James W. Pennebaker Explained

James Whiting Pennebaker
Birth Date:	2 March 1950
Birth Place:	Midland, Texas, U.S.
Known For:	Social psychology Writing therapy Anthropological linguistics Psycholinguistics Sociolinguistics physical symptoms
Occupation:	Regents Centennial Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin

James Whiting Pennebaker (born March 2, 1950) is an American social psychologist. He is a Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and a member of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers.^[1] His research focuses on the relationship between natural language use, health, and social behavior, most recently "how everyday language reflects basic social and personality processes".^[2]

Education and career

Pennebaker received his B.A. in psychology from Eckerd College in 1972 with honors and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1977.^[3]

He has held the following positions:^[1]

• 1977 - 1983: Assistant Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Virginia
• 1983 - 1997: Associate and Full Professor, Southern Methodist University; 1995 - 1997: Chair of Psychology Department
• 1997 - present: Professor of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin
  • 2005 - 2009: Bush Regents Professor of Liberal Arts and Barbara Bush Professor of Psychology
  • 2009 - 2023: Regents Centennial Professor of Liberal Arts
  • 2023 - present: Emeritus Professor of Psychology
• 2005 - 2014: Chair of Psychology Department
• 2005 - 2010: International Research Professor, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, England
• 2016 - 2018: Executive Director, Project 2021 to rethink undergraduate education University of Texas at Austin

Research

Over the course of his career, Pennebaker has studied the nature of physical symptoms, health consequences of secrets, expressive writing, and natural language, and has received grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Templeton Foundation, the U.S. Army Research Institute, and other federal agencies for studies in language, emotion, and social dynamics.

A pioneer of writing therapy, he has researched the link between language and recovering from trauma and been "recognized by the American Psychological Association as one of the top researchers on trauma, disclosure, and health."^{[4] [5]} In particular, he finds a person's use of "low-level words", such as pronouns and articles, predictive of recovery as well as indicative of sex, age, and personality traits: "Virtually no one in psychology has realized that low-level words can give clues to large-scale behaviors."^{[4] [6]}

In the mid-1990s, he and colleagues developed the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC; pronounced "Luke"), a computerized text analysis program that outputs the percentage of words in a given text that fall into one or more of over 80 linguistic (e.g., first-person singular pronouns, conjunctions), psychological (e.g., anger, achievement), and topical (e.g., leisure, money) categories. It builds on previous research linking language patterns with mental states and traits but is more efficient and objective than hand coding methods.^{[4] [6]} Pennebaker and his collaborators have used LIWC to analyze the language of Al Qaeda leaders and of political candidates, particularly in the 2008 United States presidential election.^{[4] [6]} The use of LIWC is widespread, particularly in the social-behavioral and computer sciences. It is commonly used to examine group and individual differences in communication and writing, the influence of context on language use, social dynamics in close relationships, and language patterns associated with deception and insider threats.^{[7] [8]} Pennebaker blogs with associates on what text analysis reveals about political leaders at Wordwatchers: Tracking the language of public figures,^[4] and Pennebaker Conglomerates, Inc. offers free LIWC-based text analysis tools online, including a language style matching calculator and a language-based application of the Thematic Apperception Test.^[9]

In January 2017, Pennebaker was one of the speakers in the Linguistic Society of America's inaugural Public Lectures on Language series.^[10]

Recognition

In 2023 Pennebaker was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.^[11]

Pennebaker was elected president of the Association for Psychological Science in May 2024, with his term as president-elect beginning June of the same year.^{[12] [13]}

Selected publications

Books

• The Psychology of Physical Symptoms. New York: Springer, 1982.
• (Ed., with Daniel M. Wegner) Handbook of Mental Control. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1993.
• Emotion, Disclosure, and Health. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 1995.
• Opening up: The Healing Power of Confiding in Others. New York: Morrow, 1990. Repr. Opening Up: The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions. New York: Guilford, 1997.
• Writing to Heal: A Guided Journal for Recovering from Trauma and Emotional Upheaval. Oakland, California: New Harbinger, 2004.
• The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2011.

Co-authored books

• Expressive Writing: Words that Heal. Idyll Arbor, 2014. James Pennebaker; John Evans.
• Opening Up by Writing It Down, Third Edition: How Expressive Writing Improves Health and Eases Emotional Pain. Guilford Press, 2014. James Pennebaker, Joshua M. Smyth.

Articles

• James W. Pennebaker . with . Sandra Klihr Beall . Confronting a traumatic event: Toward an understanding of inhibition and disease . . 95 . 3 . 1986 . 274–281 . 3745650 . 10.1037/0021-843x.95.3.274 . 2011-08-21 . 2016-03-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304110701/http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/HomePage/Faculty/Pennebaker/Reprints/Beall1986.pdf . dead .
• James W. Pennebaker . with . Janice K. Kiecolt-Glaser . Ronald Glaser . Disclosure of traumas and immune function: health implications for psychotherapy . . 56 . 2 . 1988 . 239–245 . 3372832 . 10.1037/0022-006x.56.2.239 . 2011-08-21 . 2016-03-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304125815/http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/HomePage/Faculty/Pennebaker/Reprints/Kiecolt.pdf . dead .
• Book: Confession, Inhibition, and Disease . 22 . 1989 . 211–244 . 10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60309-3 . 9780120152223 . Academic Press . Advances in Experimental Social Psychology Volume 22 . Pennebaker . James W. .
• James W. Pennebaker . with . David Watson . Health complaints, stress, and distress: exploring the central role of negative affectivity . . 96 . 2 . April 1989 . 234–254 . 10.1037/0033-295X.96.2.234 . 2710874 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120905181853/http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/faculty/Pennebaker/Reprints/Watson%26P89.pdf . 2012-09-05 . 10.1.1.307.8656 .
• Putting stress into words: Health, linguistic, and therapeutic implications . . 31 . 6 . July 1993 . 539–548 . 10.1016/0005-7967(93)90105-4 . 8347112 . Pennebaker . James W. .
• Writing About Emotional Experiences as a Therapeutic Process . . 8 . 3 . May 1997 . 162–166 . 10.1111/j.1467-9280.1997.tb00403.x . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111112123348/http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/Class/Psy394V/Pennebaker/Reprints/Support/Pennebaker%201997.pdf . 2011-11-12 . Pennebaker . James W. . 15516728 .
• James W. Pennebaker . with . Janel D. Seagal . Forming a story: The health benefits of narrative . . 55 . 10 . 1999 . 1243–1254 . 11045774 . 10.1002/(SICI)1097-4679(199910)55:10<1243::AID-JCLP6>3.0.CO;2-N . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120505013506/http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/HomePage/Faculty/Pennebaker/Reprints/Seagal1999.pdf . 2012-05-05 . 10.1.1.58.8591 .
• James W. Pennebaker . with . Jennifer K. Bosson . William B. Swann, Jr. . Stalking the perfect measure of implicit self-esteem: The blind men and the elephant revisited? . . 79 . 4 . 2000 . 631–643 . 10.1037/0022-3514.79.4.631 . 10.1.1.371.9919 . 11045743.
• James W. Pennebaker . with . Ewa Kacewicz . Matthew Davis . Moongee Jeon . Arthur C. Graesser . Pronoun use reflects standings in social hierarchies . Journal of Language and Social Psychology . 33 . 2 . 2014 . 125–143 . 10.1177/0261927X14526856 . 2024-05-24 .
• When small words foretell academic success: The case of college admissions essays . PLOS ONE . 9 . 12 . e115844 . 2014 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0115844 . 25551217 . James W. Pennebaker . with . Cindy K. Chung . Joey Frazee . Gary M. Lavergne . David I. Beaver . free . 4281205 . 2014PLoSO...9k5844P .
• The narrative arc: Revealing core narrative structures through text analysis . Science Advances . 6 . 32 . 2020 . 10.1126/sciadv.aba2196 . 32821822 . James W. Pennebaker . with . Ryan L. Boyd . Kate G. Blackburn . eaba2196 . 7413736 .
• Using large language models in psychology . Nature Reviews Psychology . 2 . 688–701 . 2023 . 10.1038/s44159-023-00241-5 . James W. Pennebaker . with . Dorottya Demszky . Diyi Yang . David S. Yeager . Christopher J. Bryan . Margarett Clapper . Susannah Chandhok . Johannes C. Eichstaedt . Cameron Hecht . Jeremy Jamieson . Meghann Johnson . Michaela Jones . Danielle Krettek-Cobb . Leslie Lai . Nirel JonesMitchell . Desmond C. Ong . Carol S. Dweck . James J. Gross . James W. Pennebaker .

See also

• Self-concealment
• Self-disclosure

External links

• James W. Pennebaker homepage, Department of Psychology, University of Texas
• Wordwatchers: Tracking the language of public figures
• In Synch: Language Style Matching, James Pennebaker Conglomerates at Online Research Consortium
• Works by and about James W. Pennebaker at OCLC WorldCat
• Reprints of articles by James W. Pennebaker at Department of Psychology, University of Texas

Notes and References

1. http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/faculty/pennebaker/Home2000/Background.htm James W. Pennebaker Background Information
2. http://pennebaker.socialpsychology.org/#overview James W. Pennebaker
3. Web site: ECAlum:Academic Grads (1970s) - Eckerd Academic Wiki. 2013-07-07. 2020-02-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20130707113544/http://academics.eckerd.edu/facultywiki/index.php/ECAlum:Academic_Grads_(1970s). 2013-07-07.
4. Jessica Wapner, "He Counts Your Words (Even Those Pronouns)", Biography, New York Times October 13, 2008.
5. Earlita Chenault, James W. Pennebaker: Author of Writing to Heal, New Harbinger Publications, Inc., retrieved August 21, 2011.
6. Jan Dönges, "What Your Choice of Words Says about Your Personality: A language analysis program reveals personality, mental health and intent by counting and categorizing words", Scientific American Mind, July 2009 (originally titled "You Are What You Say").
7. The Psychological Meaning of Words: LIWC and Computerized Text Analysis Methods . 10.1177/0261927X09351676 . 2010 . Tausczik . Yla R. . Pennebaker . James W. . Journal of Language and Social Psychology . 29 . 24–54 .
8. Care, control, or both? Characterizing major dimensions of the mandated treatment relationship . 10.1037/lhb0000039 . 2014 . Manchak . Sarah M. . Skeem . Jennifer L. . Rook . Karen S. . Law and Human Behavior . 38 . 1 . 47–57 . 23834388 .
9. http://www.utpsyc.org/ Online Projects
10. LSA Public Lectures on Language Series: http://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/lsa-public-lectures-language-series
11. Web site: Lee . Adrienne . 2023-09-29 . Three UT Austin Faculty Inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . 2023-12-06 . UT News . en-US.
12. Association for Psychological Science . PsychScience . 1791534002077122585 . 2024-05-17 . Congratulations to the 2024 APS Board of Directors election winners! https://bit.ly/4auFEWO James W. Pennebaker (@jwpennebaker) will begin his term as APS President-Elect in June 2024 and will be joined by new APS Board Members-at-Large Yukiko Uchida and Pamela Davis-Kean. . 2024-05-24 . X . en.
13. Web site: University of Texas at Austin. May 21, 2024. James W. Pennebaker, Ph.D., Elected as President of the Association for Psychological Science. University of Texas at Austin. 2024-05-24. en.