Skip to main content

Jonathan Potter

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, School of Communication and Information, Dean

Followers

3,208

Following

101

Co-authors

15

Public Views

I work in the broad interdisciplinary field of discourse studies, with a particular focus on the way careful analyses of interaction can provide a way of understanding and reworking basic psychological questions. This way of thinking about interaction research is called discursive psychology.

I am currently working on tag questions in media discourse (with an interest in intersubjectivity), a matrix of actions that happen during family mealtimes (requests, directives, threats, admonishments), the role of laughter in modulating actions, and the relationship between descriptions and assessments.

I often write more broadly on theory and method in the social sciences and regularly teach workshops on discourse theory and methods.

A recent talk about admonishments and socialization is available at:
https://lecturecapture.warwick.ac.uk/ess/echo/presentation/8040e73d-6819-4845-9b10-90a9453bf72d

less

InterestsView All (25)

Uploads

Papers by Jonathan Potter

Sociolinguistics, Cognitivism, and Discursive Psychologyl

International Journal of English Studies (IJES), 2003

This paper addresses the broad question of how work in sociolinguistics should be related to soci... more This paper addresses the broad question of how work in sociolinguistics should be related to social theory, and in particular the assumptions about cognition that can underpin that relation. A discursive psychological approach to issues of cognition is pressed and illustrated by a reworking of Stubb's review of work on language and cognition. A discursive psychological approach is offered to the topics of racist discourse, courtroom interaction, scientific writing, and sexism. Discursive psychology rejects the approach to 'cognition' as a collection of more or less stable inner entities and processes. Instead the focus is on the way 'mental phenomena' are both constructed and oriented to in people's practices.

Psychology, sociology and interaction: disciplinary allegiance or analytic quality? — a response to Housley and Fitzgerald

Qualitative Research, 2009

Rethinking attitudes and social psychology – Issues of function, order, and combination in subject-side and object-side assessments in natural settings

Qualitative Research in Psychology

ABSTRACT This paper overviews limitations in both the way attitude function has been conceptualiz... more ABSTRACT This paper overviews limitations in both the way attitude function has been conceptualized in social psychology, and in the empirical basis for the claims made. We suggest that the premise that attitudes are expressed for cognitive/motivational reasons is an untested artefact of the methodological procedures commonly used. In contrast, an investigation of ‘attitudes’ in the wild (assessments, evaluations, judgements) is offered as an alternative pathway to address questions of function. The analytic core of the paper is the analysis of a collection of interactional examples where an Object-side assessment (e.g. ‘this soup is lovely’) is issued in combination with a Subject-side assessment (e.g. ‘I love this soup’). We investigate what is achieved by combining O-side and S-side assessments: why use an O-side assessment and then an S-side assessment? Or, why use an S-side assessment and then an O-side? We show that (a) O-side and S-side assessments support different actions; (b) the combination manages world and speaker issues in a single package; (c) the combination of O-side and S-side can be hearably complete; (d) O-side first, S-side second can be a resource for building (on) affiliation; (e) S-side first, O-side second can be a platform for continued dispute. Programmatic work on the function of assessments is proposed.

Shaming interrogatives: Admonishments, the social psychology of emotion, and discursive practices of behaviour modification in family mealtimes

British Journal of Social Psychology

Action and representation - A comment on Batel and Castro Re-opening the dialogue between the theory of social representations and discursive psychology

The British journal of social psychology, Jan 22, 2018

Batel and Castro propose a reconciliation of social representation theory and discursive psycholo... more Batel and Castro propose a reconciliation of social representation theory and discursive psychology. This comment highlights the continuing relevance of long-standing critiques of social representation theory from discursive psychologists as well as their central focus on both how representations are built to appear factual and the role of representations in practices. It suggests that the analytic approaches proposed by Batel and Castro (e.g., focus groups and thematic analysis) are not sufficient to the analytic task. The proposed 'Pragmatic Discourse Analysis' falls short on its central task of identifying pragmatics. The virtues of working with naturalistic data using methods that attend to the action orientation of talk and text are pressed.

Mapping the Language of Racism. Discourse and the Legitimation of Exploitation. (Löschper)

Kriminologisches Journal, 1994

Información del artículo Mapping the Language of Racism. Discourse and the Legitimation of Exploi... more

Unequal egalitarians: a preliminary study of discourses concerning gender and employment opportunities

Why psychologists should be interested in facts

Revista Interamericana De Psicologia Interamerican Journal of Psychology, 1995

Regulating Criticism

Critical Discursive Psychology, 2015

A kind of governance: rules, time and psychology in organisations

Studies of Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis, 2010

Fragments in the Realization of Relativism

Social Constructionism, Discourse and Realism, 1998

Conversation Analysis and Emotion and Cognition in Interaction

The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, 2012

5. Conclusions A central feature of the approach to interaction in CA is that speakers display th... more 5. Conclusions A central feature of the approach to interaction in CA is that speakers display their understanding through the sequential unfolding of their talk. Thus when a speaker provides an acceptance and appreciation this displays their understanding that an invitation had been issued in prior talk. Indeed, issuing any second pair part to an adjacency pair displays an understanding that the prior one was the relevant fi rst pair part. Such an approach to understanding does not require analysts or participants to have privileged ...

Qualitative and Discourse Analysis

Comprehensive Clinical Psychology, 1998

Discourse and social psychology

"`Potter and Wetherell have genuinely presented us with a different way of working in social... more "`Potter and Wetherell have genuinely presented us with a different way of working in social psychology. The book's clarity means that it has the power to influence a lot of people ill-at-ease with traditional social psychology but unimpressed with (or simply bewildered by) other alternatives on offer. It could rescue social psychology from the sterility of the laboratory and its traditional mentalism' - Charles Antaki, The Times Higher Education Supplement This book is the first systematic and accessible introduction to the theory and application of discourse analysis within the field of social psychology. Discourse and Social Psychology includes chapters on the theoretical roots of discourse analysis in linguistic philosophy, ethnomethodology and semiotics and an overview on the perspectives of discourse analysis and its utility in studying attitudes. Five substantive chapters are concerned with the key concepts of social psychology. Finally, the authors identify future research directions and present an exhaustive bibliography of all relevant literature. The authors draw on a wide range of examples from written and spoken discourse and avoid jargon at all times, even when introducing complex theoretical issues. "

Making Psychology Relevant 20

Discursive Social Psychology 19

Discourse and Psychology: Volume III Discursive Psychology

Conversation Analysis and Psychology

Sidnell/The Handbook of Conversation Analysis, 2012

Discursive Social Psychology

The Oxford Handbook of Language and Social Psychology, 2014

Conversation and Cognition

Sociolinguistics, Cognitivism, and Discursive Psychologyl

International Journal of English Studies (IJES), 2003

This paper addresses the broad question of how work in sociolinguistics should be related to soci... more This paper addresses the broad question of how work in sociolinguistics should be related to social theory, and in particular the assumptions about cognition that can underpin that relation. A discursive psychological approach to issues of cognition is pressed and illustrated by a reworking of Stubb's review of work on language and cognition. A discursive psychological approach is offered to the topics of racist discourse, courtroom interaction, scientific writing, and sexism. Discursive psychology rejects the approach to 'cognition' as a collection of more or less stable inner entities and processes. Instead the focus is on the way 'mental phenomena' are both constructed and oriented to in people's practices.

Psychology, sociology and interaction: disciplinary allegiance or analytic quality? — a response to Housley and Fitzgerald

Qualitative Research, 2009

Rethinking attitudes and social psychology – Issues of function, order, and combination in subject-side and object-side assessments in natural settings

Qualitative Research in Psychology

ABSTRACT This paper overviews limitations in both the way attitude function has been conceptualiz... more ABSTRACT This paper overviews limitations in both the way attitude function has been conceptualized in social psychology, and in the empirical basis for the claims made. We suggest that the premise that attitudes are expressed for cognitive/motivational reasons is an untested artefact of the methodological procedures commonly used. In contrast, an investigation of ‘attitudes’ in the wild (assessments, evaluations, judgements) is offered as an alternative pathway to address questions of function. The analytic core of the paper is the analysis of a collection of interactional examples where an Object-side assessment (e.g. ‘this soup is lovely’) is issued in combination with a Subject-side assessment (e.g. ‘I love this soup’). We investigate what is achieved by combining O-side and S-side assessments: why use an O-side assessment and then an S-side assessment? Or, why use an S-side assessment and then an O-side? We show that (a) O-side and S-side assessments support different actions; (b) the combination manages world and speaker issues in a single package; (c) the combination of O-side and S-side can be hearably complete; (d) O-side first, S-side second can be a resource for building (on) affiliation; (e) S-side first, O-side second can be a platform for continued dispute. Programmatic work on the function of assessments is proposed.

Shaming interrogatives: Admonishments, the social psychology of emotion, and discursive practices of behaviour modification in family mealtimes

British Journal of Social Psychology

Action and representation - A comment on Batel and Castro Re-opening the dialogue between the theory of social representations and discursive psychology

The British journal of social psychology, Jan 22, 2018

Batel and Castro propose a reconciliation of social representation theory and discursive psycholo... more Batel and Castro propose a reconciliation of social representation theory and discursive psychology. This comment highlights the continuing relevance of long-standing critiques of social representation theory from discursive psychologists as well as their central focus on both how representations are built to appear factual and the role of representations in practices. It suggests that the analytic approaches proposed by Batel and Castro (e.g., focus groups and thematic analysis) are not sufficient to the analytic task. The proposed 'Pragmatic Discourse Analysis' falls short on its central task of identifying pragmatics. The virtues of working with naturalistic data using methods that attend to the action orientation of talk and text are pressed.

Mapping the Language of Racism. Discourse and the Legitimation of Exploitation. (Löschper)

Kriminologisches Journal, 1994

Información del artículo Mapping the Language of Racism. Discourse and the Legitimation of Exploi... more

Unequal egalitarians: a preliminary study of discourses concerning gender and employment opportunities

Why psychologists should be interested in facts

Revista Interamericana De Psicologia Interamerican Journal of Psychology, 1995

Regulating Criticism

Critical Discursive Psychology, 2015

A kind of governance: rules, time and psychology in organisations

Studies of Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis, 2010

Fragments in the Realization of Relativism

Social Constructionism, Discourse and Realism, 1998

Conversation Analysis and Emotion and Cognition in Interaction

The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, 2012

5. Conclusions A central feature of the approach to interaction in CA is that speakers display th... more 5. Conclusions A central feature of the approach to interaction in CA is that speakers display their understanding through the sequential unfolding of their talk. Thus when a speaker provides an acceptance and appreciation this displays their understanding that an invitation had been issued in prior talk. Indeed, issuing any second pair part to an adjacency pair displays an understanding that the prior one was the relevant fi rst pair part. Such an approach to understanding does not require analysts or participants to have privileged ...

Qualitative and Discourse Analysis

Comprehensive Clinical Psychology, 1998

Discourse and social psychology

"`Potter and Wetherell have genuinely presented us with a different way of working in social... more "`Potter and Wetherell have genuinely presented us with a different way of working in social psychology. The book's clarity means that it has the power to influence a lot of people ill-at-ease with traditional social psychology but unimpressed with (or simply bewildered by) other alternatives on offer. It could rescue social psychology from the sterility of the laboratory and its traditional mentalism' - Charles Antaki, The Times Higher Education Supplement This book is the first systematic and accessible introduction to the theory and application of discourse analysis within the field of social psychology. Discourse and Social Psychology includes chapters on the theoretical roots of discourse analysis in linguistic philosophy, ethnomethodology and semiotics and an overview on the perspectives of discourse analysis and its utility in studying attitudes. Five substantive chapters are concerned with the key concepts of social psychology. Finally, the authors identify future research directions and present an exhaustive bibliography of all relevant literature. The authors draw on a wide range of examples from written and spoken discourse and avoid jargon at all times, even when introducing complex theoretical issues. "

Making Psychology Relevant 20

Discursive Social Psychology 19

Discourse and Psychology: Volume III Discursive Psychology

Conversation Analysis and Psychology

Sidnell/The Handbook of Conversation Analysis, 2012

Discursive Social Psychology

The Oxford Handbook of Language and Social Psychology, 2014

Conversation and Cognition

Ambiguities of the Home

Notes on Neuroscience, Cognition and Human Interaction

Sociolinguistics, cognitivism and discoursive psychology

by International Journal of English Studies (IJES) and Jonathan Potter

International Journal of English Studies, 2003

This paper addresses the broad question of how work in sociolinguistics should be related to soci... more This paper addresses the broad question of how work in sociolinguistics should be related to social theory, and in particular the assumptions about cognition that can underpin that relation. A discursive psychological approach to issues of cognition is pressed and illustrated by a reworking of Stubb's review of work on language and cognition. A discursive psychological approach is offered to the topics of racist discourse, courtroom interaction, scientific writing, and sexism. Discursive psychology rejects the approach to 'cognition' as a collection of more or less stable inner entities and processes. Instead the focus is on the way 'mental phenomena' are both constructed and oriented to in people's practices.

Admonishments and the Practical (Interactional) Business of Socialisation

DISCOURSE AND COGNITION

Discursive psychology in practice, 1995

Ethnostatistics

Naturalistic data

Potter Ethnostatistics in Givon Encyclopedia 2008

Teun A. van Dijk (ed.) Discourse Studies: A Multidisciplinary Introduction, Volume 1: Discourse as Structure and Process, Volume 2: Discourse as Social Interaction

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION, 1998

390 pp.£ 15.00 Howard H. KendlerPsychology: A Science in Conflict1980Oxford University PressLondon

Journal of Environmental Psychology, Sep 30, 1983

220 pp.£ 11.95 NecdetTeymurEnvironmental Discourse1982Question PressOxford

Journal of Environmental Psychology, Dec 31, 1982

A Review of Sacks, Harvey Lectures on Conversation-Jefferson, G

Language, Interaction and Social Cognition-Semin, GR, Fiedler, K

CATEGORIES IN DISCOURSE

Soziale repräsentationen, diskursanalyse und rassismus

Discourse analysis and social representations

Qualitative and discourse analysis

Scientists’ interview talk: interviews as a technique for revealing participants’ interpretative practices

Why an analysis of scientific discourse is needed

Discourse analysis as a way of analysing naturally occurring talk

Discursive psychology as a qualitative approach for analysing interaction in medical settings

by Alexa Hepburn and Jonathan Potter

Overview Discursive psychology considers the way psychological words and displays play a practica... more Overview Discursive psychology considers the way psychological words and displays play a practical part in the activities that are performed in particular settings. It offers a way of understanding the role of psychological issues that is distinct from, and is sometimes obscured by, traditional social cognitive approaches. The approach is illustrated by the example of crying on a child protection helpline. The way crying is built from different elements, the way these elements are organised, and the way they are receipted are all highlighted.

Discursive constructionism

by Alexa Hepburn and Jonathan Potter

Discursive constructionism (DC) is most distinctive in its foregrounding of the epistemic positio... more Discursive constructionism (DC) is most distinctive in its foregrounding of the epistemic position of both the re-searcher and what is researched (texts or conversations). It studies a world of descrip-tions, claims, reports, allegations, and assertions as parts of human practices, and it works to keep theseas the central topic of research rather than trying to move beyond them to the objects or events that seem to be the topic of such discourse.

The Prettier Doll: Rhetoric, Discourse, an Dordinary Democracy

by Alexa Hepburn and Jonathan Potter

Essays in the The Prettier Doll focus on the same local controversy: in 2001, a third-grade girl ... more Essays in the The Prettier Doll focus on the same local controversy: in 2001, a third-grade girl in Colorado submitted an experiment to the school science fair. She asked 30 adults and 30 fifth-graders which of two Barbie dolls was prettier. One doll was black, the other white, and each wore a different colored dress. All of the adults picked the Barbie in the purple dress, while nearly all of the fifth graders picked the white Barbie. When the student's experiment was banned an uproar resulted that spread to the national media.

Talking cognition: Mapping and making the terrain

by Hedwig te Molder and Jonathan Potter

Conversation and cognition, May 16, 2005

This book addresses issues of conversation and cognition. For the first time some of the world&#x... more This book addresses issues of conversation and cognition. For the first time some of the world's experts on interaction analysis have been brought together to consider the nature and role of cognition. They address the question of what part, if any, cognitive entities should play in the analysis of interaction. They develop different answers. Some are consistent with current thinking in cognitive psychology and cognitive science; others are more critical, questioning the idea that cognition is the obvious and necessary start point for the study of ...

Potter Mulkay Scientists Interview Talk 1985

Potter, J. and Mulkay, M. (1985). Scientists' interview talk: Interviews as a technique for revea... more

From performatives to practices Judith Butler, discursive psychology and

Talking gender and sexuality, 2002

Judith Butler is a remarkable social theorist who has had a profound influence on the development... more Judith Butler is a remarkable social theorist who has had a profound influence on the development of queer theory, and on our understanding of the relationship between sex, gender and desire. Her overall programme provides a framework for the" radical denaturalisation" of gender and heterosexuality (Jagose 1996: 125), drawing attention to the processes through which they are constituted and made to appear stable and natural. Butler's work represents a dense and complicated system of ideas, which, in part, reflects ...

Chairing Democracy

Social Representations and Discursive Psychology: From Cognition to Action

Culture & Psychology, 1999

Attitudes, social representations and discursive psychology

Identities, groups and social issues, Aug 22, 1996

Kids Are Just Cruel Anyway: Lesbian and Gay Parents Talk About Homophobic Bullying

by Victoria Clarke and Jonathan Potter

British Journal of Social Psychology, Jan 1, 2004

Psychologists recognize homophobic bullying as a serious problem for young lesbians and gay men; ... more Psychologists recognize homophobic bullying as a serious problem for young lesbians and gay men; however, when it comes to children in lesbian and gay households the issue is not so clear cut. Some psychologists sympathetic to lesbian and gay parenting regard it as a problem, but most do not. Despite this, the inevitability and severe psychological consequences of homophobic bullying is a prevalent theme in discussions of lesbian and gay parenting in contexts ranging from custody cases to television talk shows, and is used to implicate lesbians and gay men as unfit to parent. This is the broader context in which lesbian and gay parents discuss their children's experiences of bullying. In this study, we provide a discursive psychological analysis of six lesbian and gay parents' accounts of bullying. We argue that these accounts are discursively and rhetorically designed to deal with a heterosexist social/political context. Lesbian and gay parents face a dilemma of stake and accountability: reports of no bullying risk being heard as implausible given the prevalence of the bullying theme; at the same time, reports of bullying are equally if not more risky, raising the possibility of charges of bad parenting. We explore the detail of the parents' accounts of bullying to illustrate how they are designed to negotiate this web of accountability, and we argue for the importance for critical social psychology of analysing the talk of socially/ politically marginalized groups.