Anthropology of Narratives and Storytelling
Bruner, E. M. (1986). The anthropology of experience. University of Illinois Press.
Annotation
Explores how experience and narrative structure meaning within cultures.
Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. Basic Books.
Annotation
Foundational theory on culture as a system of symbols and meaning.
Green, M. C., & Brock, T. C. (2000). The role of transportation in the persuasiveness of public narratives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(5), 701–721. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.79.5.701
Annotation
Introduces the concept of narrative transportation and its persuasive effects on beliefs and attitudes.
Ochs, E., & Capps, L. (2001). Living narrative: Creating lives in everyday storytelling. Harvard University Press.
Annotation
Examines how storytelling constructs identity in everyday life.
Ong, W. J. (1982). Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word. Methuen.
Annotation
Classic work on how literacy transforms human cognition and communication.
Vansina, J. (1985). Oral tradition as history. University of Wisconsin Press.
Annotation
Analyzes oral storytelling as a historical and cultural practice of knowledge transmission.
Van Laer, T., De Ruyter, K., Visconti, L. M., & Wetzels, M. (2014). The extended transportation–imagery model: A meta-analysis of the antecedents and consequences of consumers’ narrative transportation. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(5), 797–817. https://doi.org/10.1086/673383
Annotation
Meta-analysis of narrative transportation effects in consumer research.
Cognitive Psychology of Beliefs and Narrative Interpretation
Chow, J. Y. L., Colagiuri, B., Rottman, B. M., Goldwater, M., & Livesey, E. J. (2021). Pseudoscientific health beliefs and the perceived frequency of causal relationships. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(21), 11196. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111196
Annotation
Demonstrates how perceived causal relationships contribute to pseudoscientific health beliefs.
Foertsch, S., Chakraborty, R., & Joosse, P. (2023). Asymmetric conflation: QAnon and the political cooptation of religion. Politics and Religion, 16(4), 633–652. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755048323000275
Annotation
Analyzes QAnon’s use of religious symbolism to frame political ideology.
Friedman, S., & Goldwater, M. (2022). Computational modeling of representational pluralism in explanations. In Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Representational Pluralism in Human Cognition (pp. 81–103). Routledge.
Annotation
Explores computational methods for modeling diverse forms of human explanation.
Goldwater, M. B., Hashmi, F. A., Mondal, S., & Legare, C. H. (2025). Community health workers’ counseling is based on a deficit model of behavior change. PLOS Global Public Health, 5(7), e0004167.
Annotation
Examines how health communication models implicitly reflect deficit assumptions.
Hooker, C., Marques, M., Goldwater, M., Degeling, C., & Leask, J. (2024). Values in risk communication about COVID-19. In Communicating COVID-19: Media, Trust, and Public Engagement (pp. 415–437). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Annotation
Discusses value-driven communication and public engagement during the pandemic.
LaCour, M., Hughes, B., Goldwater, M., Ireland, M., Worthy, D., Van Allen, J., ... & Davis, T. (2022). The double bind of communicating about zoonotic origins. Risk Analysis, 42(3), 506–521.
Annotation
Explores moral and cognitive tensions in pandemic communication about zoonotic origins.
Line, E. N., Jaramillo, S., Goldwater, M., & Horne, Z. (2024). Anecdotes impact medical decisions even when presented with statistical information or decision aids. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 9(1), 51.
Annotation
Shows that anecdotal stories bias decision-making even when quantitative data is available.
Parker, L., Byrne, J. A., Goldwater, M., & Enfield, N. (2021). Misinformation: An empirical study with scientists and communicators during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMJ Open Science, 5(1), e100188.
Annotation
Empirical study of how misinformation spreads among professional communicators.
Priniski, J. H., & Holyoak, K. J. (2022). A darkening spring: How preexisting distrust shaped COVID-19 skepticism. PLOS ONE, 17(1), e0263191.
Annotation
Links preexisting distrust to skepticism toward scientific and governmental messaging.
Priniski, J. H., McClay, M., & Holyoak, K. J. (2021). Rise of QAnon: A mental model of good and evil stews in an echochamber. Proceedings of the Cognitive Science Society.
Annotation
Develops a cognitive model for moral reasoning in online conspiratorial movements.
Torres, M. N., Barberia, I., & Rodríguez-Ferreiro, J. (2022). Causal illusion in the core of pseudoscientific beliefs. PLOS ONE, 17(9), e0272201. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272201
Annotation
Shows how causal illusions and confirmation bias foster pseudoscientific thinking.
Yaqub, W., Kay, J., & Goldwater, M. (2024). Foundations for enabling people to recognise misinformation in social media news based on retracted science. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 8(CSCW1), 1–38.
Annotation
Proposes human-computer interaction methods for improving misinformation detection.
Religion, Well-being, and the Built Environment
Althoff, T., Ivanovic, B., King, A. C., Hicks, J. L., Delp, S. L., & Leskovec, J. (2025). Countrywide natural experiment link the built environment to physical activity. Nature. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-1234-x
Annotation
Quantifies how urban form and built environments influence physical activity.
Goetz, D. L. (2007). Death by Suburb: How to Keep the Suburbs from Killing Your Soul. HarperCollins.
Annotation
Reflects on spiritual malaise and alienation in suburban American life.
Wilford, J. (2011). Sacred Subdivisions: The Postsuburban Transformation of American Evangelicalism. New York University Press.
Annotation
Ethnographic account of how megachurches adapt to and shape suburban environments.
Banks, D. A. (2023). The City Authentic: How the attention economy builds urban America. Univ of California Press.
Annotation
Explores the relationship between urban development, digital attention, and authenticity in the modern city.
Ethics Centering Human Love Over Orthodoxy
Murdoch, I. (1998). Existentialists and mystics: Writings on philosophy and literature. Penguin.
Annotation
Argues that moral attention and love are the core of human goodness, beyond orthodoxy.
Weil, S. (1997). Gravity and grace. U of Nebraska Press.
Annotation
Contemplates grace, suffering, and moral purification through spiritual detachment.
Additional commentary and context passage: “The daily lived experience of the patchwork of postsuburbia...” (quoted from Banks, 2023). Annotation: to be added.