James Pennebaker
American psychologist (1950 - )
- || At The Bottom
1983 -- James Pennebaker was a 33-year-old assistant professor of psychology when he received the worst possible news for a young professor: he was being denied tenure and would no longer have a place at the University of Virginia, where he had been employed since finishing graduate school six years earlier. One of the complaints made by the university -- one of the reasons for his failure to earn tenure -- was that he lacked a clear research program and that his work was not likely to make a mark on the field of psychology. He was devastated, feeling crushed by a school he cared about and where he had expected to spend the rest of his career. Years of hard work had seemingly just gone up in smoke. For a professor, the denial of tenure not only represents the loss of a job, but it also provokes a deep, emotional sense of rejection. Because the tenure decision rests on the evaluation of a faculty member's research, teaching, and university/community service, a negative outcome is almost always interpreted as a judgment on one's suitability for the profession as well as a judgment about one's very character and being. Pennebaker was humiliated and angry. He wondered if Virginia's decision would affect his future employment prospects, since a failure to reach tenure can become a black mark beside an academic's name. Maybe he'd find another job, maybe not. If he hadn't been so stunned and depressed by the news, he might have been overwhelmed with fear.
- || At The Top
2010 -- The author of eight books and sole or co-author of more than 200 articles, James Pennebaker -- now a full professor at the University of Texas -- has become one of the most recognizable psychologists in the United States. His research (including books like Writing to Heal and Opening Up) has explored the use of expressive writing as a tool for physical and mental health and as a means of confronting traumatic experiences. His studies have noted that physical health and work performance can be aided by simple writing or talking exercises. As he explained in Opening Up, "holding back our thoughts and feelings can be hard work," producing stressors that can affect the workings of the immune system, the heart and brain. More recent research has made Pennebaker an unlikely contributor to the war on terror; at the request of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, he has used his research on language to examine the speeches, letters and videotapes sent or delivered by Al Qaeda, with the goal being to learn something about the psychology and mindset of the organization's top figures, including Osama Bin Laden himself.
- || The Comeback
Pennebaker still gets upset by memories of his tenure denial. "This is a major blow to one's self-esteem, let me tell you," he explained in Psychology Today in 1993. However, he found writing about the ordeal to be therapeutic. "Seriously," he explained, "I wrote to help get an understanding of what had happened." In the course of writing about the experience, however, Pennebaker discovered an intriguing set of ideas for future research. His private writings -- journal entries and letters -- inspired him to think in a broader way about how people actually deal with difficult situations, including job losses, the death of loved ones, or any other event that disrupts a person's life or traumatizes them. Though he was initially focused on his own travails, he broadened his focus and embarked on a research project that not only earned him jobs at Southern Methodist and the University of Texas, but also gave him the focus his early career had seemed to lack.
