My Favourite Newspapers, News Programs, and Magazines

My Favourite Science/Psychology
Journals & News Portals

My Favourite Books & Plays

TOP OF PAGE

Attachment,  John Bowlby
Better Living: In Pursuit of Happiness from Plato to Prozac,  Mark Kingwell
The Divided Self,  RD Laing
The Gift of Fear,  Gavin de Becker
Man's Search for Meaning,  Viktor Frankl
Manufacturing Victims:
   What The Psychology Industry is Doing to People,  Tana Dineen
On Becoming a Person,  Carl R Rogers
Overcoming Loneliness in Everyday Life,  Jacqueline Olds & Richard Schwartz
Solitude: A Return to the Self,  Anthony Storr
Toward a Psychology of Being,  Abraham Maslow
The Transparent Self,  Sidney Jourard
The Wisdom of the Ego,  George E Vaillant

My Favourite Short Stories & Articles

Alexander, B.K. (2001, April). The roots of addiction in free market society. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. [A very different, social perspective on the causes of addiction, written by a psychologist who finds much lacking in today's in-vogue "scientific" explanations.]

Allaire, Y. (2002, October 30). The CEO manifesto. National Post. [A well-written, yet preposterous—if not humourous—defence of excessive CEO compensation.]

Antonuccio, D.A., Danton, W.G., & McClanahan, T.M. (2003). Psychology in the prescription era. American Psychologist, 58 (12), 1028-1043. [Excellent overview of the influence the pharmaceutical industry has over psychological research.]

Apostolides, M. (1999, September). The pleasure of the pain: Why some people need S&M (sadomasochistic sex). Psychology Today.

Bartholomew, K., Henderson, A., & Dutton, D. (2001). Insecure attachment and abusive intimate relationships. In C. Clulow, ed., Adult attachment and couple psychotherapy. London: Brunner-Routledge. [Uses an attachment perspective to explain both perpetration and receipt of partner violence. According to this perspective, perpetration of partner violence arises out of frustrated attachment needs and functions as protest behaviour designed to regain and maintain contact with an attachment figure (the other partner). For those receiving partner violence, it is difficult to leave their relationships because the same person who perpetrates the violence is also the same person who functions as a primary attachment figure. In fact, when a victim feels unsafe (such as when being abused), s/he may even actively seek proximity with the abuser. See my 12 January 2004 diary entry for more details. For further information on attachment theory, see http://attachment.adoption.com, http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Shores/6052/relationships3.html and http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Shores/6052/relationships8.html.]

Beck, M. (2003, November). Why are people mean? O: The Oprah Magazine, 91. [Suggests that people are mean because they're hurt. And they believe they've been hurt by all sorts of forces out of their control: luck, other people's opinions, and so forth. Feeling a lack of control over their lives, they use meanness to 1. vent their anger, 2. pre-empt being hurt again, and 3. make themselves feel bullies who are more superior and powerful than others. Suggests that this way of thinking about oneself and the world can be changed by 'rewriting' it. If one reframes and rewrites his life story to see that he isn't as powerless and helpless as he thinks he is, then he will be in a greater position to face life problems—including other mean people—in a more proactive way and will not feel the need to turn to meanness as a way of achieving control.]

Blum, D. (1998, May-June). Finding strength: How to overcome anything. Psychology Today.

Blum, K., Cull, J.G., Braverman, E.R., & Comings, D.E. (1996, March-April). Reward deficiency syndrome. American Scientist, 84, 132. [Suggests that people with addictive, impulsive, and compulsive disorders—including alcoholism, smoking, and gambling—may be due to a genetic defect that makes the dopamine D2 receptor insensitive to dopamine (one of the brain chemicals that gives us feelings of pleasure). Whereas most people feel the pleasure of dopamine by engaging in everyday activities, some people with insensitive receptors find that they have to use drugs or engage in other addictive behaviours in order to achieve the same "high" that everyone else achieves when performing regular activities.]

Brooks, D. (2001, April). The organization kid. The Atlantic Monthly, 287 (4), 40-54. [A scathing critique of today's valueless, goal-obsessed college students.]

Bunin, S. (1990, August). Time alone. Parents' Magazine, 65 (8), 78. [A mother's thoughts and feelings after her child's departure from the nest.]

Comer, J.P. (1988, November). Going their own way. Parents' Magazine, 63 (11), 255. [Coping with the 'empty nest syndrome'.].

Creedon, J. (2001, September/October). The 19 kinds of friends. Utne Reader, 107, 73-74.

de Zengotita, T. (2002, April). The numbing of the American mind: Culture as anesthetic. Harper's, 33-40. [Everday life has become so fast-paced that we have become numb. Unfortunately, we try to relieve this numbness by engaging in obsessive 'busyness'.]

Drury, B. (2003, December). Famished: What happens when the human body is deprived of food? A slow descent into the ordeal of the fast. Men's Health, 96. [The author goes on a week-long fast and documents what happens to his mind and body as a result.]

The Economist (2001, July 26). The case for legalisation. The Economist. [Perhaps one of the better-written articles documenting the failure of the War on Drugs and making a cogent case for legalisation].

The Economist (2001, August 30). America's new Utopias: The growth of private communities. The Economist.

The Economist (2001, December 20). The Bridget Jones economy: Singles and the city. The Economist. [Businesses have started catering to the fastest growing demographic: singles, especially female singles.]

Ehrenreich, B. (1985). The cult of busyness. New York Times. [ A hilarious essay on our culture's obsession with "being busy" every single minute of the day. Also in her book, listed in the books section above].

Ehrensaft, M.K., Cohen, P. Brown, J., Smailes, E., Chen, H., & Johnson, J.G. (2003). Intergenerational transmission of partner violence: A 20-year prospective study. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 71 (4), 741-753. [A major study which followed 543 children over 20 years to determine which factors independently contributed to perpetrating and receiving partner violence. For both sexes, conduct disorder in childhood was the strongest independent risk factor for perpetrating partner violence, followed by witnessing domestic violence between parents, and receiving power assertive punishment. Witnessing domestic violence between parents was the strongest independent risk factor for receiving partner violence. Because sex differences did not predict perpetration of partner violence, prevention programs must focus on both males and females. Furthermore, focussing simply on changing youth's behaviour is not enough because it is child abuse early in life which contributes to development of such behaviour in the first place. Parental training is needed to prevent child abuse in high-risk families. Such training must occur as early as possible because once children reach adolescence, parents' use of excessive punishment has become very entrenched (and parents who resort to this kind of punishment experience lots of conflict, hostility, and hopelessness). In addition, by the time they reach adolescence, children have learned to respond only to coercive forms of punishment. See my 12 January 2004 diary entry for more details.]

Ellis, W.S., & Benn, N. (1989, February). Skyscrapers. National Geographic, 175(2), 140-173. [A nice overview and history of the skyscraper in America. Describes the role of the skyscraper in shaping the modern city and discusses some urban problems that are often attributed to skyscrapers (and to their ubiquitous and infamous plazas).]

Evans, J. (2003, November). The group stripped bare: Take some high-powered businesswomen. Place in a room, once a month, for 17 years. Stir in one therapist...and watch what happens. O: The Oprah Magazine, 1941-196. [Discusses how one women's group got into a "rut" when the members started slipping into fixed roles—e.g., The Judge, The Victim, The Conflict Avoider. Instead of listening to each other's, instead of allowing themselves to be open to each other's underlying feelings, the women simply listened for the old stuff they thought they were going to hear. The article describes how one therapist helped the women overcome this habit.]

Franzen, J. (2002, September 30). Mr. Difficult: Reading William Gaddis. The New Yorker, 100-111. [Discusses some of the angst readers go through when they set out to read a "difficult" book.]

Gladwell, M. (2004, September 20). Personality plus (Annals of Psychology). The New Yorker, 42-48. [Examines why corporations are increasingly relying on personality tests and what those personality tests really measure. Discusses the history, use, and limitations of two popular tests: the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI, which 89 of the Fortune 100 companies use) and the Thematic Apperception Test (T.A.T.).]

Good, B. (1998, May). Break out of your slump. Men's Health, 13 (4), 97. [Tips on staying alert during the day.]

Gopnik, A. (2002, September 30). Bumping into Mr. Ravioli: How we got to be so busy. The New Yorker, 80-84. [A criticism—and vindication—of New Yorkers' seeming obsession with "busyness".]

Gorer, G. (1965). The pornography of death. In G. Gorer, Death, grief, and mourning. Harold Ober Associates Incorporated. [Considers our voyeuristic pleasure for death to be the same as our lust for pornography.]

The Guardian. (2002, November 7). Raging against the machine. The Guardian. [Letters from PhD students describing the terrors they go through as they finish their PhD studies. Discussion of the cloistered nature of the ivory tower and the academic jealousies and political motivations responsible for making students' lives a living hell.]

Gutfeld, G. (1998, November). Metaphysical Fitness. Men's Health, 13 (9), 162. [The author describes what he learns when he lives in a monastery for one week.]

Hamilton, W. (2001, September). Suitably attired: Well-dressed men have worn the same thing for a century now. A history and an appreciation of the suit. The Atlantic Monthly.

Hammond, M.L. (2001, July). The orphan age. Cathelaine, 121-126. [Discusses the feelings adult children experience when their parents die and they are faced, for the first time, with living their lives all on their own.]

Heavey, B. (1998, April). Be a head master. Men's Health, 13 (3), 78-80. [Clever ideas on keeping your mind functioning at peak performance.]

Henderson, A.J.Z., Bartholomew, K., & Dutton, D.G. (1997). He loves me; he love me not: Attachment and separation resolution of abused women. Journal of Family Violence, 12 (2), 169-191. [Uses an attachment perspective to explain partner violence and why some women have trouble leaving abusive relationships. According to this perspective, it is difficult leaving an abuser because he is the same person who serves as the woman's primary attachment figure in adulthood. In fact, when she feels unsafe (such as when she is being abused), she may even actively seek proximity with the abuser. See my 12 January 2004 diary entry for more details. For further information on attachment theory, see http://attachment.adoption.com, http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Shores/6052/relationships3.html and http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Shores/6052/relationships8.html.]

Kennedy, P. (2001, September/October). Just friends: Thoughts on sharing your life with a friend instead of a lover. Utne Reader, 107, 75-77.

Hitt, J., & Abelard, P. (1993, September). New rules about sex on campus. Harper's, 287 (1720), 33. [A fascinating interview with four professors who discuss their views on the pros and cons of professor-student relationships. Two think such relationships are great; two don't.]

Kimura, D. (2002, May 13). Sex differences in the brain: Men and women displays patterns of behavioral and cognitive differences that reflect varying hormonal influences on brain development. Scientific American, 12,32-37. [Offers a compelling balance to the fashionable view today that cognitive differences between men and women are due mainly to socialisation.]

Kimura, D. (2000 Fall). A scientist dissents on sex and cognition. Cerebrum, 2 (4), 68-84. ["Psychologist Doreen Kimura, author of Sex and Cognition (MIT Press, 1999), argues that from our earliest years the cognitive patterns of boys and girls diverge in striking ways. In areas such as mathematical reasoning, she adds, there is barely any overlap between men and women at the highest levels of performance. She asks: 'Why not face the possibility that men and women will be disproportionately represented across a wide range of occupations and professions?']

Kirschenbaum, H. (2004). Carl Rogers's life and work: An assessment on the 100th anniversary of his birth. Journal of Counseling & Development, 82 (1), 116-124. [Excellent overview of the life, ideas, and practice of this influential pioneer of non-directive person-centered therapy.]

Kita, J. (1998, June). Soul training. Men's Health, 13 (5), 96-98. [Some interesting research findings on the connections between religiosity/spirituality and health.]

Kita, J. (1999, May). Your mother: A survival guide. Men's Health, 14 (4), 142-147.

Kluger, J., & Park, A. (2001, April 27). The quest for a superkid. Time. [Discusses parents' obsession with turning their kids into tomorrow's Einsteins. Considers the emotional effects this has on kids.]

Kluger, J. (1996, May). Risky business. Discover, 44-47. [Hilarious article describing all the life-threatening events we experience in a regular day. Statistically, it's amazing we survive to see tomorrow!]

Moore Lappé, F., & Perkins, J. (2004 May-June). The two sides of fear: A dreaded emotion can save our lives, but first we have to turn and face it. Utne Reader, 67-70. [During our evolutionary past, the instinctual, hardwired emotion of fear served us very well. It ensured that we never strayed too far from the group, for doing so might have meant facing deadly animals and other threats. Today, however, staying with the group and following the pack may actually put us in greater danger than actually striking it out on our own, being original, daring, and creative. We have to walk into the unknown. "In a moment when the new hypertribe of global corporate culture is destroying the very essentials of life, following the pack has become dangerous: What used to mean life now means death—for our spirits, and ultimately for our planet." To this end, we have to look at fear not always as a sign that we should maintain the status quo (safe inaction), but that we're in a moment when positive action is (may be) necessary to repair our own life-support system."]

Maurer, R. (2002, September). Why stress doesn't exist. Men's Health, 17 (7), 96-98. [Criticises the notion of "stress", claiming it is a culturally constructed terms that pathologises regular everyday feelings and turns people into helpless neurotics.]

Melville, Herman (1853). Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street. [A charming story about a New York scrivener who refuses to do anything his boss tells him to.]

Menzies, H. (2000, October 25). The inexperience of time. CBC Radio: IDEAS [Radio broadcast]. [Considers the speed of everyday life and how it has made it practically impossible to actually experience time.]

Miller, R.S. (1997). We always hurt the ones we love: Aversive interactions in close relationships. In R.M. Kowalski, ed., Aversive Interpersonal Behaviors. New York: Plenum Press. [A fascinating article giving several reasons why we are meaner to the people we love than we are to perfect strangers.]

Murray, B. (2002, July/August). Sound body, strong researcher: Start with self-care, and the rest will come. APA Monitor on Psychology, 61. [Suggests that instead of obsessing about publication tallies and forcing themselves to study harder, students and researchers focus on their physical and mental health. When those two things are balance, productivity will naturally increase and results will be better than those of other students.]

Pinker, S. (2002, October). The blank slate: The long-accepted theory that parents can mold their children like lay has distorted choices faced by adults trying to balance their lives, multiplied the anguish of those whose children haven't turned out as hoped, and mangled the science of human behavior. Discover, 34-41. [Argues against the trendy notion that "a long list of concepts that would seem natural to the human way of thinking—emotions, kinship, the sexes—are...'invented' or 'socially constructed'". "An acknowledgment that we humans are a species with a timeless and universal psychology pervades the writings of great political thinkers, and without it we cannot explain the recurring themes of literature, religion, and myth." "Hundreds of traits, from romantic love to humourous insults, from poetry to food taboos, from exchange of goods to mourning the dead, can be found in every society ever documented." Argues that sciences of mind, brain, genes, and evolution bolster the notion of an innate human nature—one which gives us the complex mental faculties that enable us to create and learn culture. Writes that "those who argue that gender differences are a reversible social construction do not treat them that way in their advice to their daughters, in their dealings with the opposite sex, or in their unguarded gossip, humor, and reflections on their lives." Claims that one of the reasons for the popularity of the social constructionist view is the fear that people with certain hard-wired traits will be discriminated against.  However, Pinker claims that a notion of human nature means we are all equal in the sense that we all share certain common, basic traits: "No one likes being enslaved...humiliated...treated unfairly." Further, "a universal human nature does not imply that differences among groups are innate." Another concern is that if people are rotten by nature, why bother trying to improve human nature or the world? However, Pinker claims that social progress can come from balancing negative-seeming hard-wired tendencies with more positive hard-wired tendencies.]

Robb, A. (2003, November). The shock of domestic homicide: "He seemed like such a puppy dog". O: The Oprah Magazine, 272. [Discusses the tell-tale warning signs that everyone seems to miss. Also suggests that much of the motivation for spousal assault stems from intense insecurities and fears of being abandoned by the spouse (which supports my view that violence between romantic partners is rooted in attachment problems). Describes one treatment program in which abusive spouses are encouraged to confront their deepest hurt—fear of being unloved—and access the deep part of themselves that feels valuable and important. After accessing this part of themselves, spouses can come to see that their wives/husbands and children dolove them and that they don't mean them any ill will. See my 12 January 2004 diary entry for more details.]

Rogers, C.R. (1947). Some observations on the organization of personality. American Psychologist, 2, 358-368. [Humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers's APA Presidential Address. Excellent observations on the value of giving people unconditional positive regard and a safe place in which to be 100% honest about all of their thoughts and feelings. It is observed that doing so helps reduce defenses, improve self perceptions, and enjoy maximal experience of the entire self.]

Pittman, F. (1994, November/December). How to manage mom & dad. Psychology Today, 27 (6), 44-74.

Plotz, D. (1997, May 25). Rupert Murdoch: Humanitarian? He's not as bad as he seems—really. Slate.

Plotz, D. (1998, April 26). Edgar Bronfman, Edgar Bronfman: Overrated father, misunderstood son. Slate.

Plotz, D. (2001, September 1). Conrad Black: The newspaper mogul thinks like an American and writes like a Brit. No wonder he's leaving Canada. Slate.

Radin, D., & Rae, C. (2000, July). Is there a sixth sense? Psychology Today. [Discusses research findings and theory on intuition.]

Ridley, M. (2003, June 2). What makes you who you are. Which is stronger—nature or nurture? The latest science say genes and your experience interact for your whole life. Time (Canadian Edition), 161 (22), 32-30. [Suggests that the old nature-nurture debate is moot because genes and environment are not the opposite of one another; they may essentially be the same thing. Genes predispose us to respond to the environment in certain ways. But our responses (ie, our behaviour) can change our genes by turning them on and off. Genes set up the body as well as the opportunity for the environment and experience to completely dismantle what they set up in the first place.]

Rosen, E.H. (1998, September-October). Think like a shrink: Psychiatrist Emanuel H. Rosen compiles a primer to see see through defenses. Psychology Today.

Salmon, C., Crawford, C.B., Dane, L., & Zuberbier, O. (Submitted). Ancestral mechanisms in modern environments: Impact of competition and stress on body image and dieting behavior. [Argues that anorexic behaviour could be part of an ancestral practice of delaying reproduction until social and/or ecological conditions are more favourable. Today, women continuously experiences cues telling them that reproduction would not be a good idea at the moment. This may lead to faulty eating patterns.]

Schwartz, P. (2002, May-June). Love is not all you need. Making a commitment based on hormone-addled logic is a recipe for disappointment, if not disaster. Psychology Today. [Argues that being in love with someone doesn't by itself make him/her a suitable partner. Also suggests that people shouldn't try to get all their personal needs met through their partner; they need to branch out and have their own life outside of their romantic relationship.]

Shenk, J.W. (1995, October). Why you can hate drugs and still want to legalize them. The Washington Monthly, 32-40. [One of the better-written articles comprehensively documenting the problems with the War on Drugs and offering convincing arguments for legalisation. If you want a good article on the War and on legalisation, go to this one first.]

Shneidman, E.S. (1993). Suicide as psychache. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 181 (3), 147-149. [Suggests we move away from considering suicide as merely the result of depression and other pathologies. If we can do so, we will understand the many other reasons that people kill themselves.]

Spayde, J. (2004, May-June). Typed and transformed: Personality typing isn't exactly psychology—it's something better. Utne Reader, 44-48. ["Dividing humanity into types is a prime way that people understand one another, from ancient esoterica like astrological signs to modern systems like the Myers-Briggs inventory, used (and abused) by businesses in assessing employees. By asserting that groups of people share characteristics, regardless of other differences (such as life experience), typing can seem like fate, a too-tight box. Yet it has he potential to transcend divisions like gender and race and make us more conscious of the contributions we all make. In this section, we introduce some major typing systems and suggest ways they can make our lives richer and more real."]

Spayde, J. (2004, May-June). 7 paths to your secret success. Utne Reader, 49-55. [A continuation of Spayde's other article. Here, he examines 7 major personality typing systems: the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the Enneagram, the four ancient temperaments (choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic, and melancholic), the Ayurvedic types, the body-mind types by William Sheldon (endomorph, mesomorph, and ectomorph), human design, and the system of seven intelligences and learning styles by Howard Gardner and Thomas Armstrong.]

Steinberg, L., & Scott, E.S. (2003). Less guilty by reason of adolescence: Developmental immaturity, diminished responsibility, and the juvenile death penalty. American Psychologist, 58 (12), 1009-1027. [Argues that adolescents should not be held to the same criminal responsibility as adults owing to their relative developmental immaturity: decision-making abilities, the ability to resist coercive influence, and personal character are still undergoing development and change.]

Steiner, A. (2001, September/October). Got time for friends? Utne Reader, 107, 67-70.

Swerdlow, J.L., & Sacha, B. (1997, February). New York Under. National Geographic, 191 (2), 110-131. [Fascinating and beautifully illustrated article describing the complex infrastructure and hectic day-to-day life in New York's many layers of underground tunnels, right down to those 70 storeys deep!]

Teicher, M.H. (2000, Fall). Wounds that time won't heal: The neurobiology of child abuse. Cerebrum, 2 (4), 50-67. [An absolutely fascinating article suggesting that even non-physical, psychological abuse can create lasting changes in the physical structure of the brain that put a child at increased risk of developing a variety of emotional problems and disorders. Also suggests an interesting, neurological explanation of bordelrine personality disorder, with abuse-related left-right brain communication problems as a cause.]

Thompson, C. (2004, May-June). Typecast in the workplace. Utne Reader, 46-47. [Writes that nearly 40% of American firms use psychological tests during the hiring process, even though few of these firms know how these tests work or whether they are even scientifically valid. They simply have employees complete the questionnaires, have them sent off to another company for scoring, and then trust that the results they get back are accurate and valid. Also argues that employers use tests to "nail" people into specific categories, meaning that their diverse skills and abilities are not fully appreciated; they are seen as fit only for a particular kind of job. Furthermore, despite assurances to the contrary, not all types are seen as equal; some are seen as superior to others.]

Vallis, M. (2002, October 19). Cities' state: Vancouver's the winner in a survey that shows you're only as healthy as the city you live in. National Post.

Vanstone, E. (2002, May 11). "Hello, Mom? It's me." Globe and Mail, p. F8. [Do you get anxious giving your mother a call on mother's day?]

Vergano, D. (1998, March). No more rude awakenings. Men's Health, 14 (2), 102-104. [Some people dread waking up each morning because they have nothing enjoyable to look forward to. Tips on how to change this.]

Wakeford, J. (2002, September 17). What goalposts? The Guardian. [Discusses the hell PhD students go through when they finally defend their dissertations. Considers the personal and political motivations for giving students a fail.]

Watters, E. (2001, October 14). The way we live now: In my tribe. New York Times Sunday Magazine. [As more and more urbanites delay marriage, particularly their friends become their family—their 'tribe'.]

Williams, A.R., & Johnson, L. (1989, February). Chicago's Hancock Center. National Geographic, 175 (2), 175-185. [Nice article and photos describing life in the John Hancock Center, one of Chicago's—and indeed the world's—most famous buildings.]

Wolfe, A. (2000, October). The opening of the Evangelical mind. The Atlantic Monthly, 286 (4), 55-76. [Evangelical schools are constantly criticised for their limited intellectual scope. This article argues that the tide is definitely turning.]