Notes - The Pursuit of Perfect: How to Stop Chasing Perfection and Start Living a Richer, Happier Life - Tal Ben-Shahar

The Pursuit of Perfect: How to Stop Chasing Perfection and Start Living a Richer, Happier Life - Tal Ben-Shahar (2009)

Notes

Complete bibliographical information can be found in the References section.

Introduction

1. Reported in Blatt (1995).

2. Burns (1980).

3. Hamachek (1978).

4. I draw on the work of Hewitt and Flett (1991), as well as Frost et al. (1990), who describe perfectionism as a multidimensional construct.

5. This definition is taken from The Positive Psychology Manifesto, which was first introduced by some of the leading researchers in the field in 1999. The full definition: “Positive Psychology is the scientific study of optimal human functioning. It aims to discover and promote the factors that allow individuals and communities to thrive. The positive psychology movement represents a new commitment on the part of research psychologists to focus attention upon the sources of psychological health, thereby going beyond prior emphases upon disease and disorder.”

6. Rogers (1961).

Chapter 1

1. Frost et al. (1990) discuss “concern over mistakes” as one of the dimensions of perfectionism.

2. Carson and Langer (2006).

3. Pacht (1984). Burns (1999) extensively discusses the all-or-nothing approach.

4. The relativist, in fact, is a Perfectionist in disguise, subscribing to the notion that there are absolutely no absolutes.

5. See Morling and Epstein (1997), as well as Swann et al. (1989).

6. Thoreau (2004).

7. Emerson (1983).

8. Frost et al. (1990), Flett et al. (1992), Flett and Hewitt (2002), Franco-Paredes et al. (2005), and Bardone-Cone et al. (2007).

9. Branden (1994).

10. Bednar and Peterson (1995).

11. Blatt(1995).

12. Bardone-Cone et al. (2007).

13. Rogers (1961).

14. Reported in Bardone-Cone et al. (2007).

15. Yerkes and Dodson (1908).

16. Gardner (1994).

17. Flett et al. (1992).

18. Koch (2005) and Mancini (2007).

19. Bern (1967).

20. Carson and Langer (2006).

21. For more on the benefits of keeping a journal, see Pennebaker (1997).

Chapter 2

1. See Wegner (1994) and Wenzlaff and Wegner (2000).

2. See Barlow and Craske (2006) and Craske et al. (2004).

3. Ricard (2006).

4. Williams et al. (2007).

5. Williams et al. (2007).

6. See Lyubomirsky (2007) and Ray et al. (2008).

7. Pennebaker (1997).

8. Branden (1994).

9. Kabat-Zinn (1990).

10. Rogers (1961).

11. Newman et al. (1997).

12. Calhoun and Tedeschi (2005).

13. Kuhn(1996).

14. Gibran (1923).

15. See Maslow (1993) and James (1988).

16. Worden (2008).

17. Emerson (1983).

18. Kabat-Zinn (1990).

19. Bennett-Goleman (2002).

Chapter 3

1. Camus (1991).

2. Ackerman (1995).

3. James (1890).

4. Csikszentmihalyi (1998).

5. Locke and Latham (2002).

6. Collins (2001).

7. Hackman (2002).

8. Domar and Kelly (2008).

9. Nash and Stevenson (2005).

10. Reivich and Shatte (2003).

11. See Cooperrider and Whitney (2005).

12. See Emmons and McCullough (2003) and Emmons (2007).

13. Lyubomirsky (2007).

14. Kosslyn (2005).

15. Langer (1989).

16. Seligman et al. (2005).

Chapter 4

1. Ackerman (1995).

2. Sowell (2007).

3. Pinker (2006).

4. Branden (1994).

5. Ginott (2003).

6. I recommend doing a longer sentence-completion program, such as the one found in Nathaniel Branden’s (1994) book The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem. An extensive program is also available online: nathanielbranden.com/catalog/articles_essays/
sentence_completion.html
.

7. Langer (1989).

Chapter 5

1. Luthar et al. (2006).

2. Siegle and Schuler (2000).

3. Montessori (1995).

4. Rathunde and Csikszentmihalyi (2005a, b).

5. Winnicott (1982) and Winnicott (1990).

6. Smiles (1958).

7. Dweck(2005).

8. Dewey(2007).

9. Dewey(1997).

10. Collins (1990) and Collins (1992).

Chapter 6

1. Edmondson (1999).

2. Mark Cannon and Amy Edmondson (2005) coauthored a paper titled “Failing to Learn and Learning to Fail (Intelligently): How Great Organizations Put Failure to Work to Innovate and Improve.”

3. Edgar Scheine and Warren Bennis (1965) first introduced the term psychological safety. Edmondson extended their idea beyond the individual level to team psychological safety.

4. Cited in Cannon and Edmondson (2005).

5. Goleman et al. (2002).

6. McEvoy and Beatty (1989).

7. Cannon and Edmondson (2005).

8. Hurley and Ryman (2008).

9. Loehr and Schwartz (2001) and Loehr and Schwartz (2004).

Chapter 7

1. The quote is attributed to Leo Buscaglia, a professor at the University of Southern California who was a popular speaker and writer. While Buscaglia’s work in the area of human potential is extremely important and valuable, this particular passage is potentially damaging.

2. Gottman (2000).

3. Schnarch (1998).

4. Mill (1974).

5. Emerson (1983).

6. Burke (1898).

Chapter 8

1. Langer (1989).

2. Nir (2008).

Chapter 9

1. Tomaka et al. (1997).

2. Carlson (1996).

Chapter 10

1. Rogers (1961).

Chapter 11

1. Wilson (2008).

Chapter 12

1. Gyaltshen Rinpoche (2006).

2. Pennebaker (1997).

Chapter 13

1. Ackerman (1995).

2. Davidson and Harrington (2001).

3. Leary et al. (2007).

Chapter 14

1. Lyubomirsky (2007).

Chapter 15

1. Levy (2003) and Levy et al. (2002).

2. Dove, manufacturer of personal care products, has come up with a very successful pro-aging campaign challenging the anti-aging movement.

Chapter 16

1. Blanton (2005).

2. dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3333396,00.html. Retrieved October 13, 2008.

Chapter 17

1. Weick (2001).

Conclusion

1. Rogers (1961).