Margaret J Pitts
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 83229 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Margaret J Pitts |
| NOMBRES | Margaret J |
| APELLIDO | Pitts |
| FIRMA | PITTS M J |
| AFILIACIONES | University of Arizona |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7355-400X |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 29 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 127 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 29 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2005 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2025 |
| ÍNDICE H | 6 |
Introducing a Positive Communication Ontology to Advance Intercultural Theorizing
Intercultural communication theories are often limited by deficit-framing that foregrounds conflict, crisis, and distress. This article introduces a positive communication ontology to partially redress this limitation. A positive communication ontology is an asset-based approach foregrounding positive communication and broadening intercultural theorizing to include multiple ways of knowing and being that promote intercultural flourishing. After o…
The role of social network sites (SNS) affordances in international students’ identity gap management during cross-cultural adjustment
Bolstering Military Couple Relational Resilience Through Savoring
Spanish–English Code-Mixing in U.S. Higher Education
This experiment examined how university students at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) responded to the use of “Spanglish,” or English-Spanish code-mixing, in written materials promoting university services. Consistent with predictions, the use of Spanglish reduced students’ processing fluency; contrary to predictions, the use of Spanglish did not prompt higher perceptions of inclusiveness or feeling welcome (relative to English-only texts) for…
Transferable Resilience Practices
This study uses the communication theory of resilience as a sensitizing framework to explore how U.S. military spouses transferred resilience practices acquired during military deployment to early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from 27 in-depth interviews with U.S. military spouses showed that the military experience shaped participants’ appraisal of the pandemic and helped them to discursively enact resilience through previously developed…
Caregiving spouses' experiences of relational uncertainty and partner influence in the prolonged relational transition of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias
Alzheimer's disease and related dementias cause gradual cognitive and communicative decline over a period of several years creating a prolonged transitional period in the lives of people with the disease and their spouse. Relational turbulence theory served as a lens to examine 18 in-depth interviews with caregiving spouses regarding their experiences of relational uncertainty, and interference and facilitation from their partner throughout this …
Promoting subjective well-being through communication savoring
The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions articulates the merit of positive emotions in promoting well-being. Using an online two-group posttest-only randomized experimental design, this study examined the effects of communication savoring on subjective well-being (i.e., positive and negative affect, happiness, and life satisfaction) among young adults (M age = 20.97, SD = 1.91). After writing about a communication moment they savored and…
“That's when the relationship shifted”
This study investigated the relational turning points experienced by caregiving spouses across the trajectory of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Data were collected using a modified version of the retrospective interviewing technique which facilitated close analysis of relational turning points and the role of communication in shaping and managing these turning points. Caregiving spouses described nine relational turning points across …
Epilogue
This epilogue to the Special Issue on Language Challenges in the 21st Century offers commentary on the current state of social scientific inquiry in the field of language and social psychology. Inspired by the seven articles that make up this Special Issue, I became curious about what we would find if we sought language opportunities instead of language challenges in the 21st century. I recommend future scholarship at the intersections of global …
A Spotlight on Contemporary Language and Social Psychology Research
This introduction to the special issue offers a brief report on the proceedings from the 16th International Conference on Language and Social Psychology (ICLASP16) and concludes with an invitation to participate in the upcoming ICLASP17 (Hong Kong, 2020). The nine papers selected for this special issue represent the diversity of scholarship and methodology presented at ICLASP16 (held in Edmonton, Canada, 2018). It includes student debut work, stu…
The Language and Social Psychology of Savoring
Savoring is a well-established construct in positive psychology referring to one's capacity to recognize and appreciate enjoyable life experiences. Guided by phenomenological inquiry and constructivist grounded theory, I propose communication savoring as a new dimension of social savoring that has theoretical and practical relevance in the fields of positive communication and language and social psychology. Evidence is drawn from young adults' na…
Focus Group Discussions as Sites for Public Deliberation and Sensemaking Following Shared Political Documentary Viewing
This study examines the potential that shared political documentary viewing coupled with public deliberation via focus group discussion has for political sensemaking and civic engagement. Specifically, we examine college students’ perceptions of sensemaking, future civic engagement, and benefits of participating in group discussion following the shared viewing of D’Souza’s political documentary 2016: Obama’s America. Focus group participants repo…
Critical pedagogy, internationalisation, and a third space
Set within the context of a global pursuit towards the internationalisation of higher education, this paper critically examines student discourse in a globally connected classroom between learners in the USA and Singapore. It makes salient some of the cultural assumptions and tensions that undergird students’ discourse in collaborative international exchanges. We argue that technological innovation can enhance campus internationalisation efforts …
Sojourner reentry
This paper offers grounded evidence in support of the elaboration of Kim's [(2001). Becoming intercultural: An integrative theory of communication and cross-cultural adaptation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage] integrative theory of communication and cross-cultural adaptation (ITCCA) to include sojourner reentry. Findings from 24 intensive interviews validate the heuristic value of ITCCA in the reentry context, but also reveal unique features that set re…
Communication and identity management in a globally-connected classroom
Though global classrooms are designed to expose students to varied cultural knowledges and experiences, how students consider and display their own identities in cross-cultural exchange has yet to be fully interrogated. This study focuses on U.S. college students who participated in a series of online conversations with learners in Singapore. Grounded in Goffman's sociological work and based on Hecht's communication theory of identity, this artic…
Practicing the Four Seasons of Ethnography Methodology while Searching for Identity in Mexico
This narrative is an account of my field experiences and challenges practicing González’s (2000) Four Seasons of Ethnography methodology in Mexico City. I describe the complexities and tensions inherent in managing two scientific paradigms: Western scientific logic vs. a more organic ontology. The experiential knowledge produced in this text is useful to ethnographers who face questions of identity and ethics in the field. To evoke a sense of exp…
Communication accommodation competence
Politeness Strategies in Imagined Conversation Openers About Eldercare
In the United States, many adult children and their aging parents reach the point when it is necessary to address future care needs of the parent. Given that the prevailing culture values independence over interdependence, discussing future care needs can be face threatening. Therefore, an examination of how adult children approach such conversations and manage face needs is an important first step toward understanding what makes these conversati…
Implications of the Virginia Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Mandate for Parental Vaccine Acceptance
In 2009, Virginia became the first state in the United States to enact a school vaccine mandate for the human papillomavirus (HPV), putting it at the forefront of the national HPV vaccine mandate controversy. It is critical to explore the public response and sensemaking where the mandate has already been enacted. Thus, we conducted 8 focus group discussions among 33 Virginia parents to explore how they conceptualized the virus and vaccine and the…
Epilogue
This epilogue to the 30-year Commemorative Issue of the Journal of Language and Social Psychology draws on four articles represented in this Issue to demonstrate the role this journal, in conjunction with the International Association of Language and Social Psychology, has had in identifying, examining, and shaping a research agenda of socially significant issues. Exigencies of the 21st century are examined to offer predictions for the future of …
Mediated Intergroup Conflict
Using an intergroup communication framework, this article examines how a newspaper in southeastern Virginia discursively constructs the “illegal immigrant” as a metonym for Latino immigrants. This mixed methods study traces the development of this newspaper discourse about illegal immigrants from1994 to 2006 using quantitative lexical analysis. It then shows how two local news events further instantiate an illegal immigrant metonymy influencing p…
Disconnects between news framing and parental discourse concerning the state-mandated HPV vaccine
In 2007, Virginia became the first state in the US to mandate the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. In 2009, the mandate required that parents of girls entering sixth grade (ages 11-12) vaccinate their daughters or sign the 'opt-out' waiver. This investigation is the first to explore how both the news media and parents framed and responded to the newly-mandated HPV vaccine. This research reveals disjoints between news media framing and parental…
Reflections on Language and Social Psychology Research From Iclasp11, Tucson, Arizona
This introductory essay outlines the rationale for this special issue. It reports on the background to the International Conferences on Language and Social Psychology (ICLASPs) and establishes the importance of a special issue representing the work from ICLASP11, held in Tucson, Arizona, in the summer of 2008. After describing the keynote presentations at the conference, specific articles making up the special issue are introduced. Finally, the f…
Identity and the role of expectations, stress, and talk in short-term student sojourner adjustment
Social Psychology and personal relationships
Mediated Intergroup Conflict
Using an intergroup communication framework, this article examines how a newspaper in southeastern Virginia discursively constructs the “illegal immigrant” as a metonym for Latino immigrants. This mixed methods study traces the development of this newspaper discourse about illegal immigrants from1994 to 2006 using quantitative lexical analysis. It then shows how two local news events further instantiate an illegal immigrant metonymy influencing p…
Upward turning points and positive rapport-development across time in researcher-participant relationships
Some of the first, and potentially most important, steps that researchers must take in the field are those related to rapport development with their participants. Both novice and experienced field researchers negotiate the difficulties and mysteries of establishing and maintaining this rapport. In this research, it was our intention to disentangle the often puzzling rapport-building process. We contacted 16 field researchers with varying degrees …
Identity and the role of expectations, stress, and talk in short-term student sojourner adjustment
Ageism and Ageist Language Across the Life Span
The possible effects of ageist language and ageism on the structure and function of intimate and non‐intimate relationships have received significant attention from social scientists. Recent research grounded in communication accommodation theory ( Giles, Mulac, Bradac, & Johnson, 1987 ), the communication predicament model of ageing ( Ryan, Giles, Bartolucci, & Henwood, 1986 ), the communication enhancement model of ageing ( Ryan, Meredith, MacL…
Communication accommodation competence
Implications of the Virginia Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Mandate for Parental Vaccine Acceptance
In 2009, Virginia became the first state in the United States to enact a school vaccine mandate for the human papillomavirus (HPV), putting it at the forefront of the national HPV vaccine mandate controversy. It is critical to explore the public response and sensemaking where the mandate has already been enacted. Thus, we conducted 8 focus group discussions among 33 Virginia parents to explore how they conceptualized the virus and vaccine and the…
Communication and identity management in a globally-connected classroom
Though global classrooms are designed to expose students to varied cultural knowledges and experiences, how students consider and display their own identities in cross-cultural exchange has yet to be fully interrogated. This study focuses on U.S. college students who participated in a series of online conversations with learners in Singapore. Grounded in Goffman's sociological work and based on Hecht's communication theory of identity, this artic…
Caregiving spouses' experiences of relational uncertainty and partner influence in the prolonged relational transition of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias
Alzheimer's disease and related dementias cause gradual cognitive and communicative decline over a period of several years creating a prolonged transitional period in the lives of people with the disease and their spouse. Relational turbulence theory served as a lens to examine 18 in-depth interviews with caregiving spouses regarding their experiences of relational uncertainty, and interference and facilitation from their partner throughout this …
The Language and Social Psychology of Savoring
Savoring is a well-established construct in positive psychology referring to one's capacity to recognize and appreciate enjoyable life experiences. Guided by phenomenological inquiry and constructivist grounded theory, I propose communication savoring as a new dimension of social savoring that has theoretical and practical relevance in the fields of positive communication and language and social psychology. Evidence is drawn from young adults' na…
Sojourner reentry
This paper offers grounded evidence in support of the elaboration of Kim's [(2001). Becoming intercultural: An integrative theory of communication and cross-cultural adaptation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage] integrative theory of communication and cross-cultural adaptation (ITCCA) to include sojourner reentry. Findings from 24 intensive interviews validate the heuristic value of ITCCA in the reentry context, but also reveal unique features that set re…
Cultural Diversity and Families
U.S. families and the general public continue to struggle with questions of culture, identity, authenticity, well-being, access, education, and legality. Sherif Trask and Hamon's (2007) edited volu
Integrating the Past and Paving the Future
This special issue introduction contextualizes the importance of recent international and interdisciplinary trends and developments in language and social psychology research. The articles included in this special issue are written by keynote speakers and invited panelists at the Ninth International Conference on Language and Social Psychology held at Pennsylvania State University during the summer of 2004. They are forward-thinking and cross mul…
Epilogue
This epilogue to the Special Issue on Language Challenges in the 21st Century offers commentary on the current state of social scientific inquiry in the field of language and social psychology. Inspired by the seven articles that make up this Special Issue, I became curious about what we would find if we sought language opportunities instead of language challenges in the 21st century. I recommend future scholarship at the intersections of global …
Critical pedagogy, internationalisation, and a third space
Set within the context of a global pursuit towards the internationalisation of higher education, this paper critically examines student discourse in a globally connected classroom between learners in the USA and Singapore. It makes salient some of the cultural assumptions and tensions that undergird students’ discourse in collaborative international exchanges. We argue that technological innovation can enhance campus internationalisation efforts …
Epilogue
This epilogue to the 30-year Commemorative Issue of the Journal of Language and Social Psychology draws on four articles represented in this Issue to demonstrate the role this journal, in conjunction with the International Association of Language and Social Psychology, has had in identifying, examining, and shaping a research agenda of socially significant issues. Exigencies of the 21st century are examined to offer predictions for the future of …
Disconnects between news framing and parental discourse concerning the state-mandated HPV vaccine
In 2007, Virginia became the first state in the US to mandate the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. In 2009, the mandate required that parents of girls entering sixth grade (ages 11-12) vaccinate their daughters or sign the 'opt-out' waiver. This investigation is the first to explore how both the news media and parents framed and responded to the newly-mandated HPV vaccine. This research reveals disjoints between news media framing and parental…
Spanish–English Code-Mixing in U.S. Higher Education
This experiment examined how university students at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) responded to the use of “Spanglish,” or English-Spanish code-mixing, in written materials promoting university services. Consistent with predictions, the use of Spanglish reduced students’ processing fluency; contrary to predictions, the use of Spanglish did not prompt higher perceptions of inclusiveness or feeling welcome (relative to English-only texts) for…
Transferable Resilience Practices
This study uses the communication theory of resilience as a sensitizing framework to explore how U.S. military spouses transferred resilience practices acquired during military deployment to early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from 27 in-depth interviews with U.S. military spouses showed that the military experience shaped participants’ appraisal of the pandemic and helped them to discursively enact resilience through previously developed…
Practicing the Four Seasons of Ethnography Methodology while Searching for Identity in Mexico
This narrative is an account of my field experiences and challenges practicing González’s (2000) Four Seasons of Ethnography methodology in Mexico City. I describe the complexities and tensions inherent in managing two scientific paradigms: Western scientific logic vs. a more organic ontology. The experiential knowledge produced in this text is useful to ethnographers who face questions of identity and ethics in the field. To evoke a sense of exp…
Politeness Strategies in Imagined Conversation Openers About Eldercare
In the United States, many adult children and their aging parents reach the point when it is necessary to address future care needs of the parent. Given that the prevailing culture values independence over interdependence, discussing future care needs can be face threatening. Therefore, an examination of how adult children approach such conversations and manage face needs is an important first step toward understanding what makes these conversati…
Ageism and Ageist Language Across the Life Span
The possible effects of ageist language and ageism on the structure and function of intimate and non‐intimate relationships have received significant attention from social scientists. Recent research grounded in communication accommodation theory ( Giles, Mulac, Bradac, & Johnson, 1987 ), the communication predicament model of ageing ( Ryan, Giles, Bartolucci, & Henwood, 1986 ), the communication enhancement model of ageing ( Ryan, Meredith, MacL…
Integrating the Past and Paving the Future
This special issue introduction contextualizes the importance of recent international and interdisciplinary trends and developments in language and social psychology research. The articles included in this special issue are written by keynote speakers and invited panelists at the Ninth International Conference on Language and Social Psychology held at Pennsylvania State University during the summer of 2004. They are forward-thinking and cross mul…
Upward turning points and positive rapport-development across time in researcher-participant relationships
Some of the first, and potentially most important, steps that researchers must take in the field are those related to rapport development with their participants. Both novice and experienced field researchers negotiate the difficulties and mysteries of establishing and maintaining this rapport. In this research, it was our intention to disentangle the often puzzling rapport-building process. We contacted 16 field researchers with varying degrees …
Social Psychology and personal relationships
Cultural Diversity and Families
U.S. families and the general public continue to struggle with questions of culture, identity, authenticity, well-being, access, education, and legality. Sherif Trask and Hamon's (2007) edited volu
Reflections on Language and Social Psychology Research From Iclasp11, Tucson, Arizona
This introductory essay outlines the rationale for this special issue. It reports on the background to the International Conferences on Language and Social Psychology (ICLASPs) and establishes the importance of a special issue representing the work from ICLASP11, held in Tucson, Arizona, in the summer of 2008. After describing the keynote presentations at the conference, specific articles making up the special issue are introduced. Finally, the f…
Identity and the role of expectations, stress, and talk in short-term student sojourner adjustment
Mediated Intergroup Conflict
Using an intergroup communication framework, this article examines how a newspaper in southeastern Virginia discursively constructs the “illegal immigrant” as a metonym for Latino immigrants. This mixed methods study traces the development of this newspaper discourse about illegal immigrants from1994 to 2006 using quantitative lexical analysis. It then shows how two local news events further instantiate an illegal immigrant metonymy influencing p…
Disconnects between news framing and parental discourse concerning the state-mandated HPV vaccine
In 2007, Virginia became the first state in the US to mandate the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. In 2009, the mandate required that parents of girls entering sixth grade (ages 11-12) vaccinate their daughters or sign the 'opt-out' waiver. This investigation is the first to explore how both the news media and parents framed and responded to the newly-mandated HPV vaccine. This research reveals disjoints between news media framing and parental…
Epilogue
This epilogue to the 30-year Commemorative Issue of the Journal of Language and Social Psychology draws on four articles represented in this Issue to demonstrate the role this journal, in conjunction with the International Association of Language and Social Psychology, has had in identifying, examining, and shaping a research agenda of socially significant issues. Exigencies of the 21st century are examined to offer predictions for the future of …
Implications of the Virginia Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Mandate for Parental Vaccine Acceptance
In 2009, Virginia became the first state in the United States to enact a school vaccine mandate for the human papillomavirus (HPV), putting it at the forefront of the national HPV vaccine mandate controversy. It is critical to explore the public response and sensemaking where the mandate has already been enacted. Thus, we conducted 8 focus group discussions among 33 Virginia parents to explore how they conceptualized the virus and vaccine and the…
Politeness Strategies in Imagined Conversation Openers About Eldercare
In the United States, many adult children and their aging parents reach the point when it is necessary to address future care needs of the parent. Given that the prevailing culture values independence over interdependence, discussing future care needs can be face threatening. Therefore, an examination of how adult children approach such conversations and manage face needs is an important first step toward understanding what makes these conversati…
Communication and identity management in a globally-connected classroom
Though global classrooms are designed to expose students to varied cultural knowledges and experiences, how students consider and display their own identities in cross-cultural exchange has yet to be fully interrogated. This study focuses on U.S. college students who participated in a series of online conversations with learners in Singapore. Grounded in Goffman's sociological work and based on Hecht's communication theory of identity, this artic…
Practicing the Four Seasons of Ethnography Methodology while Searching for Identity in Mexico
This narrative is an account of my field experiences and challenges practicing González’s (2000) Four Seasons of Ethnography methodology in Mexico City. I describe the complexities and tensions inherent in managing two scientific paradigms: Western scientific logic vs. a more organic ontology. The experiential knowledge produced in this text is useful to ethnographers who face questions of identity and ethics in the field. To evoke a sense of exp…
Communication accommodation competence
Sojourner reentry
This paper offers grounded evidence in support of the elaboration of Kim's [(2001). Becoming intercultural: An integrative theory of communication and cross-cultural adaptation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage] integrative theory of communication and cross-cultural adaptation (ITCCA) to include sojourner reentry. Findings from 24 intensive interviews validate the heuristic value of ITCCA in the reentry context, but also reveal unique features that set re…
Focus Group Discussions as Sites for Public Deliberation and Sensemaking Following Shared Political Documentary Viewing
This study examines the potential that shared political documentary viewing coupled with public deliberation via focus group discussion has for political sensemaking and civic engagement. Specifically, we examine college students’ perceptions of sensemaking, future civic engagement, and benefits of participating in group discussion following the shared viewing of D’Souza’s political documentary 2016: Obama’s America. Focus group participants repo…
Critical pedagogy, internationalisation, and a third space
Set within the context of a global pursuit towards the internationalisation of higher education, this paper critically examines student discourse in a globally connected classroom between learners in the USA and Singapore. It makes salient some of the cultural assumptions and tensions that undergird students’ discourse in collaborative international exchanges. We argue that technological innovation can enhance campus internationalisation efforts …
A Spotlight on Contemporary Language and Social Psychology Research
This introduction to the special issue offers a brief report on the proceedings from the 16th International Conference on Language and Social Psychology (ICLASP16) and concludes with an invitation to participate in the upcoming ICLASP17 (Hong Kong, 2020). The nine papers selected for this special issue represent the diversity of scholarship and methodology presented at ICLASP16 (held in Edmonton, Canada, 2018). It includes student debut work, stu…
The Language and Social Psychology of Savoring
Savoring is a well-established construct in positive psychology referring to one's capacity to recognize and appreciate enjoyable life experiences. Guided by phenomenological inquiry and constructivist grounded theory, I propose communication savoring as a new dimension of social savoring that has theoretical and practical relevance in the fields of positive communication and language and social psychology. Evidence is drawn from young adults' na…
Epilogue
This epilogue to the Special Issue on Language Challenges in the 21st Century offers commentary on the current state of social scientific inquiry in the field of language and social psychology. Inspired by the seven articles that make up this Special Issue, I became curious about what we would find if we sought language opportunities instead of language challenges in the 21st century. I recommend future scholarship at the intersections of global …
Promoting subjective well-being through communication savoring
The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions articulates the merit of positive emotions in promoting well-being. Using an online two-group posttest-only randomized experimental design, this study examined the effects of communication savoring on subjective well-being (i.e., positive and negative affect, happiness, and life satisfaction) among young adults (M age = 20.97, SD = 1.91). After writing about a communication moment they savored and…
“That's when the relationship shifted”
This study investigated the relational turning points experienced by caregiving spouses across the trajectory of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Data were collected using a modified version of the retrospective interviewing technique which facilitated close analysis of relational turning points and the role of communication in shaping and managing these turning points. Caregiving spouses described nine relational turning points across …
Transferable Resilience Practices
This study uses the communication theory of resilience as a sensitizing framework to explore how U.S. military spouses transferred resilience practices acquired during military deployment to early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from 27 in-depth interviews with U.S. military spouses showed that the military experience shaped participants’ appraisal of the pandemic and helped them to discursively enact resilience through previously developed…
Caregiving spouses' experiences of relational uncertainty and partner influence in the prolonged relational transition of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias
Alzheimer's disease and related dementias cause gradual cognitive and communicative decline over a period of several years creating a prolonged transitional period in the lives of people with the disease and their spouse. Relational turbulence theory served as a lens to examine 18 in-depth interviews with caregiving spouses regarding their experiences of relational uncertainty, and interference and facilitation from their partner throughout this …
Psychology (23 obras) · Sociology (22 obras) · Social Psychology (17 obras) · Social science (12 obras) · Political science (11 obras) · Social Psychology (9 obras) · Linguistics (7 obras) · Medicine (7 obras) · Computer Science (6 obras) · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning (6 obras)