Further Reading — Chapter 11: Values, Beliefs, and Meaning-Making

Annotated resources for deeper exploration. Items marked with ★ are especially recommended as starting points.

Foundational Books on Values

★ Frankl, V. E. (1946/1984). Man's Search for Meaning. Washington Square Press. The essential text. Part memoir of concentration camp survival, part introduction to logotherapy. One of the most-read books in the psychology of meaning. Frankl's writing is direct and unsparing. Not a self-help book — a philosophical account of what makes survival possible and what makes a life worth living.

★ Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (1999). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: An Experiential Approach to Behavior Change. Guilford. The foundational ACT text — more technical than popular accounts, but clear and practical. Covers values work extensively, including the distinction between values and goals, defusion techniques, and committed action. Essential for anyone who wants the full framework.

Harris, R. (2008). The Happiness Trap: How to Stop Struggling and Start Living. Trumpeter Books. The most accessible popular account of ACT for general readers. Covers defusion, values, acceptance, and committed action in a clear, step-by-step format. Less theoretically rigorous than Hayes et al. but extremely practical.

On Values Theory and Research

Schwartz, S. H. (1992). Universals in the content and structure of values: Theory and empirical tests in 20 countries. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 25, pp. 1–65). Academic Press. The foundational paper establishing Schwartz's ten value types and their organization. Comprehensive, empirically rigorous, and accessible for academic readers.

Schwartz, S. H. (2012). An overview of the Schwartz theory of basic values. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 2(1). A more accessible overview of the complete theory, including updates from more recent cross-cultural research. Freely available online. Good starting point.

Rokeach, M. (1973). The Nature of Human Values. Free Press. Rokeach's foundational treatment of terminal and instrumental values and his value survey. Dated in some respects but historically important for understanding how the field developed.

On Meaning

★ Baumeister, R. F. (1991). Meanings of Life. Guilford. Baumeister's comprehensive psychological treatment of meaning — its sources, its functions, and the consequences of its absence. Covers purpose, values, efficacy, and self-worth as the four needs meaning satisfies. Dense but accessible; genuinely important.

Steger, M. F., Frazier, P., Oishi, S., & Kaler, M. (2006). The meaning in life questionnaire: Assessing the presence of and search for meaning in life. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53(1), 80–93. The paper introducing the Meaning in Life Questionnaire — the most widely used measure of meaning in psychological research. Clear, accessible, and practically relevant for understanding the presence/search distinction.

Wong, P. T. P. (2012). The Human Quest for Meaning: Theories, Research, and Applications (2nd ed.). Routledge. The most comprehensive edited volume on meaning in psychological research. Covers multiple theoretical frameworks, cross-cultural perspectives, and clinical applications. Reference-level; not for sequential reading.

On Terror Management Theory

Greenberg, J., Solomon, S., & Pyszczynski, T. (1986). The causes and consequences of a need for self-esteem: A terror management theory. In R. F. Baumeister (Ed.), Public Self and Private Self (pp. 189–212). Springer-Verlag. The foundational statement of TMT. Accessible and intellectually provocative.

Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., & Pyszczynski, T. (2015). The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life. Random House. The popular account of Terror Management Theory for general readers — what it is, what the research shows, and what it implies for human behavior. Clear, well-written, and frequently surprising.

On Beliefs and Cognitive Frameworks

★ Beck, A. T. (1979). Cognitive Therapy of Depression. Guilford. Beck's foundational text introducing cognitive therapy — the examination of automatic thoughts, dysfunctional assumptions, and core beliefs. The framework that underlies the chapter's discussion of core beliefs and their effects on behavior.

Burns, D. D. (1980/1999). Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy. Harper. Beck's cognitive framework applied in an accessible, self-help format. Covers cognitive distortions, core beliefs, and behavioral techniques. Despite its age, remains one of the most evidence-supported self-help books in existence.

On Values and the Good Life

★ Sandel, M. J. (2009). Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Sandel's brilliant account of three major frameworks for moral reasoning (utility, liberty, virtue). Not a psychology text but an accessible philosophical introduction to how values questions are approached systematically. Essential context for anyone interested in the values-ethics interface.

Ware, B. (2012). The Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing. Hay House. Palliative care nurse Bronnie Ware's account of the most common regrets she encountered. Anecdotal rather than empirical, but consistent with wellbeing research. Useful for the values clarification exercises in this chapter.

Perel, E. (2006). Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence. Harper. Relevant to the values discussion specifically around values conflicts in relationships — the tension between security and freedom, between the familiar and the novel. Perel's treatment of values in intimate relationships is incisive and practically applicable.

On Cultural Values and Variation

Inglehart, R., & Baker, W. E. (2000). Modernization, cultural change, and the persistence of traditional values. American Sociological Review, 65(1), 19–51. Large-scale cross-national research on how economic development and modernization affect basic values. The World Values Survey data provides the most comprehensive picture of cross-cultural values variation available.

Triandis, H. C. (1995). Individualism and Collectivism. Westview Press. The definitive treatment of individualism and collectivism as cultural values orientations. Essential background for understanding how values research generalizes (or doesn't) across cultures.