Hess, John J.

The current study is presented as an exploratory network analysis of personality psychology using a network composed of 54 source papers and references. The network contains 2852 distinct papers with 4455 connections between them. The articles used were papers from the Annual Review of Psychology, which dealt with the subject of personality from 1950 to 2012. References from the source papers were pulled and mapped onto a network that graphically illustrated the links between different citations. From the network it was possible to deduce, both visually and statistically, distinctively clustered communities, the relative influence of certain psychologists, and the researchers that bridged disciplinary gaps within the field of personality research. By using methods such as network analysis it is possible create an alternative map of the field of personality psychology and science as a whole.

Set at the end of the 1960s in Southern California, Thomas Pynchon's novel Inherent Vice (2009)
is a nostalgic and parodic take on the hard-boiled crime genre. With a nebulously defined search for an
erstwhile lover and intimations of foul play from global corporations, its conventional plot construction has
led most critics to view the frequency with which its private eye protagonist, Doc Sportello, consumes and
distributes cannabis while detecting as a hyperbolic motif designed to accentuate the ostentation of the
book’s stylistic parody. This thesis argues that Inherent Vice uses cannabis as a symbolic embodiment of a
way of thinking about exchange that effectively circumvents the problems Pynchon perceives to be posed
by capitalism. Inherent Vice represents a stylistic departure for Pynchon in that, by advocating the repeated
institution of small-scale economies of gift exchange, it offers a specific proscriptive ethical guideline for
readers wishing to resist capitalism.

In each of the four inaugural addresses delivered by George W. Bush and Barack Obama, the presidents referenced the American Dream, a concept that has grown to represent a shared set of values in American society. After explaining the origins of the American Dream and the ways in which certain values associated with the term have been emphasized or neglected over time, this analysis illustrates how each president invokes the term in those inaugural addresses, allowing the reader to understand the extent to which both presidents define the Dream on a spectrum ranging from meritocratic individualism to society-building communitarianism that all Americans can recognize and apply to their everyday lives. The entanglement of these values suggests the importance of maintaining balance between individual initiative and a community commitment to the preservation of the equality of opportunities inherent in “our nation’s promise.”

American writer Ishmael Reed defends literature as a mechanism for effective
protest and a form of comment on American politics. In his early works, Reed used
postmodern aesthetics to destabilize common assumptions about race and politics. Today,
Reed continues to grapple with racial inequality, but he has shifted away from
postmodern fiction producing mostly essays and reviews. Reed’s use of various mediums
to protest political injustice blurs the line between politics and literature. In this thesis, I
will use a textual analysis of Reed’s novel Flight to Canada, interviews with Reed, and
literary criticism to argue that Reed utilizes the concept of multiplicity (the state of being
various) to impart a political message that adapts to changing political climates. In turn,
Reed’s work is intended to influence the reader’s sense of political efficacy by
emphasizing the political power of the individual.