Fidel Dorantes

Dr. Rand
UWRT 1103
28 Oct. 2014
Annotated Bibliography
Keywords: Isolation, Introverts, Introversion, Extroverts, Extroversion, Loneliness, Extreme Isolation,
Feral, Psychology, Case Studies, Abandonment, Introversion vs. Extroversion.
Explanation:
The way I began searching was by just putting in the exact thing that I was curious about,
Isolation, and then from there looking for ways to narrow the searches down into what I was looking
for. After getting a general idea of where the scholarly community stood on isolation by inputting
words like Feral, Psychology, and Case Studies, I found a lot of very useful topics to research about for
my inquiry project. That was until I went to my conference when I had to start rethinking what I should
have been searching for. So I once again started with very broad terms about the subject and just kept
making a mishmash of combinations until I started lowering down the search results and looked
through what was there.
One of the things I found more after changing the general focus was that there were better
search results once I figured out which topics could relate to each other, like introversion and loneliness
or introversion and creativity, and that brought me to different sites that expressed new viewpoints on
the topic I hadn't considered.

Concept Map:

Synthesis:
Over the course of researching on this topic, and then changing the focus of the topic, I have
found that I have very few relevant research materials that I could use for writing the inquiry project.
As of right now we have discovered two case studies dealing with forced isolation and its adverse
effect it had on two young girls with shockingly different results from their treatment (Kingsley).
Although I should mention that only one is cited, that is because the second is discussed by Kingsley
during his case study as a reference of how the study could be compared to. What I found most
appealing about this source overall was that it gave physical proof of how horribly stunted a person can
become from being alone, and I do mean being alone not feeling alone, for a horribly long time from

birth. This study actually served to help answer one of my branching inquiries that I had to try to ignore
to keep consistent with what I was researching. As I continued researching I discovered Cacioppo's
book on the emotion of Loneliness, called Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Contact.
What I found astounding was that they both went on to explain how being alone, but in different senses
of the word, created identical cases of helplessness and a stunt in growth. While Kengsley's study dealt
with a physical isolation that had physical effects on a person, Cacioppo's study went on to mention
how feeling alone created a sense of helplessness, depression, suicidal thoughts, stunt in empathizing,
and other psychological as well as a few physical symptoms. Cacioppo's book also went on to mention
how a person's own disposition, whether they are social or not, can actually effect how they may seek
help when feeling alone, or if they would even seek help at all. This actually ended up becoming more
relevant once my topic focus changed to Introversion vs Extroversion as it brought up the point on how
people react to the feeling of loneliness and actually being alone in very different ways based on their
personality type. And the last resource I found before switching gears was with an article that basically
answered every question I had about Isolation that I had planned for this Inquiry Project (Michael).
After reading it I really thought that there was very little point in continuing with finding more
resources mostly because it went so in depth with the idea of Isolation and how humans react to it,
surprisingly most handle poorly while those who you would think wouldn't handled it better than most.
It went on to discuss the psychological aspects of isolation and how many torture victims were left
isolated in order to break them because, as Cacioppo mentioned in his book, humans are a social
animal and taken away from the company of others we instinctively become unnerved as our primal
programming now warns us that we are in danger. But it also took another stab at it by saying how we
have become so used to a constant bombardment of information and contact that by suddenly cutting
off the need to filter this large parts of the mind and brain are left free and without purpose and begin to
construct a purpose for them to work, which is why some people claim to find a sort of peaceful
transcendence when alone and others start going nutty through illusions. Now let me mention the other

resources here. After my conference, I changed the general focus of my inquiry into becoming about
why some people are introverts and extroverts. So naturally we looked for what defined being one or
the other, which we found in the form of a YouTube video that helped to clarify the two and give the
viewer tips in figuring out with which one they aligned with more. Note that I said aligned more with
because they also say that we are a little bit of the other depending on a few factors. This idea of a
mixed version of the two which I had until then been considering as separate led me to finding a blog
(Meyerott) that went on to describe how the main difference between the two is flimsy as their strict
definitions do not allow a personality or background to be a factor. It goes on two mention how some
introverted people who should be appalled by extrovert activities thrive in them instead because while
they may gain energy from being alone, they enjoy spending this energy with others. The opposite is
also true that some introverts find energy in being with others but still prefer working or being alone to
spend that energy. It's this contradictory idea that brought me to really understand how much more I
need to research into how the setting affects the disposition and how our disposition can effect the
setting around us. I still need to find more research able sources that I could use to help create a better
understanding of my topic and find out how these that I have now connect with each other better.

Work Cited:

Introvert vs Extrovert - A Deep Understanding Of Introverts And Extroverts. Actualized.org,

Youtbe.com. 16 March 2014.

Bond, Michael, How extreme isolation warps the mind. BBC Future, BBC, 14 May 2014.
Web. 23 October 2014.

Cacioppo, John T., and William Patrick. Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social
Connection. New York: W.W. Norton, 2008. Print.

Davis, Kingsley, American Journal of Sociology Vol. 52, No. 5 (Mar., 1947), pp. 432-437,
2014. Print. 23 October 2014.

Meyerott, Susan J., Are You a Quiet Extravert or Outspoken Introvert?, Lightarted Living,
Lightarted Living, 13 March. 2012. Web. 27 October. 2014.