NOTES

Introduction: Stories, News, and the Challenge of Optimism

1. John Tierney, Good News Beats Bad on Social Networks, March 18, 2013.

2. Rolf Dobelli, “News Is Bad for You—and Giving Up Reading It Will Make You Happier, Guardian, April 12, 2013.

3. Ibid.

4. Attila Szabo and Katey L. Hopkinson, Negative Psychological Effects of Watching the News in the Television: Relaxation or Another Intervention May Be Needed to Buffer Them!, International Journal of Behavioral Medicine 14, June 2007, 57–62.

Chapter 1: The Best Way to Live

1. Interview with Geoff Ward to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Wilson’s first book, The Outsider. http://www.colinwilsonworld.co.uk/.

2. Benjamin Zander, interview with the author, Intelligent Optimist, May/June 2013.

Chapter 2: A Key to Health, Happiness, and Success

1. M. A. Visintainer, J. R. Volpicelli, and M. E. P. Seligman, Tumor Rejection in Rats after Inescapable or Escapable Shock, Science 216, 1982, 437–39.

2. G. M. Buchanan and M. E. P. Seligman, Explanatory Style and Heart Disease, in Explanatory Style 1995, 225–32.

3. E. Giltay, J. Geleijnse, F. Zitman, T. Hoekstra, and E. Schouten, Dispositional Optimism and All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality in a Prospective Cohort of Elderly Dutch Men and Women. Archives of General Psychiatry 61, 2004, 1126–45.

4. H. Rasmussen, M. Scheier, and J. Greenhouse, Optimism and Physical Health: A Meta Analytic Review. Annals of Behavioral Medicine 37, 2009, 239–56.

5. M. Lobel, C. J. DeVincent, A. Kaminer, and B. A. Meyer, The Impact of Prenatal Maternal Stress and Optimistic Disposition on Birth Outcomes in Medically High-Risk Women. Health Psychology 19, 2000, 544–553; C. K. Rini, C. Dunkel-Schetter, P. D. Wadhwa, and C.A. Sandma, Psychological Adaptation and Birth Out comes: The Role of Personal Resources, Stress and Social-Cultural Context in Pregnancy. Health Psychology 18, 1999, 333–45.

6. M. F. Scheier, K. A. Matthews, J. F. Owens, et al., Optimism and Rehospitalization Following Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery. Archives of Internal Medicine 159, 1999, 829–35.

7. C. Peterson and L. M. Bossio, Health and Optimism. New York: Free Press, 1991; M. F. Scheier and C. S. Carver, Dispositional Optimism and Physical Well-Being: the Influence of Generalized Outcome Expectancies on Health. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 55, 1987, 169–210.

8. S. C. Segerstrom and S. E. Sephton, Optimistic Expectancies and Cell-Mediated Immunity: The Role of Positive Affect. Psychological Science 21, 2010, 448–55.

9. S. D. Hollon, R. J. DeRubeis, M. D. Evan, M. J. Wiemer, M. J. Garvey, W. M. Grove, and V. B. Tuason, Cognitive Therapy and Pharmacotherapy for Depression: Singly and in Combination. Archives of General Psychiatry 49, 1992, 774–781.

10. D. S. Charney, Psychobiological Mechanisms of Resilience and Vulnerability: Implications for Successful Adaptation to Extreme Stress. American Journal of Psychiatry 161, 2004, 195–216.

Chapter 3: How to Become an (Even Better) Optimist

1. Positive Thinking: Reduce Stress by Eliminating Negative Self-Talk. www://mayoclinic.com

Chapter 4: The World Is a Better Place Than You Think

1. Manuel Eisner, Long-Term Historical Trends in Violent Crime. Crime and Justice: A Review of Research 30, 2003, 83–142; Norbert Elias, The Civilizing Process: Sociogenetic and Psychogenetic Investigations (Blackwell, 2000); Charles Kenny, “There Will Not Be Blood,” Optimist blog, www.foreignpolicy.com, February 6, 2012; Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined (Viking, 2011).

2. United Nations Population Fund, State of the World Population, 2011; Stephen Hawking, The Universe in a Nutshell (Bantam, 2001).

3. Ausubel, Jesse H., Peak Farmland and the Prospect for Land Sparing, Population and Development Review 38, Suppl. S1, 2013; FAOSTAT, www.faostat.fao.org; Matt Ridley, The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves (Harper Collins, 2010).

4. United Nations, World Population Ageing 2009; Kaare Christensen, Gabriele Doblhammer, Roland Rau, and James W Vaupel, Ageing Populations: The Challenges Ahead, Lancet, 374, 2009, 1196–1208.

5. Freedom House, 2012 Freedom in the World; A Glass Half-Full: Representative Government Is Still on the March in Africa, Despite Recent Hiccups, Economist, March 12, 2012.

6. Average Annual Hours Actually Worked per Worker; Sangheon Lee, Deirdre McCann, and Jon C. Messenger, Working Time around the World: Trends in Working Hours, Laws and Policies in a Global Comparative Perspective (Routledge, 2007); Bureau of Labor Statistics, American Time Use Survey, 2011.

7. Charles Kenney, Getting Better (Basic Books, 2011); Daniel Ben-Ami Ferraris for All (The Policy Press, 2010); Matt Ridley, The Rational Optimist (Harper Collins, 2010); Gregory Clark, A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World (Princeton University Press, 2007).

8. Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler, Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think (Free Press, 2012); Julian Simon, The Ultimate Resource 2 (Princeton University Press, 1998); “Crowded Out,” Economist, September 24, 2011.

9. Roland Duong, Het supermarktparadijs: Gezond kiezen is een kunst; Rob Lyons, Panic on a Plate: How Society Developed an Eating Disorder (Imprint, 2011); E. Scallan, P. M. Griffin, F. J. Angulo, R. V. Tauxe, and R. M. Hoekstra, Foodborne illness Acquired in the United States—Unspecified Agents. Emerging Infectious Diseases 17, 2011 (1), 16–22.

10. Adrian Hart, The Myth of Racist Kids: Anti-racism Policy and the Regulation of School Life (Manifesto Club, 2009); John McWhorter, Racism in Retreat, New York Sun, June 5, 2008; John McWhorter, It Really Is Better Now for Blacks, The Root, April 6, 2011; Heather C. West, Prison Inmates at Midyear 2009, statistical tables, Bureau of Justice Statistics, June 23, 2010; Michael J. Rosenfeld, The Age of Independence: Interracial Unions, Same-Sex Unions, and the Changing American Family (Harvard University Press, 2007); Robert Jensen, “No Thanks to Thanksgiving,” Alternet.org, November 22, 2005; Tom Rodgers: Native American Poverty: A Challenge Too Often Ignored, in Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity. http://www.spotlightonpoverty.org/.

Chapter 5: Welcome to the Age of Optimism

1. https://lentinklab.stanford.edu/welcome/biological_questions.

2. Fred Travis and David Orme-Johnson, Field Model of Consciousness, International Journal of Neuroscience 49, 1989, 203–11.

3. http://noosphere.princeton.edu/index.htm.

4. J. S. Hagelin, D. W. Orme-Johnson, M. Rainforth, K. Cavanaugh, C. N. Alexander, S. F. Shatkin, J. L. Davies, A. O. Hughs, E. Ross, Effects of Group Practice of the Transcendental Meditation Program on Preventing Violent Crime in Washington, D.C.: Results of the National Demonstration Project, June∇July 1993, Washington, DC, Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy Technical Report 941 (1994); Social Indicators Research 47, 1999 (2), 153–201.

5. Interview with the author, in Ode, May/June 2012.