Jonathan Potter – Articles

Publications are available here. Click on the highlighted link – this will either download a PDF or email for a reprint.

They are roughly categorized – but these are just the broadest of guides. Most cut across these categories. Some of them, particularly the most recent, are from the published article or chapter. Others are produced from a final version, but may have minor changes due to typesetting and proofreading issues.

Articles and chapters are provided on the basis that they are for personal use. Any further/multiple distribution, publication, or commercial use of this copyrighted material requires permission from the author and publisher.

Theory and the status of cognition

Potter, J. (2010). Contemporary discursive psychology: Issues, prospects and Corcoran’s awkward ontology, British Journal of Social Psychology, in press.

Potter, J. (2010). Disciplinarity and the application of social research, British Journal of Social Psychology, in press.

Edwards, D., Hepburn, A. & Potter, J. (2009). Psychology, sociology and interaction: Disciplinary allegiance or analytic quality?, Qualitative Research, 9, 119-128.

Potter, J. & Hepburn, A. (2008). Discursive constructionism. In Holstein, J.A. & Gubrium, J.F. (Eds). Handbook of constructionist research (pp. 275-293). New York: Guildford.

Potter, J. & Puchta, C. (2007). Mind, mousse and moderation. In A. Hepburn and S. Wiggins (Eds). Discursive research in practice (pp. 104-203). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Potter, J. (2006). Cognition and conversation, Discourse Studies, 8, 131-140.

Potter, J. (2005). Making psychology relevant, Discourse & Society, 16, 739-747.

Potter, J. & Edwards, D. (2003). Sociolinguistics, cognitivism and discursive psychology, International Journal of English Studies, 3, 93-109. ( This is a revised version of Potter, J. & Edwards, D. (2001). Sociolinguistics, cognitivism and discursive psychology. In N. Coupland, S. Sarangi, & C. Candlin (Eds.) Sociolinguistics and Social Theory (pp. 88-103). London; Longman.)

Potter, J. (2003). Discursive psychology: Between method and paradigm, Discourse & Society, 14, 783-794.

Potter, J. (2003). Practical scepticism, Discourse & Society, 14, 799-801.

Potter, J. & Edwards, D. (2003). Rethinking cognition: On Coulter, discourse and mind, Human Studies, 26, 165-181.

Potter, J. (2000). Post cognitivist psychology, Theory and Psychology, 10, 31-37.

Edwards, D. & Potter, J. (1999). Language and causal attribution: A rejoinder to Schmid and Fiedler, Theory & Psychology, 9, 849-63.

Potter, J. & Edwards, D. (1999). Social representations and discursive psychology, Culture & Psychology, 5, 445-456.

Potter, J. (1998). Cognition as context (whose cognition?), Research on Language and Social Interaction, 31, 29-44.

Potter, J. (1998). Discursive social psychology: From attitudes to evaluations, European Review of Social Psychology, 9, 233-266.

Method

Potter, J. (forthcoming). Discourse analysis and discursive psychology. In Camic, P. (Ed.). The handbook of research methods in psychology. Washington: American Psychological Association Press.

Potter, J. (forthcoming). Discursive psychology. In Gee, J.P. & Handford, M. (Eds). Routledge handbook of discourse analysis. London: Routledge.

Wiggins, S. & Potter, J. (2008). Discursive psychology. In Willig, C. & Hollway, W. (Eds). Handbook of qualitative research in psychology (pp. 72-89). London; Sage.

Potter, J. & Hepburn, A. (2007). Life is out there: A comment on Griffin, Discourse Studies, 9, 277-283.

Potter, J. & Hepburn, A. (2005). Qualitative interviews in psychology – Problems and possibilities, Qualitative research in Psychology, 2, 38-55. (Note that the audio materials and full transcript associated with this article are available via the DARG web site - www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ss/centres/dargindex.htm)

Potter, J. (2004). Discourse analysis as a way of analysing naturally occurring talk. In D. Silverman (Ed.) Qualitative Analysis: Issues of theory and method, 2^nd Edition (pp. 200-221). London: Sage.

Potter, J. (2003) Studying the standardized interview as interaction. Review of Houtkoop-Steenstra Interaction and the standardized survey interview and Maynard et al., Standardization and Tacit Knowledge, Qualitative Research, 3, 269-278.

Potter, J. (2003). Discourse analysis. In M. Hardy & A. Bryman (Eds) Handbook of Data Analysis (pp. 607-624). London; Sage.

Hepburn, A. & Potter, J. (2003). Discourse analytic practice. In C. Seale, D. Silverman, J. Gubrium & G. Gobo (Eds). Qualitative research practice (pp. 180-196). London; Sage.

Potter, J. (2003). Discourse analysis and discursive psychology. In P.M. Camic, J.E. Rhodes and L. Yardley (Eds). Qualitative research in psychology: Expanding perspectives in methodology and design (pp. 73-94). Washington: American Psychological Association.

Antaki, C., Billig, M., Edwards, D. & Potter, J. (2003). Discourse analysis means doing analysis: A critique of six analytic shortcomings, Discourse Analysis Online, 1, [http://www.shu.ac.uk/daol/articles/v1/n1/a1/antaki2002002-paper.html]. This is reprinted as: Antaki, C., Billig, M., Edwards, D. & Potter, J. (2003). El Análisis del discurso implaca analizar: Critica de seis atajos analiticos. Athenea Digital, 3, [http://antalya.uab.es/athenea/num3/antaki.pdf] (Note that the audio materials and full transcript associated with this article are available via the DARG web site - www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ss/centres/dargindex.htm)

Potter, J. (2002). Two kinds of natural, Discourse Studies, 4, 539-542.

Topics

1. New work on topics such as threats, laughter and on disability

Hepburn, A. & Potter, J. (2010). Threats: Power, family mealtimes and social influence, British Journal of Social Psychology (in press).

Patterson, A. & Potter, J. (2009). Caring: Building a ‘psychological disposition’ in pre-closing sequences in phone calls with a young adult with a learning disability, British Journal of Social Psychology, 48, 447-465.

Potter, J. & Hepburn, A. (2010). Putting aspiration into words: ‘Laugh particles’, managing descriptive trouble and modulating action, Journal of Pragmatics, 42, 1543-1555.

2. Child protection helpline interaction, crying, advice delivery and advice resistance

Potter, J. & Hepburn, A. (in press). Somewhere between evil and normal: Traces of morality in a child protection helpline. In J. Cromdal & M. Tholander (Eds). Morality in Practice: Exploring Childhood, Parenthood and Schooling in Everyday Life. London: Equinox.

Butler, C., Potter, J., Danby, S., Emmison, M. & Hepburn, A. (2010). Advice implicative interrogatives: Building ‘client centred’ support in a children’s helpline, Social Psychology Quarterly, 73, 265-287.

Hepburn, A. & Potter, J. (forthcoming). Designing the recipient: Some practices that manage advice resistance in institutional settings, Social Psychology Quarterly.

Hepburn, A. & Potter, J. (2010). Interrogating tears: Some uses of ‘tag questions’ in a child protection helpline. In A.F. Freed & S. Ehrlich (Eds). “Why Do You Ask?”: The Function of Questions in Institutional Discourse (pp. 69-86) Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hepburn, A. & Potter, J. (2007). Crying receipts: Time, empathy and institutional practice, Research on Language and Social Interaction, 40, 89-116.

Potter, J. & Hepburn, A. (2007). Discursive psychology, institutions and child protection. In A. Weatherall, B. Watson & C. Gallois (Eds). Language and Social Psychology Handbook (pp. 160-181). London: Palgrave.

Potter, J. & Hepburn, A. (2003). I’m a bit concerned – Early actions and psychological constructions in a child protection helpline, Research on Language and Social Interaction, 36, 197-240.

3. Talk and institutions

Potter, J. & Hepburn, A. (2010). A kind of governance: Rules, time and psychology in institutional organization. In Hindmarsh, J. & Llewellyn, N. (Eds). Organization, Interaction and Practice (pp. 49-73). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Potter, J. & Hepburn, A. (2007). Chairing democracy: Psychology, time and negotiating the institution. In J.P. McDaniel and K. Tracy (Eds). The prettier doll: Rhetoric, discourse and ordinary democracy (pp. 176-204). Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press. (Note that the video materials and full transcript associated with this article are available via the DARG web site - www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ss/centres/dargindex.htm)

Potter, J. (2005). A discursive psychology of institutions, Social Psychology Review, 7, 25-35.

4. Eating, interaction and evaluations

Craven, A. & Potter, J. (2010). Directives: Contingency and entitlement in action, Discourse Studies, 12, 1-24.

Wiggins, S. & Potter, J. (2003). Attitudes and evaluative practices: Category vs. item and subjective vs. objective constructions in everyday food assessments, British Journal of Social Psychology, 42, 513-531.

Wiggins, S., Potter, J. & Wildsmith, A.V. (2001). Eating your words: Discursive psychology and the reconstruction of eating practices, Journal of Health Psychology, 6, 5-15.

5. Gender and heterosexism

Hepburn, A. & Potter, J. (2010). Recipients designed: Tag questions and gender. In S. Speer & E. Stokoe (Eds). Conversation analysis and gender (pp. 137-154). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Clarke, V., Kitzinger, C. & Potter, J. (2004). ‘Kids are just cruel anyway’: Lesbian and gay parents’ talk about homophobic bullying, British Journal of Social Psychology, 43, 531-550.

Speer, S. & Potter, J. (2000). The management of heterosexist talk: Conversational resources and prejudiced claims, Discourse & Society, 11, 543-572.

6. Focus groups and method as topic

Puchta, C., Potter, J. & Wolff, F. (2004). Repeat receipts: A device for generating visible data in market research focus groups, Qualitative Research, 4, 285-309. PDF

Puchta, C. & Potter, J. (2002). Manufacturing individual opinions: Market research focus groups and the discursive psychology of attitudes, British Journal of Social Psychology, 41, 345-363.

Puchta, C. & Potter, J. (1999). Asking elaborate questions: Focus groups and the management of spontaneity, Journal of Sociolinguistics, 3, 314-335.

Selected older publications

These are mostly available as PDFs – click on the link and it should download.

Ashmore, M., Myers, G. and Potter, J. (1994). Seven days in the library: Discourse, rhetoric, reflexivity. In S. Jasanoff, G. Markle, J. Petersen and T. Pinch (Eds) Handbook of Science, Technology and Society (pp. 321-42). London: Sage.

Edwards, D., Ashmore, M. and Potter, J., (1995). Death and furniture: The rhetoric, politics and theology of bottom line arguments against relativism, History of the Human Sciences, 8, 25-49.

Hicks, D. and Potter, J. (1991). Sociology of scientific knowledge - A reflexive citation analysis or: science disciplines and disciplining science, Social Studies of Science, 21, 459-501.

Litton, I. and Potter, J. (1985). Social representations in the ordinary explanation of a ‘riot’, European Journal of Social Psychology, 15, 371-388.

McKinlay, A. and Potter, J. (1987). Social representations: A conceptual critique, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 17, 471-87.

Potter, J. and Litton, I. (1985). Some problems underlying the theory of social representations, British Journal of Social Psychology, 24, 81-90.

Potter, J. and Mulkay, M. (1985). Scientists’ interview talk: Interviews as a technique for revealing participants’ interpretative practices. In M. Brenner, J. Brown and D. Canter (Eds) The Research Interview: Uses and Approaches (pp. 247-71). London: Academic Press.

Potter, J. and Reicher, S. (1987). Discourses of community and conflict: The organization of social categories in accounts of a ‘riot’, British Journal of Social Psychology, 26, 25-40.

Potter, J. and Wetherell, M. (1988). Accomplishing attitudes: Fact and evaluation in racist discourse, Text, 8, 51-68.

Potter, J., Wetherell, M. and Chitty, A. (1991). Quantification rhetoric - cancer on television, Discourse and Society, 2, 333-365.

Potter, J., Wetherell, M., Gill, R. and Edwards, D. (1990). Discourse: Noun, verb or social practice, Philosophical Psychology, 3, 205-217.

Wetherell, M., Stiven, H. and Potter, J. (1987). Unequal egalitarianism: A preliminary study of discourses concerning gender and employment opportunities, British Journal of Social Psychology, 26, 59-72.