196. What’s Wrong With Being a Little Neurotic?

Is there any upside to negative emotions? What can comedians teach us about dealing with pain? And why did Angela eat off of a stranger’s plate at a sushi bar?

• SOURCES:• Ludwig van Beethoven, 18th-19th century composer and pianist.
• Jen Christensen, reporter and producer at CNN.
• Lauren Eskreis-Winkler, professor of management & organizations at Northwestern University.
• Sigmund Freud, neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis.
• Shirley MacLaine, actor.
• George Vaillant, professor of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital.
• Ali Wong, comedian.
• RESOURCES:• "The Sad Clown: The Deep Emotions Behind Stand-Up Comedy," by Jen Christensen (CNN, 2018).
• "Neuroticism," by Jennifer L. Tackett and Benjamin B. Lahey (The Oxford handbook of the Five Factor Model, 2017).
• "Thinking Too Much: Self-Generated Thought as the Engine of Neuroticism," by Adam M. Perkins, Danilo Arnone, Jonathan Smallwood, and Dean Mobbs (Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2015).
• "Survivor Mission: Do Those Who Survive Have a Drive to Thrive at Work?" by Lauren Eskreis-Winkler, Elizabeth Shulman, and Angela Duckworth (The Journal of Positive Psychology, 2014).
• "Age Differences in Personality Traits From 10 to 65: Big Five Domains and Facets in a Large Cross-Sectional Sample," by Christopher J. Soto, Oliver P. John, Samuel D. Gosling, and Jeff Potter (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2011).
• "Adaptive Mental Mechanisms: Their Role in a Positive Psychology," by George Vaillant (American Psychologist, 2000).
• The Harvard Study of Adult Development.
• EXTRAS:• Big Five Personality Inventory, by No Stupid Questions (2024).
• “Personality: The Big Five,” series by No Stupid Questions (2024).
• Terms of Endearment, film by James L. Brooks (1983).
• "Invictus," poem by William Ernest Henley (1888).

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