Subjectivity, cognition, action – Notes toward a discursive psychology
Jonathan Potter
Loughborough University
Pop Idol Crying*
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Cont1:
Dec:
Ant:
Cont1:
Cont1:
Ant:
Cont1:
Ant:
Ant:
Cont1:
Dec:
Cont1:
Dec:
Cont1:
Dec:
Cont1:
Ant:
Cont1:
Cont1:
Cont1:
Cont2:
Cont2:
Cont1:
Cont2:
Cont1:
All:
((inaudible mouthing, shakes head, thumb wiping eye and
smiling)) .shih
((puts hand on Cont.’s shoulder))
[y’r’t. ]
[(‘ight.) ]
(0.5)
Yeah
(1.0)
.shih (0.2) .h .SHHIHh
Take ye time there don’t worry.
(0.4)
I’[ve never ] had that e- in my life
[don’ worry.]
[(a‘right.) ]
performin.=I’ve gone on sta:ge ((touches eye))
(.) bin character ((touches nose)) ~all that
sorta stuff an~ (0.1)
Mm.
A’ve- it’s ~weir:d it’s weird an~
((other cont. wiping her eye))
(0.7)
An you’ve worked har:d fer this haven’t
you. up- up to this point [ah mean] you
[Hhh .h]
knaw: ye’ve
(0.4)
~THAt wasn’ ma best.~ that wus the one
thing ah ~wanted to do,~ (0.1)
.h[h h ]HHh (0.2) HHHh ((touches eyes))
[Yeh.]
((facing camera))~if you’n understan this
ad ‘ome,~
(0.7)
~Er:m~ (0.3) I- I wanted to ~say:,~ (0.1)
a c’d (.) ~cum out an say a couldna done
any better, budda coulda done~
((touching eyes))
(0.6)
An a know a coulda d’n=
We heard you.
(0.4)
We heard you’n how you were singin it.
((patting Cont1’s shoulder))
.Shih [~ah’m not cryin] cos o’ wha’s
[ ((inaudible)) ]
said or (.) cos o’ them I doh-~ hh (0.4)
~I dunno~ an a’m ~g(h)onna get the p(h)iss taken
ouda me something rotten.~
((Laughter))
Ant and Dec are presenters of the programme, Cont = contestant
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NSPCC Crying*
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JK Distraught dad 29.4.01
Caller:
>.Hhih .hhihhh<
CPO:
D’you want- d’y’wann’ave [a break for a ] moment.=
Caller:
[ Hhuhh >.hihh<]
=>hhuhh hhuhh<
(0.6)
Caller:
.shih
(0.3)
Caller:
◦◦k(hh)ay◦◦
(1.8)
Caller:
.shih >hhuh hhuh[h]<
CPO:
[S]’very har:d when
they’re not there with you isn’t it.=
and [you’re-] (.) you’re tal:kin about it.
Caller:
[>.hhih<]
(0.8)
Caller:
>.Hhuh .HHuh<
(2.1)
Caller:
.shih
(0.2)
ER
ER
ER
References
Coulter, J. (1990). Mind in action. Oxford: Polity.
Coulter, J. (1999). Discourse and mind, Human Studies, 22, 163-181.
Coulter, J. (2004). What is “Discursive Psychology”, Human Studies, 27, 335-340.
Drew, P. (in press). Is confusion a state of mind? In H. te Molder & J. Potter (Eds). Conversation and
cognition. Cambridge; Cambridge University Press.
Edwards, D (1997) Discourse and Cognition. London: Sage
Edwards, D. (1999) Emotion Discourse, Culture & Psychology, 5 (3), 271-291.
Edwards D and Potter J (1992) Discursive Psychology. London: Sage
Edwards, D. & Potter, J. (in press). Discursive psychology, mental states and descriptions. In H. te
Molder & J. Potter (Eds). Conversation and cognition. Cambridge; Cambridge University
Press.
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.
Hammersley, M. (2003). Conversation analysis and discourse analysis, Discourse and Society,
14(6): 751-783
Hammersley, M. (2003). Doing the fine thing, Discourse and Society, 14(6): 795-799
Hammersley, M. (2003). The impracticality of scepticism: A further response to Potter, Discourse
and Society, 14(6): 803-804.
Hepburn, A. (2004) Crying: Notes on Description, transcription and interaction. Research on
Language and Social Interaction. 37, 251-290.
Heritage, J. (in press). Cognition in discourse. In H. te Molder & J. Potter (Eds). Conversation and
cognition. Cambridge; Cambridge University Press.
Lynch, M. & Bogen, D. (in press). ‘My memory has been shredded’: A non-cognitivist investigation of
‘mental’ phenomena. In H. te Molder & J. Potter (Eds). Conversation and cognition.
Cambridge; Cambridge University Press.
Potter, J. (1996). Representing reality: Discourse, rhetoric, and social construction. London: Sage.
Potter, J. (1998). Cognition as context (whose cognition?), Research on Language and Social
Interaction, 31, 29-44.
Potter, J. (2003). Discursive psychology: Between method and paradigm, Discourse & Society, 14,
783-794.
Potter, J. (2003). Practical scepticism, Discourse & Society, 14, 799-801.
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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. & Edwards, D. (2001). Discursive social psychology. In W. P. Robinson and H. Giles.
(Eds). The New Handbook of Language and Social Psychology (pp. 103-118). London; John
Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Potter, J. & Edwards, D. (2003). Rethinking cognition: On Coulter, discourse and mind, Human
Studies, 26, 165-181.
Potter, J. and 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.
Potter, J. & Hepburn, A. (in press). Chairing democracy: Psychology, time and negotiating the
institution. In J.P. McDaniel and K. Tracy (Eds). Rhetoric, discourse and ordinary
democracy. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press.
Potter, J. & te Molder, H. (In press). Talking cognition: Mapping and making the terrain. In H. te
Molder & J. Potter (Eds). Conversation and cognition. Cambridge; Cambridge University
Press.
Potter, J. & Wetherell, M. (1987). Discourse and social psychology: Beyond attitudes and behaviour.
London: Sage.
Potter, J, Edwards, D., & Ashmore, M. (1999). Regulating criticism: some comments on an
argumentative complex, History of the Human Sciences, 12, 79-88.
Speer, S.A. & Potter, J. (2002). Judith Butler, discursive psychology, and the politics of conversation.
In McIlvenny, P. (Ed.). Talking gender and sexuality (pp. 151-180). Amsterdam; John
Benjamins.
Te Molder, H. & Potter, J. (Eds) (in press). Conversation and Cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Many of these are available to download from the website:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jonathan.potter1/potterhomepage.htm
or put Jonathan Potter discourse into Google
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