapies equally effective?
• Why do some people resist changing when they know that doing so would improve their lives?
• What stereotypes exist in the media regarding therapy?
• Are most disorders we see in Western and European countries the same as those in the rest of the world?
• Does the presence of a full mood trigger strange behaviors?
• Is eyewitness testimony accurate?
• Is the insanity defense frequently used in criminal trials?

 
The book concludes with an interesting postscript that addresses some of the reasons behind the persistence of these myths. For example, the availability heuristic, which is a problem-solving shortcut in which we base decisions base on what is most likely to be fresh in our minds.  Arkowitz and Lilienfeld discuss how the availability heuristic contributes to the myth that divorce is almost always harmful to children.  Because it is more likely that we will hear about times when children struggle during a divorce than when they are resilient or when the change has lead to am improvement for the entire family.  The availability heuristic creates the impression children struggle after divorce because this is what they expect as the likely outcome. The research indicates that although divorce is difficult for children, long-term negative consequences are not inevitable. Another logic error post hoc causes individuals to make causal conclusions about events that might happen close in time. This has led many to believe that Autism is caused by vaccinations despite evidence from numerous, large empirical studies that have shown this link to be false. Many myths, according to the authors, persist because they are partially accurate, leading to the error of the grain-of-truth hypothesis. For example, the fact that because animals can provide temporary relief from emotional pain does not mean that animal-assisted therapy can treat the primary symptoms of serious conditions such as schizophrenia and anorexia nervosa. Finally, the authors address the problem of how information is presented and by whom can also create or perpetuate myths.  The authors discuss the problem of self-help books in chapter 39, “3,500 self-help books appear every year, but few are based on research or subjected to scientific scrutiny.”  There are also numerous psychology websites that contain misleading and inaccurate information about mental health, and mainstream media outlets can create misconceptions due to inaccurate or misleading interpretations of scientific findings. The authors also point out that individuals frequently do not read articles and rely on headlines alone for information on research studies that might be quite complex.  As a result, this can lead to misinformation about the findings of the study. For example, the headline, “Fear of Fluoride in Drinking Water,” in an article that emphasized the safety of fluoride in water spread misinformation unintentionally.
 
Facts and Fictions in Mental Health is a great tool for providing students with opportunities to dispel misconceptions and build critical thinking skills. The short chapters can be used for enrichment during units on clinical psychology, as well as cognitive psychology topics related to problem-solving and cognitive biases.
 
 
Other Related Resources
 
National Alliance on Mental Illness - NAMI
https://nami.org/Home
The NAMI organization provides numerous resources for building understanding and reducing the stigma associated with mental illness.  The website contains educational materials, information for requesting guest speakers, and advocacy opportunities. The site also has a series of effective videos that can be used to supplement instruction.
 
Time to Change – UK
https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/
Time to Change is an organization devoted to reducing stigma related to mental illness in the UK, and their website provides a variety of inspirational stories and educational materials for use in the classroom and the workplace.
 
Avoid Misleading Terminology
Fifty psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid: a list of inaccurate, misleading, misused, ambiguous, and logically confused words and phrases
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01100/full
This link is to an interesting article by author Lilienfeld and others that list and explain misleading terminology used in psychology that causes misinformation and confusion.
This article can be used as a source for a discussion related to the critical evaluation of scientific claims.  For each misleading term or phrase, the article explains why it poses a problem, provides examples of its misuse, and, if possible, provides a preferable term. Examples include a gene for, brain region “X” lights up, hard-wired, lie-detector test, truth-serum, and neural signature. Interestingly – the article addresses the problems with terminology frequently used in psychology class such as operational definition, objective personality test, and reliable and valid. The article also includes terms that are frequently misused or that are misleading overall.
 
Confusing Pairs
50 Differences That Make a Difference: A Compendium of Frequently Confused Term Pairs in Psychology
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2017.00037/full
This link is to an interesting article by author Lilienfeld and others that list and explain confusing pairs of terms in psychology. 
 
Psychological Concepts and Figures
Agoraphobia
Alzheimer’s disease
Animal-assisted therapy
Anxiety and anxiety disorders
Availability heuristic
Behavioral therapy
Bipolar disorder
Client-centered therapy
Cognitive-behavioral therapy
Depression
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5)
Dissociative disorders
Electroconvulsive therapy
Feeding and eating disorders
Hoarding disorder
Insanity defense
Mindfulness
Mood disorders
Neurodevelopmental disorders
Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders
Personality disorders
Post hoc error
Psychotropic medications
Schizophrenia
Short-term psychodynamic therapy
Substance use and abuse disorders
Trauma- and stressor related disorders
 

​Hidden Valley Road:  Inside the Mind of an American Family
Author:  Richard Kolker
ISBN:  978-03855-43774
 
APA Style Citation
Kolker, R. (2020.) Hidden valley road. Inside the Mind of an American family.  New York, NY: Penguin Random House.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Valley-Road-Inside-American/dp/038554376X
 

​Book Description
Hidden Valley Road, named after the street the family lived on, is the tragic story of the Galvin family.  The non-fictional account follows the growing family from the time in which the young, recently married Donald and Mimi Galvin moved to Colorado Springs through the twelve children that eventually made up the Galvin family (10 boys and 2 girls).  Eventually, six of the boys would develop schizophrenia. The book addresses many facets related to mental illness, including the issues of genetic and environmental factors, the stigma around mental illness, and the difficulty in managing and finding good care for those experiencing different levels of schizophrenia.
 
Since Swiss Psychologist Eugen Bleuler initially coined the term schizophrenia, which comes from the Latin word -schizo- meaning a split in mental functioning, he had suspected that there was an underlying physical component to the disorder. The degree to which the physical components drive the illness is still one that is fascinating and much debated. Examining a family in which six of the boys developed the disease provides the opportunity to learn more about the underlying genetic components that may be associated with schizophrenia. Freud was the first but certainly not the last to place the blame of development of schizophrenia decidedly at least partially at the feet of the mother, a point not lost on Mimi as her son’s disappeared into the illness. Today, estimations are that one in one hundred individuals may experience schizophrenia at some point in their lives, but with an identical twin, chances increase to roughly 50%.  In one other famous case of schizophrenia from the 1950s, the Genain quadruplets all developed schizophrenia by age 25 and were studied by the National Institute of Mental Health.
 
Don Galvin Sr. was a professor at the Air Force Academy after having spent time in the Navy.  He had experienced in his early military career “a case of the nerves” and was hospitalized at Walter Reed hospital, this event was not much discussed in the family, and his career and family developed quickly. The eldest son Don Jr. played football, got decent grades, and wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps.  By his teenage years, however, he was smashing dishes and ruthlessly beating up his younger brothers. Mimi and Donald were frequently traveling for work and left the boys to their own devices, which could be brutal as they formed camps against one another. By sophomore year in college, Donald was experiencing full-blown psychotic episodes, believing in one case that he had murdered a professor and in another fantasizing about murdering someone at a football game.  He also killed a cat that had lived with him for a few days after it scratched him. This behavior was at first attributed to a break up with a longtime girlfriend. When he was forced to return home, he believed people were shooting at him and once removed all of the furniture from the house in a paranoid episode. Don and Mimi opted for a psychoanalytic treatment before eventually resorting to the use of Thorazine to reduce Donald’s aggressive outbursts. Because of the stigma attached to the illness, Donald Sr. and Mimi tried to manage Donald’s illness while he lived at home because admitting him to a mental institution would be to admit defeat and publicly acknowledge what was happening. With Donald Sr. frequently away for work, it was up to Mimi to manage Donald along with the ten other children still living at home, most of whom became terrified of Donald. The Thorazine caused Donald to gain weight and sleep often, but it never eliminated his delusions of having superior powers or being controlled by God. Donald eventually developed tardive dyskinesia experiencing constant jerking movement from the years on Thorazine, but he attributed it to his father, making him “stand at attention as a child.”
 
The middle group of boys threw themselves into hockey to get out of the house, and Margaret, the second youngest, was sent to live with some wealthy family friends. Mary (who now goes by Lindsay), the youngest, often locked herself in her room when home alone with her brother because she was terrified he would fly into one of his rages. 
 
Shortly after Jim, the second oldest, got married, he started hearing voices, he believed people were spying on him, and he stopped sleeping, often acting violently towards himself. He had a tumultuous marriage even prior to the diagnosis and eventually killed his wife and was sent to prison. Brian and Michael were the next to experience symptoms. Brian played in a band and had a total disregard for authority, some believed that his symptoms might have been brought on by drug use. After a weeklong stay in Denver’s psychiatric ward, he decided it was time for him to leave and he never fully accepted his diagnosis. Michael could often go for long stretches without symptoms, and it seems that although he experienced symptoms of schizophrenia, they were far less severe than his eldest brother Donald Jr. The youngest of the ten boys, Peter, was always oppositional, but after witnessing his father’s stroke in 9th grade he experienced more frequent oppositional episodes and he eventually had to be hospitalized and restrained.  Mimi now had to take care of the older boys, her husband, who was recovering from a stroke and try to find a place that was appropriate for Peter’s young age and symptoms. Peter was eventually diagnosed with acute schizophrenia with paranoid ideation.  Matt, who was another one of the hockey-playing brothers and who later fought in the Vietnam war, came to believe the government was out to get him but resisted the label of schizophrenia. He became homeless and often sold his medications for money or food but never believed that he actually had schizophrenia. He eventually went through many rounds of ECT therapy.
 
With so many cases of schizophrenia in a single family it is likely that there was some genetic factor driving the illness. It was later discovered that many of the boys who later developed the illness were molested by a priest who has been a family friend and often spent time with the boys. The lack of acknowledgment, especially with Donald Jr, may have also been an environmental factor that exacerbated the illness.  Growing up with an older brother who was schizophrenic created a chaotic and violent home environment and may also have served as environmental triggers for some of the younger boys.  
Psychologists like Irving Gottesman and James Shield began to examine the genetic influence of the disease by proposing the diathesis-stress model in which certain disorders could be predisposed for some individuals but activated by environmental factors.  In the late 1970s, Richard Wyatt found enlarged ventricles in some schizophrenic patients leading to a stronger belief in the physical attributes of the disorder. In the early 1980s, Irving Feinberg proposed that problems in neural pruning during adolescence might be the main cause of the disorder. The 1990s brought the discovery that the hippocampi in some schizophrenics were smaller than in control patients. MRI scans also found problems with activity in the frontal lobe.  Through this all, Lynn Delisi was attempting to find specific genetic markers to identify the disorders. Studying families would be the key to discovering the genetic links to the disorder.  In the 1990s, the Human Genome Project began to solve problems such as this and with $3 billion in funding.  The Galvin brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews who were willing donated their DNA to be analyzed for clues to the genetic components of the illness.  It was determined that a mutation on the C4A gene might provide some answers to the disorders. There is now the possibility of genetic testing in utero, and there may be a way to fix flaws in genes in the womb or early in life. Ironically, one of the Galvin grandchildren is working on the project that contains her family’s DNA to try to ensure that families in the future will not have to endure the chaos his own family experienced.
 
Other Related Resources
Book Trib:  Question and Answers with Robert Kolker
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/books/review/hidden-valley-road-robert-kolker.html
 
NPR:  Hidden Valley Road
Inside the Mind of an American Family
https://www.npr.org/books/titles/826844537/hidden-valley-road-inside-the-mind-of-an-american-family
 
The Gazette:  Interview with two of the Galvin Brothers
https://gazette.com/health/schizophrenic-brother-from-hidden-valley-road-struggles-to-find-long-term-care-in-colorado-springs/article_e69bec18-a4f6-11ea-b464-3fe45116d2c9.html
 
New York Time Book Review:  Good Looks ran in the Family, and so did Schizophrenia
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/books/review/hidden-valley-road-robert-kolker.html
 
Apple Podcasts:  Robert Kolker discusses Hidden Valley Road
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/robert-kolker-discusses-hidden-valley-road/id120315179?i=1000471100099
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Eugene Blueler
Sigmund Freud
Carl Jung
Emil Kraepelin
David Rosenthal
Thomas Szasz
 
Chlorpromazine
Clozapine
CT scans
Delusions
Diagnostic Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM)
Dopamine receptors
Hallucinations
Electroshock treatment 
Insulin shock therapy
Lithium
Lobotomies
MRI studies
Neurons
Paranoid schizophrenia
Psychopaths
Schizophrenia
Somatization disorders
Stockholm syndrome
Tardive dyskinesia
Thorazine
 
 

Make Just One Change
Authors: Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana
ISBN-13: 978-1612500997
ISBN-10: 1612500994
 
APA Style Citation
Rothstein, D & Santana, L. (2011). Make just one change. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Make-Just-One-Change-Questions/dp/1612500994
​

​Book Description
How would you describe a student-centered classroom? One answer might include students doing the thinking, talking, and producing. Teachers have all been faced with the sound of crickets after they ask, “Are there any questions?” Perhaps it is because students don’t know how to ask questions. Make Just One Change offers the Question Formulation Technique for the teacher’s toolbox to help students learn how to ask questions.
 
The authors, Rothstein and Santana, recognized the need to be taught how to ask the right questions in school. They were impacted by parents commenting on how they couldn’t help their children with their school work because they didn’t know what questions to ask. The traditional education system has focused on teacher questions and student answers for too long. Instead, all students should learn how to ask questions and teachers can easily incorporate this skill into their lessons. After years of experimenting, the authors have landed on a six-step process that helps students exercise their questioning muscle for future growth. The strategy focuses on divergent thinking (multiple answers), convergent thinking (narrowing of options), and metacognition (thinking about your thinking). With these new skills, students will have an easier time writing essay, reading texts, identifying research questions, designing experiments, participating in Socratic seminars, creating homework assignments, and preparing for tests.
 
When students can ask questions, it improves their ownership in learning, engagement, learning outcomes, and confidence. The Question Formulation Technique helps with teamwork skills and classroom management. It promotes democracy and turn students into life-long learners. It has also been found effective with at-risk students, especially minorities to bridge the achievement gap.
 
A short summary of the six core components has been provided below.
 

1. Question Focus or QFocus

Rather than the traditional prompt, the QFocus is a stimulus to kickstart student questions. It can be a short statement or a visual aid, but it must have a clear focus and NOT be a question. Also, it should stimulate new thinking and stay away from teacher bias. While creating the QFocus, teachers should keep in mind the goal of the lesson and what students will be doing with their questions.
 

1. Produce Questions

Before students start producing questions, it is important to introduce the four essential rules. Each of them have value, and all must be followed. First, ask as many questions as you can. This provides students the authority to ask their questions. Second, do not stop to discuss, judge, or answer the questions. This creates a safe space, along with supporting efficiency, equalizing, and an opening to ideas. Third, write down every question exactly as it is stated. This levels the playing field so all voices can be heard and respected. As a teacher, we know how challenging this can be because we often paraphrase for students. However, students need to practice being able to scribe as accurately as possible. Finally, change any statement into a question. This brings the focus back to questions not statements. Remember, producing questions takes courage. We’ve all heard, “I know this is a stupid question, but…” By following the four rules, students will be provided a safe place to explore the skill of questioning. 
 
After explaining the rules, teachers should help facilitate a discussion on the challenges of using these rules.  Students will discuss the challenges in small groups in order to draw attention to the rules and participate in metacognition. After the discussion, students will start to produce their own questions. The teacher should monitor students and remind them of the rules. If necessary, starters to questions can be provided, such as what, when, or how. However, it is very important to not give examples or questions while supporting students because they will feel there is a correct way of questioning.
 

1. Identify Closed- vs. Open-ended Questions

The type of question asked shapes the information received. The teacher should begin with differentiating closed- vs. open-ended questions. Then, students will review their questions and classify them with either a C or O. After, the teacher will facilitate a discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of both types of questions. Finally, students will practice switching 1-2 of each type of question to its counterpart.  Students may struggle with this step, so the teacher can provide some starters again. Question stems for open-ended questions often start with why or how, whereas closed-ended questions start with is, do, or can. There is value to both types of questions and one may be more helpful than another in certain situations. It is important for students to recognize the value and practice being able to change their questions to the other type. While students are producing and categorizing their questions, they are practicing divergent thinking. When they transition to listing advantages and disadvantages and changing their questions, they have moved on to metacognition and convergent thinking.
 

1. Prioritize Questions

This step is a very important, but often overlooked part of the process. Students must prioritize on a regular basis, such as time management between homework and peers or next steps for a long-term project. As many teachers know, this can be quite challenging for the adolescent brain. For this step, students will discuss, compare, analyze, and prioritize their questions down to three based on the teacher’s criteria (e.g., what students would like to focus on, most important information to students, specific purpose, information to explore further). In addition, students must provide a rationale for their prioritized questions that will be shared with the larger group. The teacher should support students by reminding them of the criteria and validate the reports with a neutral tone, such as “thank you.” When providing what is meant to be positive feedback, such as “great question,” this makes students think there is a correct way of questioning that the teacher is looking for. Students may struggle with this process, but hopefully they will come to a consensus and utilize their convergent thinking.
 

1. Provide Next Steps

Now it will be established what students will do next. The question formulation technique can be used at the beginning, middle, or end of a class or unit. In the beginning it might be used as a starter, to review yesterday’s topic, guide new research, assess knowledge gaps, or shape a future lesson. In the middle it might be used to shape homework, prepare for tests, or identify student misconceptions. In the end, it might be used to review the lesson, prepare for final reports, or set a new research agenda. The next steps are diverse and can be varied throughout the year. When students are using the questions for the purpose set by the teacher, they are practicing their convergent thinking.
 

1. Reflection

The final step has students reflect on the entire process and participate in metacognition. Teachers will develop questions for students to respond to focused on what the student learned, how they learned, and how they feel. The format of reflection also needs to be decided, whether it will be written or discussion based. Sometimes there may not be enough time and teachers remove this step. However, enhancing metacognitive skills for students should not be skipped.
 
Other Related Resources
Right Question Institute
https://rightquestion.org/resources/make-just-one-change/
 
The Brainwaves Anthology: Dan Rothstain- Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOGbA9LocAk
 
The Brainwaves Anthology: Luz Santana- The Right Question Institute
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NP24l3jCwo
 
TEDxSomerville- Dan Rothstein: Did Socrates Get it Wrong?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JdczdsYBNA
 
Harvard EdCast- Make Just One Change
https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/11/11/harvard-edcast-make-just-one-change
 
Psychological Concepts and Figures
Howard Gardner
Carl Jung
Robert Sternberg
 
Creativity
Convergent thinking
Divergent thinking
Implicit memory
Metacognition

Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization
Author: Scott Barry Kaufman
ISBN-10: 0143131206
ISBN-13: 978-0143131205
 
APA Style Citation
Kaufman, S.B. (2020). Transcend: The new science of self-actualization. New York, NY: Tarcher Perigee.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Transcend-Self-Actualization-Scott-Barry-Kaufman/dp/014313120

Book Description
Many individuals studying psychology are familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. But who was this man and how many levels truly exist in his hierarchy? Transcend: The New Science of Self-actualization, written by Scott Kaufman, offers a short biography seamlessly blended with an exploration of Maslow’s theories that laid the foundation of humanistic psychology and modern research.
 
Maslow was the eldest son of Russian Jewish immigrants. He was bullied as a kid and went on to dedicate his life to social change. At age 19, Maslow had a life-changing experience. While attending a college class (that he eventually dropped claiming it was too hard) he learned of folkways and was bitten by the anthropology bug. Shortly after, he transferred to the University of Wisconsin Madison. In 1930, Maslow was just three years younger than his 24- year-old professor Harry Harlow, and they would go on to become dear friends. After reading Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams, Maslow was drawn to psychoanalysis. He approached Harlow to empirically test the ideas of Freud and Adler. It was then that Maslow began researching sex and dominance in monkeys. His work impressed Thorndike, a behaviorial psychologist who’s work on learning theory led to operant conditioning, who invited him to come to Columbia University to work as his postdoctoral fellow. That same year Adler also moved to New York City and hosted weekly get togethers. After asking about his connection to Freud, Adler became visibly angry and Maslow was embarrassed. At a later meeting, Adler questioned Maslow’s loyalty and Maslow never attended another meeting. Later that year Adler had a heart attack and died. Maslow had a great deal of regret about his final interaction with Adler. In 1938, Maslow spent the summer among the Northern Blackfoot Indians in Alberta, Canada. This experience influenced his perception of human nature. He believed all humans were basically good, but society changes this natural personality. From 1935-1945, Maslow learned from some of the most influential psychologists and anthropologists of his generation and many become his friends: Alfred Adler, Erich Fromm, Karen Horney, Bela Mittlemann, Emil Oberholzer, Abran Kdariner, David Levy, Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, Kurt Goldstein, Ruth Benedict, and Margaret Mead to name a few.
 
Another life-changing experience came shortly after the United States entered WWII. Maslow felt we didn’t understand the Fascists or Communists and devoted his life to discovering a psychology for the peace table. He used his varied experiences to create his theory of human motivation. In 1943, he used the phrase “self-actualization” referring to the desire for self-fulfillment. He believed everyone should be self-actualizing, and it was the society that impacted them. For him, the self-actualizing man was not an ordinary man with something added, but the ordinary man with nothing taken away. He studied personal acquaintances and friends, college students, and public and historical figures. He acknowledged the limitations of this methodology but hoped to inspire further study. It has been almost 70 years since he published his list of self-actualization characteristics, but ten can still be reliably and validly measured. From 1945-49, he kept a Good Human Being (GHB) Notebook to organize his findings. Along the journey, he wanted to inspire students not just provide mastery of content. He was also blunt and honest to a fault. In 1954, he turned his attention to “peak experiences”. He read widely from Eastern religious thought and Carl Jung. After collecting mystical experiences from college students, he created the concept of a “peak experience”. He shared this with his colleagues and was rejected by a top journal. Later he explored industrial psychology and was influenced by McGregor’s concepts of Theory X and Theory Y. He went on to create Theory Z and soon realized self-actualization is not the top of the hierarchy.
 
In December, 1967 he had his first heart attack and recognized that he did not have much time left. He decided to commit to his writing and faced his inner conflicts and insecurities. He saved his thoughts in his journal and believed the right person would come along and know what must be done. His last private journal entries showed he was working on a humanistic revolution and a series of exercises to transcend the ego. He was also planning to write a book on humanistic education. He wanted a fifth force in psychology, known as transhumanism that would transcend human interests. On June 8, 1970, Maslow died from a second heart attack at the young age of 62. He had much more to explore for his humanistic theory.
 
Maslow called for a “Being-Psychology,” a field of psychology that incorporates a full understanding that includes both sick and healthy. It explores the ends rather than the means and was sometimes known as “positive psychology.” He created a “third force” in response to the limitations of behaviorism and Freudian psychoanalysis. It became known as humanistic psychology and started with the launch of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology in 1961. It focuses on a healthy personality and gained popularity. The 13 sources of well-being have been studied extensively and supported over the years. However, several misconceptions of his theory have also been firmly implanted in public perception.

1. The theory is NOT similar to a video game with a lockstep progression. Maslow was a developmental psychologist and recognized maturation as ongoing. Individuals are often only partially satisfied at any level and can return to a lower level.
2. The needs are NOT isolated from one another. Maslow discussed how the needs are arranged and rest on one another, but returning to lower needs is always a possibility. John Rowan, an English humanistic psychotherapist, used the analogy of Russian nesting dolls: each larger doll includes all of the smaller dolls but also transcends them. While working on higher needs, the lower needs don’t disappear but rather work together for growth.
3. The theory is NOT a pyramid. Maslow never created a pyramid to represent his hierarchy of needs; it was created by a management consultant in the 1960s. The graphic gained popularity and was reproduced in textbooks, but the theory is much more powerful than the simplistic, 5-step, one-way pyramid offered with the graphic.
4. The theory DOES allow for cross-cultural variation and individual differences. Maslow recognized that basic needs can change across a lifetime, but there are also significant differences in the order to which people satisfy their needs. For example, if a group is lacking security (i.e., war-torn society) they will be focused on their survival needs. However, they can simultaneously work on community, respect, and talent development. Individuals do not need to wait for their security needs to be met before working on self-fulfillment. Even within a society, individuals are influenced by their personality and environmental experiences. Needs can change as we mature and develop.

 
Rather than focusing on a pyramid, Maslow proposed all needs can be grouped into two main classes, which must be integrated for wholeness. Deficiency needs (D-needs) are motivated by lack of satisfaction- lack of food, safety, affection, belonging, and self-esteem. The D-realm colors our perceptions and distorts reality. The Being-realm (B-needs) is about accepting and loving of oneself and others.
 
The author, Kaufman, proposes perhaps a more appropriate analogy for understanding the true essence of Maslow’s theory. Rather than a hierarchy, he suggests a sailboat. It is a sailboat that protects one from dangerous seas. Each plank offers security, but it is not enough for movement. A sail is necessary to move the boat through the water. Each level of the sail helps an individual capture more wind and explore their environment. Rather than climbing a pyramid, one opens their sail and drops their defenses. As you catch the wind you can enter peak experiences. And as one makes their way through the ocean, they help other sailboats near them.

• The boat consists of the basic needs of safety, connection, and self-esteem. These security needs work together, but under bad conditions can lead to instability. 
• The sail represents growth, which is the heart of self-actualization.

Security and growth are the two foundations necessary for becoming a whole person. Kaufman broke down growth into three specific needs: exploration, love, and purpose. He believes this captures the essence of Maslow’s concept of self-actualization.
 
Boat: Security Needs
 
1. Safety
Maslow emphasized the need for the most fundamental needs to be met to realize one’s full potential. Modern science supports having a safe base. The research is clear that psychological processes are entangled with our physiology. Kaufman feels fine combining the physiological and safety needs that Maslow proposed. He further explores research on hunger and the need for attachment security. Bowlby and Ainsworth’s research are addressed along with adult categories of attachment styles. The future implications of trauma on the brain and learned helplessness are also explored along with their physiological connections. Maslow believed healthy growth involved not only fulfillment of the basic needs, but also the ability to endure deprivation and grow as a result. One of the most important paths to growth is through education.  Sternberg emphasizes viewing intelligence in context. Skills for success in school may differ from skills necessary for survival. An emerging field in education, known as possibility development, focuses on helping adolescents imagine future possible selves and strategies to overcome obstacles, which can have a persistent positive impact.
 
2. Connection
Maslow quickly acquired great affection for monkeys under Harlow. Harlow’s research identified connection is essential to normal development. Maslow said belonging and affection were fundamental and not reducible to safety or sex. The need for connection consists of two sub needs: need to belong and the need for intimacy. The Robbers Cave Study explores how external threats and a lack of resources can motivate belonging. Additional research shows the strength of groups, even when membership is meaningless. However, people differ greatly in their need for belonging as a result of individual genes interacting with personal experiences. The need for intimacy is more about connecting, caring, and protecting loved ones. At the heart of intimacy is a high-quality connection. Further topics explored include the brain’s opioid system increasing connection, the deadly consequences of social isolation, the impact of money and satisfaction, social media’s link to loneliness, and finally the Blue Zones of connections.
 
3. Self-Esteem
The same year Adler died, Maslow published the first of his studies on “dominance-feeling” among humans, a term he soon changed to “self-esteem.” Adler’s influence is visible in Maslow’s paper, clearly distinguishing between feelings of dominance and dominance behavior. Maslow also matched Adler’s thoughts about overcompensation and turning challenges into growth and strength. Healthy self-esteem is one of the strongest correlates to life satisfaction. Modern research identifies two aspects of healthy self-esteem: self-worth and mastery. Self-worth is the evaluation of your overall sense of self. Maslow distinguished the need for self-esteem and the need for esteem from others. Modern research says they are linked. Mastery is the evaluation of your overall sense of agency. We need to know “who we are” as well as “what we can do.”  Further topics explored include self-esteem vs. narcissism, the two faces of narcissism (grandiose and vulnerable), and healthy pride.
 
Sail- Growth Needs
 
1. Exploration
To move forward and grow, exploration helps stop the anxieties and fears. Research has linked the dopamine pathway to the reward value of information. Topics explored include social exploration and adventure-seeking. Research regarding post-traumatic growth is also explored in more detail. For both Maslow and Rogers, the height of self-actualization was creativity. One key to creativity is openness and modern research has looked at openness and the “default mode network” also known as the “imagination network.” Connections to intellectual curiosity and academic achievement are also being explored.  A map of the creative brain has been developed to predict the quality of creative thought.
 
2. Love
Maslow recognized beyond a certain point of love fulfillment, we become more capable of turning our love to others. He distinguished needing love or “D-love (deficiency love)” from unneeding love or “B-love (love for the being of another person).” The difference between the dark triad and light triad are also explored. Research has confirmed Maslow’s idea that those with a strong loving orientation are less likely to need love. B-loving people have self-transcendent values. They are high in universal concern, universal tolerance, trustworthiness, dependability for close loved ones, benevolence, and caring for friends and family. They also have healthy compassion and genuine motives. B-loving individuals score high in affective empathy. Other topics explored that are associated with B-loving are healthy coping mechanisms, healthy self-love, a quiet ego, healthy authenticity, and whole love.
 
3. Purpose
Maslow was exposed to industrial psychology and realized the potential of the workplace for testing self-actualization. He felt self-actualized people pursued their calling, not happiness. Having purpose is a crucial human need. Modern research supports that seeing work as a calling is related to greater life satisfaction and fewer missed days of work. However, having a purpose is not enough for growth. It is important to pick the right personal goals. The most growth fostering purpose is built on a strong foundation of a secure environment, belonging, connection, healthy self-esteem, and driven by exploration and love.
 
Healthy Transcendence
Maslow found that peak experiences (any experience that comes close to perfection) had many triggers and were common in a variety of people. However, those with greater psychological health had a greater frequency of peak experiences. Maslow thought peak experiences were profound and transformative for the person experiencing them. What distinguishes self-actualizing people, are more frequent and intense peak experiences.
 
In 1967, Maslow began wondering if there were different types of self-actualizing people and if there was a different motivation besides temporary peak experiences. There appeared to be a higher motivation for continual striving for transcendent experiences and values. Maslow put his ideas together in a 1969 paper called Theory Z. He proposed that “merely healthy” people fulfilled Theory Y, but transcenders went beyond basic needs and fulfillment of one’s unique self. He identified the characteristics of transcenders. A Theory Z worldview is full of awe, beauty, wonder, savoring, exploration, discovery, and openness. It is similar to modern research on wisdom. Theory Z was an inspiring vision of what humans could be. Maslow was also working on humanistic education and psychopolitics. As his health declined he did not fear death. Instead, he had found new depths of meaning, which he related to a plateau experience. A plateau experience was more enduring and cognitive, in contrast to a peak experience that was ecstatic and momentary. A key trigger of the plateau experience was a confrontation with mortality. In 1970, Maslow mentioned the intention to develop exercises to help bring to the B-realm.
 
The man that built humanistic psychology had so much more to offer. Thanks to his journals we have a little bit more of an understanding about where he was wanted to take psychology with his beliefs of a “Being Psychology.”
 
Other Related Resources
Author Webpage
https://scottbarrykaufman.com/
 
Self-Actualization Tests
https://scottbarrykaufman.com/selfactualizationtests/
 
Scientific American- Summary of Research on Characteristics of Self-Actualization Scale
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/what-does-it-mean-to-be-self-actualized-in-the-21st-century/
 
Research on Characteristics of Self-Actualization Scale
https://scottbarrykaufman.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Kaufman-self-actualization-2018.pdf
 
The Psychology Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hjyLvI7ywc
 
SLOWW website (Detailed Book Summary)
https://www.sloww.co/transcend-book-scott-barry-kaufman/
 
Scientific American Stories by Scott Barry Kaufman
https://www.scientificamerican.com/author/scott-barry-kaufman/
 
Psychological Concepts and Figures
Alfred Adler
Mary Ainsworth
John Bowlby
Brené Brown
David Buss
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Angela Duckworth
Erik Erikson
Sigmund Freud
Howard Gardner
Harry Harlow
Karen Horney
William James
Henry Murray
Carl Rogers
Martin Seligman
Robert Sternberg
Edward Thorndike
John Watson
 
Altruism
Attachment
Being psychology
B-needs vs. D-needs
Brain parts
Cortisol
emotion-focused coping strategies
Eros
Evolutionary psychology
Flow
fMRI
Grit
Hormones
Humanistic psychology
In-group biases
Instincits
Instrumental social alue
Intelligence
Intrinsic
Learned helplessness
Narcissism
Natural selection
Neuroticism
Openness to experience
Overconfidence
Oxytocin
Peak experience
Personality
Plateau experience
Pleasure system- opioid system
Post-traumatic growth
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
problem-focused coping strategies
Projection
Proximity
Relational social value
Robbers Cave study
Self-actualization
Self-efficacy
Signature strengths
Stress
Sublimation
Terror management theory (TMT)
Theory of mind
Theory X vs. Y vs. Z
Third force
Transcendence
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
Transformational leadership
Unconditional positive regard

​Talking to Strangers  
Author:  Malcolm Gladwell
ISBN-13:  978-0-316-53562-5
 
APA Style Citation
Gladwell, M. (2019). Talking to Strangers. Little Brown and Company, Hachette Book Group, New York, N.Y.
 
Buy this Book 
https://www.amazon.com/Talking-Strangers-Should-about-People/dp/0316478520
 
 

​Book Description
Malcolm Gladwell’s latest foray into the investigation of human behavior explores how implicit biases can lead us astray when evaluating someone’s intentions and behaviors. Most of the stories that Gladwell features are those in which something went wrong, and someone was misjudged because of their charisma, work ethic or skin color. Gladwell opens with the story of Sandra Bland, who was pulled over for a simple traffic stop in Houston, Texas in 2015 and in a series of misjudgments and misunderstandings wound up dead in a Texas jail.  Gladwell addresses how Adolf Hitler was able to convince Neville Chamberlin and other world leaders in the 1930s that he was simply trying to unify German speakers who were split apart after WWI, not take over all of Europe. Gladwell addresses judges doling out sentences or determining who will be “high risk” when setting bail. He contends that we often think that we can “see into the hearts of others based on the flimsiest of clues.”
            In most cases, people will default to truth, when we are unsure about others intentions, we assume they are being truthful. When we know a little bit about someone else and especially when that little bit is good, “they went to Harvard,” “they are a hard worker,” we tend to demonstrate the halo effect. When this happens, we assume that people with one positive characteristic also have other positive characteristics. This phenomenon allowed Ana Montes to rise through the ranks of the CIA to become known as, “The Queen of Cuba.”  Montes was hard-working, attractive, and articulate.  When questioned about an American plane that was shot down over Cuba, Montes had answers at the ready, and the CIA agent who interviewed her was satisfied she had nothing to do with the event despite a number of unusual coincidences between her connections in Cuba and the events surrounding the plane incident. As psychological researchers have long known, people are generally terrible at spotting a liar. We are also far more likely to believe that people are telling the truth rather than lying. Tim Levine of the University of Alabama labels this the Truth-Default Theory (TDT).  Ana Montes was a spy for the Cubans and had a direct connection to Fidel Castro, but she fooled her co-workers, siblings, and boyfriend (all of whom were in the intelligence community) for years.  Once people found out that Montes had been secretly funneling information to Cuba for years, they demonstrated hindsight bias and began to question her earlier behavior, but nobody raised questions at the time. As intelligence officers, they felt guilt about not being able to detect a spy in their ranks, and tried to reflect back on events in which they had suspicions about Montes’ behavior.  This rationalization likely helped to alleviate the cognitive dissonance of those who knew and worked with Montes, but Gladwell suggests that we are still likely to default to the truth and believe people even when we should not.
In other examples, Bernie Madoff embezzled hundreds of millions of dollars in a Ponzi scheme, which went on for years undetected despite multiple people raising questions about his returns and the amount of market share he supposedly managed. Jerry Sandusky took advantage of his high-profile status as a football coach to abuse young boys who were in his care.  In other cases, we can assume that someone is lying when, in fact, they are telling the truth. Amanda Knox was accused of killing her roommate in a strange sex triangle gone wrong because she did not act “how a grieving roommate should” in her interactions with police and others after the crime occurred. She spent seven years in an Italian prison until it was demonstrated that a drifter with a record was the true perpetrator. Even then, some Italian officials claimed that Knox was the killer because they had become convinced that she committed the crime, and their belief perseverance would not let them change their mind.
 
One might think that this default to truth is a dangerous way to live as we can be duped into believing people who are lying to us. Levine suggests otherwise, he indicates that in general lies are fairly rare and told by a small subset of people. As such, our default to truth might serve a purpose of social connection because if we questioned everyone’s intentions all of the time, we would often accuse people of lying when they were telling the truth and we would ostracize ourselves for the accusation. We overestimate our ability to judge others behaviors, but according to Gladwell, we may be wrong more often than we think.
 
 
Other Related Resources
Malcolm Gladwell website
https://www.gladwellbooks.com
 
Malcolm Gladwell Revisionist History podcast 
http://revisionisthistory.com
 
Malcolm Gladwell on Taking to Strangers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is8_0cJx82w
 
Malcolm Gladwell on C-Span
https://www.c-span.org/video/?464128-1/qa-malcolm-gladwell
 
 
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Charles Darwin
Paul Ekman
Tim Levine
Stanley Milgram
Claude Steele
 
Actor-observer effect
Amygdala
Availability heuristic
Belief perseverance
Cerebellum
Cognitive dissonance
Discrimination
Displacement
Duchenne smile
Frontal lobe
Fundamental attribution error
Halo effect
Hindsight bias
Implicit bias
Just world phenomenon
Overconfidence
Prefrontal cortex
Prejudice
Self-serving bias
Stereotypes
 
 
 

Upside:  The New Science of Post-Traumatic Growth
Author: Jim Rendon
ISBN-10: 1476761639
ISBN-13: 978-1476761633
 
APA Style Citation
Rendon. (2015). Upside: The new science of Post-Traumatic Growth. New York, NY: Touchstone.
 
Buy This Book
www.amazon.com/Upside-New-Science-Post-Traumatic-Growth/dp/1476761639

​Book Description
 
As teachers of psychology, we often devote considerable time and attention to mental illness and treatment while spending significantly less time on positive psychology or the scientific study of strengths and the potential to grow from negative experiences. 
According to the DSM-5, individuals may receive a diagnosis of Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from exposure to three types of traumatic events: 

1. The event happened to them personally
2. They learn that a traumatic event happened to a family member or a close friend
3. They experienced repeated exposure to a traumatic event (e.g., first responders, caretakers).

The most common PTSD symptoms are:

• Intrusion (e.g., involuntary distressing memories, flashbacks, nightmares)
• Avoidance (e.g., hiding from distressing memories, dodging reminders of the event)
• Negative changes in thoughts and mood (e.g., negative beliefs about oneself, numbness, detachment from others)
• Increased arousal and reactivity (e.g., exaggerated startle response, irritability, problems concentrating, sleep difficulties)

 
After an extremely dangerous or life-threatening event, most individuals have initial symptoms, and in most cases, those symptoms go away on their own.  For some, the symptoms continue, and PTSD may be diagnosed. There is, however, research related to how these same events ultimately lead to post-traumatic growth (PTG), which is the subject of the book, Upside.  While it is critical to teach and build an understanding of PTSD, it is equally important to illustrate that the types of experiences that lead to PTSD do not always result in the condition. In reality, most individuals who experience a traumatic event do not develop PTSD.
 
The book Upside, traces the development of research into the potential positive benefits of trauma that began in the 1980’s.  Two psychology professors from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun built the initial research on individuals who had been devastated by losses including accidents and illness.  Another early study conducted by a psychiatrist and professor at the Yale School of Medicine named William Sledge covered what would become post-traumatic growth in aviators who were POWs during the Vietnam War, which was published in 1980.  Interest in the field grew slowly as more research funding was devoted to PTSD.  While examples of post-traumatic growth have been documented for thousands of years, it was not a focus of scientific inquiry until the 1980’s. Tedeschi and Calhoun continued their research and found that individuals who experienced positive outcomes post-trauma experienced changes in one or more of the following areas:

• Greater inner strength
• An openness to new life possibilities
• Closer and deeper relationships with friends and family
• An enhanced appreciation for life
• A stronger sense of spirituality

Tedeschi and Calhoun named the phenomenon – post-traumatic growth and published research based on the questionnaire they created called the perceived benefits scale and published their work on the Post-traumatic Growth Inventory in 1996. The inventory consisted of questions directly linked to the five growth areas. According to their study, half or more of trauma survivors reported some positive effects post-trauma.  This contrasts with the negative outcomes related to PTSD that researchers believe will impact about eight percent of Americans during their lives and potentially as much as thirty percent of certain cohorts such as Vietnam or other veterans. According to research by psychologist George A. Bonanno of Columbia University, only 5-10% of individuals experience PTSD after traumatic events.  That rate does increase if stressors are extreme or occur over a long period, but they rarely rise above 30%. PTSD is not inevitable.  Post-traumatic growth is more likely than PTSD.
 
Research indicates that PTSD is not inevitable after trauma, but that it is less likely than PTG.  More individuals develop growth as opposed to PTSD post-trauma.  Since the first book on PTG was published by Tedeschi and Calhoun, researchers around the world have been further documenting the incidence of posttraumatic growth. On their website, Tedeschi and Calhoun make some key clarifications about post-traumatic growth research (Calhoun & Tedeschi, 2014):

• Most of us, when we face very difficult losses or great suffering, will have a variety of highly distressing psychological reactions. Just because individuals experience growth does not mean that they will not suffer. Distress is typical when we face traumatic events.
• We most definitely are not implying that traumatic events are good – they are not. But for many of us, life crises are inevitable, and we are not given the choice between suffering and growth on the one hand, and no suffering and no change, on the other.
• Post-traumatic growth is not universal. It is not uncommon, but neither does everybody who faces a traumatic event experience growth.
• Our hope is that you never face a major loss or crisis, but most of us eventually do, and perhaps you may also experience an encounter with post-traumatic growth.

The book is packed with case studies that illustrate one or more of the five areas of post-traumatic growth, including individuals who have lost loved ones, wealth, physical mobility, limbs, and careers.  The book also details the scientific research exploring the post-traumatic growth experiences. Chapter Two, "The Psychiatrist in the Death Camp," explores the story of Viktor Frankl and his influential book Man's Search for Meaning from the lens of post-traumatic growth research. Frankl's book, with more than twelve million copies in print, is a must-read for psychology teachers and students.  What follows are detailed accounts of many case studies in post-traumatic growth and how this research can improve therapy methods for individuals with PTSD or who are dealing with trauma and loss.  Psychologists working in the field of PTG began by studying individuals who experienced positive change after trauma independently but are working to develop therapy methods based on the growth experiences of the individuals they studied to help others. Upside is packed with research and inspiring examples that help students understand the complexity of trauma and growth. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Other Related Resources
 
Author Jim Rendon
Author website:  https://www.jimrendon.com/
Author contact information
Follow on Twitter:  @RendonJim
 
Posttraumatic Growth Research Group
https://ptgi.uncc.edu/ptg-research-group/
 
Remarkable Resiliency: George Bonanno, Ph.D. on PTSD, Grief, and Depression
George A. Bonanno presentation at the Association for Psychological Science (2020)
https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/bonanno
 
National Institute of Mental Health information on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/index.shtml#part_145371
 
Man's Search for Meaning
Viktor Frankl's influential book which tells his Holocaust survival story and how it inspired the
treatment method he developed, logotherapy.
 
Frankl, V. E., Lasch, I., Kushner, H. S., & Winslade, W. J. (2019). Man's search for meaning.  
Boston: Beacon Press.
 
1972 video of Viktor Frankl speaking
          https://www.ted.com/talks/viktor_frankl_why_believe_in_others
 
Posttraumatic Growth Article
American Psychological Association article from the Monitor on Psychology about posttraumatic growth
 
http://www.apamonitor-digital.org/apamonitor/201611?pg=1#pg1
Collier, L. (2016, November). Growth after trauma: Why are some people more resilient
than others—and can it be taught? Monitor on Psychology, 47(10), 48-51.
doi:https://www.apa.org/monitor/2016/11/growth-trauma
 
Psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky discussion of posttraumatic growth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PG71LHinQc
 
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
 
Viktor Frankl
Joseph  LeDoux
Jean Piaget
Martin Seligman
 
Accommodation
Amygdala
Assimilation
Cerebellum
Cognitive-behavioral therapy
Creativity
Deliberate rumination
Diagnostic and Statistical Model, 5th Edition
Dual-pathway of fear
Expressive writing therapy
Fight-or-flight response
Flow
Gratitude
Just-world phenomenon
Individualistic culture
Logotherapy
Openness to experience
Optimism
Positive psychology
Prefrontal cortex
Post-traumatic growth (PTG)
Post-traumatic growth inventory
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Thalamus
Traumatic brain injury (TBI)

​Insane:  America’s Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness
Author:  Alisa Roth
ISBN-13:  978-0-465-09419-6
 
APA Style Citation
Roth, A.  (2018).  Insane:  America’s criminal treatment of mental illness.  New York, NY: Basic Books.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074M6FZXQ/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
 

​Book Description
Roth estimates that as many as 50% of all people in the criminal justice system suffer from some type of mental illness.  Some are there because of a crime committed while others are there because of a severe shortage of beds available in mental health care facilities.  These statistics are startling, and Roth describes the personal stories of individuals with mental illness, making the real-life implications of this hit home. Instead of accessing treatment through the mental health care system, often, those who are mentally ill face extended prison time for the behavior associated with their illness.  Many of the mentally ill are initially arrested on minor infractions such as Bryan Sanderson, who was arrested for riding a hotel elevator naked after voices told him to leave his room immediately.  Unfortunately, these minor infractions often lead to long prison terms because of violations of prison rules due to their illness.  If someone is experiencing auditory hallucinations, for example, these voices may take precedent over a direct order coming from a correctional officer.  Sanderson ultimately was placed in solitary confinement for a time because his illness prevented him from following simple prison protocols.  In addition, his hallucinations and delusions caused him to lash out at others, and he was considered a danger on the prison ward.  The incident in the elevator should have led to an straight-forward overnight stint in jail as nobody was harmed, but Sanderson’s voices ultimately told him to blind himself while he was held in solitary because his illness was not being managed.  After he blinded himself, he was taken to a regular hospital, but after he was healed, it was determined that he could be sent back to prison.  He was finally released after years in prison. Today, he lives alone but is entirely dependent on the help of family and friends to bring him groceries and other necessities, and he cannot work.
 
Roth addresses the shrinking number of beds in mental health care facilities.  The reduction in beds started to occur about the time that antipsychotic medication allowed many schizophrenic patients to live relatively normal lives in which institutionalization was no longer necessary.  With no place to go, many of the mentally ill wind up incarcerated. The sad reality is that most prisons are not well equipped or trained to deal with a population of those who are mentally ill. 
 
By sheer necessity, prison systems operate by strict rules and adherence to stringent routine.  The loud, chaotic environment of prisons can be terribly disturbing for those who may already be dealing with auditory or visual hallucinations.  Those who are mentally ill often do not fare well in this environment, and their condition often deteriorates.  Some prison facilities offer a mental health wing, but there are a limited number of cells. The waiting lists are often long, and it is frustrating to get into these units if they even exist.  
 
Treatment on mental health wards is often severely lacking, and most prisoners are chained to a seat while they receive their therapy sessions with a psychologist.  Other times treatment is canceled because there is a shortage of clinicians or if the prison is in lockdown mode, the sessions are canceled because all of the prison staff is needed to maintain the safety of the entire prison population.  In most places such as the Los Angeles prison system Roth describes time with mental health professionals as “medication management,” not treatment.  
 
The prison staff who may have the best of intentions are often not properly trained to deal with individuals who are mentally ill and showing signs of severe mental illness is often deemed as disobedient.  Those who thought they were going into a career of law enforcement now find themselves on the front line of treating mental illness without the proper training.  Obviously, the prison staff need to keep themselves safe, but law enforcement training escalates a situation, whereas a person with mental illness needs de-escalation of the situation. 
 
Without proper treatment and in an environment in which people feel threatened, those with mental illness may lash out in anger and frustration, which furthers the cycle of punishment in prison.  The mentally ill who eventually leave prison facilities are often worse off than when they entered and have few resources to help them get back to a normal daily life.  In large part, this impacts male African Americans in higher numbers than other groups.
 
Prisoners can be forced to take medication, and while they do not have to attend treatment sessions if they are offered, the incentive to attend is high in the prison population because of the nature of the prison environment in which prisoners are expected to comply.  In the worst cases, those who are victims of the system take their own lives in prison or like Bryan Sanderson cause themselves severe bodily harm.  Many people spend extended time in prison waiting for a trial to determine if they are competent. Spending more time in prison often makes the individual less likely to qualify for competency, leaving many lingering in prisons for weeks or months just to determine if they are fit to stand trial.  These inmates are coached by lawyer and then often sent back to prison during the case without any treatment at all.
 
Roth ends on a more positive note as she describes how many states have increased mental illness training for law enforcement.  This helps responding officers in understanding and may keep some people out of prison in the first place.  Still, the training has a long way to go.  Facilities and funding of prisons must increase, and treatment must be more consistent.  The treatment should also take place with the same person so that a relationship can develop between therapist and inmate.  Decreasing the number of people incarcerated for minor infractions and creating better facilities in which to treat individuals who might otherwise lead productive and fruitful lives should be a priority.
 
 
Other Related Resources
NPR:  Fresh Air
Behind Bars, Mentally Ill Inmates Are Often Punished for Their Symptoms
Interview with Alisa Roth
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/07/10/627519801/behind-bars-mentally-ill-inmates-are-often-punished-for-their-symptoms
 
APA Monitor:  March 2019
Improving Mental Health for Inmate
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/03/mental-heath-inmates
 
National Commission on Correctional Health Care
Basic Mental Health Care Services
https://www.ncchc.org/spotlight-on-the-standards-24-3
 
Mental Health America
Position Statement 56:  Mental Health Treatment in Correctional Facilities
https://www.mhanational.org/issues/position-statement-56-mental-health-treatment-correctional-facilities
 
National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI)
Jailing People with Mental Illness
https://www.nami.org/Advocacy/Policy-Priorities/Divert-from-Justice-Involvement/Jailing-People-with-Mental-Illness
 
Oregon Humanities Center
Alisa Roth: “America’s Hidden Mental Health Crisis”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA-S39TuMF8
 
Treatment Advocacy Center
Serious Mental Illness Prevalence in Jails and Prisons
https://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/evidence-and-research/learn-more-about/3695
 
 
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
 
Dorthea Dix
 
Bipolar disorder
Criminally insane
Delusions
Hallucinations
Psychiatrists
Schizophrenia
 

The Joy of Movement
Author: Kelly McGonigal
ISBN-10: 0525534105
ISBN-13: 978-0525534105
 
APA Style Citation
McGonigal. (2019). The joy of movement. San Francisco, CA: Avery.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Joy-Movement-exercise-happiness-connection-ebook/dp/B07Q4LY2CV
​

​Book Description
If there was a pill to replace exercise and it provided the same benefits without the challenging work, would you take it? Ethicists have posed questions similar to this, and the book The Joy of Movement tries to help the reader understand why movement matters. The author, Kelly McGonigal, uses a blend of quotes, research studies, and storytelling to encourage readers to rethink the purpose of movement. Exercise offers many benefits, such as happiness, satisfaction, purpose, gratitude, love, hope, and connection. But the key focus of the book is on how physical activity contributes to joy.
 
How does the runner’s high connect to joy?
An extended period of physical activity may lead to a runner’s high, a feeling of euphoria and reduced pain. Some have even likened it to a spiritual experience or love. From an evolutionary perspective, humans have survived because physical activity was pleasurable. The reward of a runner’s high kept individuals hunting and gathering, and willing to cooperate and share. Natural selection has favored traits that allowed humans to run. Researchers have explored the positive correlation of elevated levels of endocannabinoids related to the runner’s high. The key to achieving a runner’s high is movement that consists of continuous and moderate intensity. Perhaps it should be known as the persistence high because doing something moderately difficult for twenty minutes gives the same feeling. The biology of the runner’s high also primes people to connect. Individuals report more positive interactions with their family and friends after exercise. In addition, a sort of cooperation high provides a reward for sharing and cooperating. The runner’s high and the helper’s high provide a powerful combination. One example is GoodGym, an organization in the UK, where you can “get fit by doing good.” Runners combine exercise while volunteering to help their community, such as running to a foodbank and then volunteering to distribute food packages to vulnerable people.
 
What about getting hooked on exercise?
One study found for regular exercisers who missed even a single workout, they experienced anxiety and irritability. Within three days, they also experienced symptoms of depression, and within one week, they had problems sleeping and severe mood changes.  A popular analogy for exercise is addiction. When humans have a sensation in a context that is highly enjoyable, that sensation gets encoded in memory as pleasant. Individuals who exercise regularly have reported enjoying the smell of the pool or yoga mat, the sound of weights dropping, or their favorite running shirt. This is similar to how addicts have learned to enjoy the sight or smell of locations associated with getting a high. Thanks to operant conditioning and receiving positive reinforcement, the exercise behavior continues in the future. But the analogy to addiction is limited because most people who exercise do not experience the distress or dysfunction of addiction or substance abuse. Also, a big difference between the effects of exercise and the effects of drugs, such as cocaine, is timing. It takes longer to get hooked on exercise; for humans up to six weeks. Furthermore, exercise produces fewer extreme spikes in the feel-good chemicals and stimulates the reward system rather than overwhelming it. Perhaps the closest drug exercise could be compared to would be an antidepressant. And a better parallel for physical activity and the reward system might be continuous deep brain stimulation, rather than an addiction.
 
What about the human brain and genetics in relation to enjoying physical activity?
Researchers selectively bred mice to become super-runners that ran faster, farther, and more often. However, their anatomy wasn’t different than the average mice, instead, it was their brains. The super-runners had larger midbrains, including the reward system. Through natural selection, all humans are genetic super-runners. But why do some people like to exercise, while others do not? The tendency to be active has a heritability rate of 50%, but how much physical activity is enjoyed has a lower rate of 12-37%. Behavior geneticists have been exploring other connections of exercise and genetics. There appears to be a genetic predisposition to experience the mental health benefits of physical activity. Individuals with certain genetic variations are more sensitive to the benefits of regular exercise. There is a reduced risk of depression and suicidal thinking if individuals exercise at least 20 minutes per day. Exercise has also been found effective in treating anxiety disorders.
 
What is the key to collective joy?
The key to collective joy might be synchrony. Studies found students who danced in unison, felt more bonded. Music and physical exercise were important, but it was the synchrony that was essential and created a sense of group unity. Researchers also measured the ability of dancers to tolerate pain. Even calm, small, and synchronized gestures helped with pain tolerance and social bonding. When we move together, we build social ties and cooperation. It has been found that virtual reality can give the same rush as real synchrony. New apps allow individuals to exercise together and sync their rhythms. There is even a drone that will “run” with you to keep you company.
 
Think about the power of synchronized groups. As individuals in the armed services march in unison, they become strongly connected. This synchronous movement not only builds friendship networks, but has also been used to defend territory. Hearing synchronized steps, increases the perception of the group being stronger and bigger. Cancer walk/run events also provide a powerful example of group movement leading to a special bond. As individuals walk for 24 hours, they build community and feel like they are part of something bigger. Another example is communities recovering from natural disasters. When members dance to Zumba classes or go out to dance clubs, they connect and build their resilience.
 
What power does music have on physical movement and happiness?
The body has a natural instinct to move when it hears music. Even newborns can detect a beat. Adding a soundtrack to movement can shave seconds off performance times. Psychologists have helped create playlists for Olympic, national, and collegiate athletes. Even the ordinary exerciser feels more excitement when listening to music while working out. The most powerful songs have a strong beat, energetic feel, and tempo of 120-140 beats per minute. During moderate exercise, music reduces perceived effort and makes the work feel easier and more enjoyable. During higher intensities of excercise, music changes perception and adds a positive meaning to discomfort. The power of music is almost magical. It can help us activate mirror neurons for empathy, access memories, and build muscle memories for joy. So, get your groove on!
 
How does overcoming obstacles relate to movement and joy?
Obstacle courses, such as Tough Mudder, have individuals run through tear gas tunnels, glide down slides set on fire, cross though a maze of electrified wire, etc. The course focuses on common phobias and provokes just enough fear to push the participants to continue without causing them to quit. As individuals feel helpless, just a little control and the story of finishing motivates people to push forward. DPI gyms, specializing in training people with physical challenges, have a Wall of Greatness. Once someone completes a challenging goal, they can sign the wall and provide words of wisdom. Often their challenge is videotaped, and their friends and family are invited to celebrate when their name is added to the wall. It is important to have witnesses to your triumphs! Overcoming obstacles gives people hope. But hope needs a clear goal, a path to achieve the goal, and trust that one can follow that path. Empathy brings pleasure, but also a sense of what is possible for ourselves. Individuals can even catch hope by watching others move, thanks to mirror neurons. When depressed, watch others exercise, and it can evoke positive feelings. 
 
What about nature and exercise?
Green exercise, physical activity in a natural environment, has a positive effect on one’s mood. Within five minutes of moving outside, individuals report a shift in mood and outlook. Unlike a runner’s high, you don’t have to wait for it. The green exercise high kicks in quickly. When at rest, the brain slips into a default mode where it replays the past and reflects on the future. The default mode often has a negative bias, and those with anxiety or depression are often stuck here. How does one quiet the default mode? One answer is meditation, but green exercise does the same thing with a lot less effort. In one study, after taking a scenic hike, as opposed to a walk on a busy road, participants reported less anxiety and negative self-focused thinking. In another study, after walking for 15 minutes in a nature preserve, people feel better equipped to handle life’s challenges. Globally, people who feel a strong connection to nature report greater life satisfaction, purpose, and happiness. The effect is stronger than the benefits of good health, and equal to being happily married or living with a partner. Furthermore, living in a neighborhood with green space, parks, and community gardens is linked to greater life satisfaction and less psychological distress. GreenGym is an organization where volunteers engage in conservation based on green exercise. Each season they do different tasks that lead to optimism and feeling useful.
 
What about endurance and the joy of movement?
In order for an activity to be considered ultra-endurance, it must last six hours. But how can pushing one’s body for hours be joyful? Most endurance athletes don’t overwhelm themselves by thinking ahead, instead they take it one step at a time and lean on their positive emotions, music, loved ones, or dedicate their effort to others. When you exercise your body produces myokines. They have been labeled as “hope molecules,” and with every step you contract over 200 myokine-releasing muscles. Have you ever noticed how most long-distance events take place outdoors? Perhaps this is a way for suffering to coexist with the joy created by the scenery. No one does it by themselves. Ultra-runners use a coach to help run at night or keep them eating. When asked to provide pictures, many chose a picture of themselves with other runners, not pictures of their shoes or medals. We need others, and endurance exercising is no different.
 
Physical activity can bring people together and bring out our best.  It is through movement that we can experience joy. Kelly McGonigal recommends, “Move. Any kind, any amount, and any way that makes you happy.” So, if there was a pill to replace exercise, would you take it? Has your opinion changed about the power of movement?
 
Other Related Resources
Book website
http://kellymcgonigal.com/move
 
Author contact information
Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/kellymcgonigal
Instagram: http://instagram.com/kellymariemcgonigal
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kellymcgonigalauthor
Find me at: www.kellymcgonigal.com
Sign up for my email newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/glQxAP
 
151: Joy of Movement with Kelly McGonigal – Pivot Podcast with Jenny Blake
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M6MYJur0aQ
 
How exercise can fight loneliness and depression
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F38WS6xdn_Y
 
Book- Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
https://www.amazon.com/Born-Run-Hidden-Superathletes-Greatest/dp/0307279189
 
Psychological Concepts and Figures
Charles Darwin
 
Addiction
Adrenaline
Amygdala
Antidepressants
Anxiety
Attachments
Attentional capture
Behavioral genetics
Biological predisposition
Brain imaging
Collective effervescence
Collective joy
Conditioned response
Continuous deep brain stimulation
Cortisol awakening response
Culturally universal
Depression
Dopamine
Empathy
Endorphins
Evolutionary
Fear circuit
Genome
Green exercise
Habit formation
Happiness
Helper’s high
Heritability
Hope
Hormones
Instincts
Learned helplessness
Meta-analysis
Mindfulness
Mirror neurons
Motor cortex
Muscle memories
Myokines (proteins)
Natural selection
Neurobiology
Opioid system
Optimism
Parkinson’s disease
Pleasure gloss
Prefrontal lobe
Priming
Proprioception
Prosocial
Proximity
Resilience
Rubber hand illusion
Runner’s high
Selective breeding
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Sleep study
Stress
Sympathetic response
Synchrony
Temperament
Transcranial magnetic stimulation
 

Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning
Author: Pooja K. Agarwal and Patrice M. Bain
ISBN-13: 978-1119521846
ISBN-10: 111952184X
 
APA Style Citation
Agarwal, P. & P. Bain. (2019). Powerful teaching: Unleash the science of learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Powerful-Teaching-Unleash-Science-Learning/dp/111952184X
​

​Book Description
During this challenging time across the globe many teachers are asking themselves reflective questions in the midst of distance learning, such as “Are my students learning?” and “Are my teaching strategies effective and backed by research?” While these questions are a common practice, they are even more evident during times like these. Check out the Open Class with This Tomorrow Activity for an idea of using metacognition with your students. The authors of Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning guide you through effective classroom practices based on the cognitive science of learning.
 
Empirical research supports the use of four powerful teaching strategies: retrieval practice, spaced practice, interleaving, and feedback-driven metacognition. Use of these four strategies in the classroom boost engagement, increase higher-level thinking, and result in student learning. Each of the tools are quick, easy, and free to implement in your classroom. Authors Pooja Agarwal and Patrice Bain provide great examples and model the power tools throughout the book. For example, Power Up boxes are scattered throughout the text and encourage the reader to stop and apply what they are learning. You can use your own learning to help increase student learning.
 
The first powerful teaching strategy is retrieval practice where students pull information out of their memory. When we think of learning we often think of getting information IN, but perhaps we need to start thinking of getting it back OUT. Consider what type of retrieval practices do you use in your classroom besides formative and summative assessments? The authors use the analogy of a filing cabinet to compare these three terms. Retrieval practice is like organizing your files for the next time you need them, while formative assessment is like taking a quick look at what is inside the files, and summative assessment is like taking an inventory of the entire file drawer. Retrieval practice should really be used as a learning strategy as opposed to an assessment strategy, and it should be kept at no or low-stakes. Some retrieval practice strategies for the classroom include: brain dumps, two things learned, retrieval-taking, retrieval guides, and mini-quizzes. Authors Agarwal and Bain explain each strategy and how they implemented them in their classroom. They also reviewed research-based tips that support retrieval practice. Remember the cognitive science of learning supports each of these power tools.
 
The second powerful teaching strategy is spaced practice, referring to spreading out practice as opposed to crammed learning. Students need to be exposed to material and then refreshed on a regular basis. The authors suggest several strategies including pre-tests, blasts from the past, and big basket quizzes. A blast from the past can simply be listing a concept from last week and students then turn and talk about it. The key to learning is to allow a little time for forgetting to occur, but not too much. Students will often feel uncomfortable when they cannot quickly recall information. It is important to help them embrace this feeling and learn from it.
 
The third powerful teaching strategy is interleaving. This is mixing up closely related topics where students must differentiate material. It is not about presenting material in different ways or mixing up chapters. Instead it is about having students discriminate items that are very close to one another or connecting current content back to previously learned content in order to see the connections between them. For example, in psychology class having students compare the types of amnesia versus the types of interference. All the terms are close to one another and takes thoughtful consideration to differentiate.
 
The final powerful teaching strategy is feedback, which allows students to know what they know versus what they do not know. As students increase their metacognition they become more familiar with their learning and build their confidence. Students should make judgments of learning where they predict their future memory and they should make confidence judgments where they report their confidence in past learning. When they make these types of judgments, they should be aware of overconfidence and the illusion of fluency and illusion of confidence. Just because they are confident in their learning does not mean that it was accurate. We all know someone who studied for hours but then did poorly on an assessment. Agarwal and Bain review the research-based recommendations for feedback and offer several strategies including: retrieval cards, metacognition sheets, breathe and retrieve, and metacognition line-up. The metacognition sheet strategy is offered in our classroom activity to open your class with tomorrow.
 
These four main power tools should be used often and can be combined. If you are already providing low-stake quizzes, why not add elaborative feedback? If you are already spacing material, why not add interleaving of similar concepts? A specific example that can use multiple power tools is the power ticket where students provide three facts for topics covered in class across varying times. Using a power ticket for material from last week and the past unit can really enhance student learning. Most of these ideas sound wonderful, but as a teacher you may be thinking of implementation. Questions that come to mind include: how much time do they take, how much extra grading, how much do they cost, will I still be able to cover all of my material, what if the tools don’t help my students, can I use the tools with my diverse learners, and where do I start? The authors emphasize how all of the tools are quick, easy, and free to implement in your classroom. The tools will work and you just have to start with using one; it is better than using none.
 
Powerful teaching helps your students find success but these tools can also help reduce anxiety and strengthen community. Often in classrooms retrieval is infrequent, connected to high-stakes, and results in only a correct or incorrect answer. By providing an environment with regular retrieval practice with no or low-stakes, students begin to embrace desirable difficulties and take more chances on their learning. As you introduce the power tools you want to spark a conversation about learning, model the tools, and help students understand why they work. Students should be using the tools both inside and outside of the classroom. The flash forward strategy is also offered in our classroom activity to open your class with tomorrow. Before you close this academic year, use this quick but powerful strategy to learn from your students and inspire you for next year.
 
Now that your powerful teaching toolbox is filling up, what about everyone else? Authors Agarwal and Bain provide guidance for sharing these tools and building toolboxes with parents, students, and colleagues. Each step of the way they provide examples and research-based strategies. If you are ready to explore your own learning and teaching, check out Powerful Teaching:  Unleash the Science of Learning. During these challenging times of distance learning, continue to reflect on what works. Check out the Open Class with This Tomorrow Activity for an idea of using metacognition with your students.
 
 
Other Related Resources
Book website
https://www.powerfulteaching.org/
 
Author website- Pooja Agarwal
https://www.poojaagarwal.com/powerfulteaching
 
Author website- Patrice Bain
https://www.patricebain.com/
 
Psychological Concepts and Figures
Anxiety
Brain dumps
Cognition
Cognitive science
Concept mapping
Correlations
Desirable difficulty
Elaborative feedback
Encoding
Errorless learning
Feedback
Free-recall
Higher-order thinking
Hypercorrection effect
Illusion of fluency
Interleaving
Meta-analysis
Metacognition
Mnemonics
Overconfidence
Research
Retrieval
Retrieval practice
Savings
Serial position effect
Social-emotional learning
Spaced practice
Storage
Surveys
Testing effect
Transfer (Near or Far)
 

Smoke and Mirrors: An Experience of China
Author: Pallavi Aiyar
ISBN-13: 978-8172238469
ISBN-10: 8172238460
 
APA Style Citation
Aiyar, P. (2008). Smoke and mirrors: An experience of China. India: HarperCollins Publishers.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Smoke-Mirrors-Experience-Pallavi-Aiyar/dp/8172238460
​

​Book Description
How much do you know about two of the most populated countries in the world? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in another country? Pallavi Aiyar, author of Smoke and Mirrors: An Experience of China, provided her personal account of being Indian and living in China from 2002-2007. During her stay in China, she taught English at a public university and reported for an Indian newspaper. For five years, she traveled and asked questions to learn more about the history and culture of China. Her story is one that quickly draws in the reader and explores various stereotypes about two of the most populated countries in the world.
 
Aiyar’s story is much more than a travel journal, she shared her observations about politics and culture for both China and India. While comparing the two countries she addressed topics such as language, education, social etiquette, diet, SARS coronavirus, economic partnerships and growth, poverty, infrastructure, technological feats, gender, the elderly, religion, Tibet, and population growth to name a few. She looked at China under the leadership of Mao and the country’s preparation of the 2008 Olympics held in Beijing.
 
While living in Beijing, Aiyar was drawn to the hutong neighborhoods, many of which were being destroyed in preparation for the Olympics. Hutongs are narrow streets hidden between Siheyuans, a traditional building in China with central courtyards and filled with Chinese history and culture. The houses are connected, and people quickly build relationships with one another simply due to the close proximity in which they live. She talked of how the hutongs were a “celebration of the collective over the individual.” Residents also shared a communal toilet, where quite a few impromptu gatherings occurred. The densely packed housing forced people outside to come together in the cold, share gossip, play games, and exercise. Even in the winter, individuals would wake up early and participate in group exercises or dances.
 
After her experience in China, Pallavi is often asked the questions of “Which country is better?” and “If I could choose, would I rather be born Indian or Chinese?” Not an easy question to answer, it becomes even more complicated by the fact the countries mirror each other’s failures and achievements. To understand a little more about the politics and culture of two of the most populated countries in the world, check out Smoke and Mirrors: An Experience of China.
 
Other Related Resources
Book website
https://pallaviaiyar.com/books/smoke-and-mirrors/
 
NYT Book Review: Smoke and Mirrors
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/arts/16iht-bookwed.html
 
Beijing Hutong
https://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/beijing/hutong/
https://www.chinahighlights.com/beijing/hutong/
https://theculturetrip.com/asia/china/articles/a-comprehensive-guide-to-beijings-hutongs/
 
Morning Exercises
https://qz.com/996047/the-song-and-exercise-morning-routines-of-modern-chinese-offices-have-revolutionary-roots/
 
Hotel Team Building Exercise
https://observers.france24.com/en/20130118-video-chinese-company-team-building-exercise-youku
 
Mandatory Exercise
https://foreignpolicy.com/2010/08/11/beijing-reintroduces-mandatory-exercises/
 
Psychological Concepts and Figures
Categorize
Collectivism
Homonyms
Identity
Optimism
Phonemes
Stereotypes
Suicide
Well-being

​Maybe You Should Talk to Someone:  A Therapist, HER Therapist and Our Lives Revealed
Author:  Lori Gottlieb
ISBN:  978-1328663047
 
APA Style Citation
Gottlieb, L. (2019).  Maybe You Should Talk to Someone:  A therapist, HER Therapist and our Lives RevealedNew York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Maybe-You-Should-Talk-Someone-ebook/dp/B07BZ4F75T
 

​Book Description
“People will do anything, no matter how absurd, to avoid facing their own souls. Who looks inside, awakes.”
                                                            -Carl Jung
 
Lori Gottlieb’s long-term relationship ends abruptly when her boyfriend tells her that he cannot live in the same house as a child, since Lori has an 8-year old son, there is no changing the outcome of his decision.  Gottlieb finds herself, angry, confused and uncertain about her future.  She uses her network as a psychologist to get a recommendation from a colleague believing that she just needs to talk to someone for a few weeks until she can sort out how to move on from the relationship.  Gottlieb shares her own experiences with her therapist and explains how she moved from hurt and anger (and some internet stalking of her ex-boyfriend) to picturing a future without him.  
Gottlieb also introduces the reader to some of her own clients (she changes their names and combines some of their complaints to abide by issues of confidentiality).  Gottlieb discusses a narcissistic movie producer who initially comes to discuss all of the “idiots” around him to determine how he can better deal with them but, ultimately needs to work through the aftermath of his young son’s death.  Gottlieb also describes working with a young newlywed who is dying of cancer.  Gottlieb knows this when she takes her on as a client and the story of her impending death is at turns laugh out loud funny, horribly depressing and always thoughtful.  Another client is a young twenty-something that keeps sleeping with the wrong guys and who has a complicated relationship with her own parents as well as some self-esteem issues.  Through reading each of these scenarios, we come to care about her clients even when they are self-centered and irritating and hope that they find peace and contentment in their lives.
Gottlieb describes how she tries to see the good in each of her clients.  She describes therapy as an exploration in how to change.  For some, this can mean changing how their past influences their present and future, for others it may mean changing how they see themselves or how they interact with others.  Each person who goes to therapy has their own reasons but Gottlieb believes that the presenting problem (the reason a person provides for starting therapy) often represents deeper seated issues the person is experiencing.  
Gottlieb’s relationship with her own therapist lasts far longer than the few weeks she initially intended.  She comes to appreciate his style of therapy even though it is quite different than her own and to recognize that one need not be fashionable or good looking to be a great therapist.  She is a tough client because she is initially not sure what she wants.  Her therapist eventually asked her if she wants advice (counseling) or self-understanding (therapy)?  He is not willing to simply validate her feelings of anger towards her ex-boyfriend, but instead makes her do the hard work to realize how she could have been so blinded by the break-up and further to plan a future without him.  Eventually she finds herself strong enough to move on and end her sessions with him.  
Gottlieb’s stories of therapy demonstrate that there are many people who can benefit from therapy, an objective outsider can often provide insight that we cannot see ourselves and that our friends and family are too kind to point out.  Gottlieb shares the personal development and self-understanding that therapy can provide and in doing so, breaks down some of the stigma that still exists around seeking treatment.
 
 
Other Related Resources
Lori Gottlieb website
https://lorigottlieb.com/books/maybe-you-should-talk-to-someone/
 
Dear Therapist Column with Lori Gottlieb
https://lorigottlieb.com/dear-therapist/
 
ABC News Interview with Lori Gottlieb
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/GMA_Day/video/talk-author-lori-gottlieb-62275946
 
NPR Fresh Air
https://www.npr.org/books/titles/707562558/maybe-you-should-talk-to-someone-a-therapist-her-therapist-and-our-lives-reveale
 
WBUR Interview with Lori Gottlieb
https://www.wbur.org/radioboston/2019/04/05/lori-gottlieb-talk-therapy-psychotherapist
 
Psychological Concepts and Figures
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Eric Erikson
Eric Fromm
Daniel Gilbert
Carl Jung
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
Carl Rogers 
Oliver Sacks
Harry Stack Sullivan
Henry Moilson
 
Attachment styles
Avoidant personality
Catastrophizing
Client-centered therapy
Collective unconscious
Confidentiality
Conversion disorder
Countertransference
Creativity
Denial
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)
Displacement
Dissociative disorder
Empathy
Factitious disorder
Flow
Frontal lobes
Hysteria
Integrity vs. despair
Logotherapy
Medical student’s disease
Melatonin
Mirror neuron
Mood disorder
Narcissism
Personality disorder
Pleasure principle
Psychopharmacology
Rationalization
Reaction formation
Self-awareness
Somatic symptom disorder
Unconditional positive regard