The Psychology of Writing

264 Pages·1999·16.01 MB·English

by  Ronald T. Kellogg

The Psychology of Writing
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The Psychology
of Writing
Ronald T. Kellogg
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York Oxford
Oxford University Press
Oxford New York
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Copyright © 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
First published in 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 1999
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press, Inc.
All rights reserved. No pan of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kellogg, Ronald Thomas.
The psychology of writing / Ronald T. Kellogg.
p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-19-508139-0
ISBN 0-19-512908-3 (Pbk.)
1.Written communication—Psychological aspects.
2. Cognitive psychology.
3. Psycholinguistics.
I. Title.
BF456.W8K45 1994 401'.9-dc20 9*44667
135798642
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
To Carol
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Preface
Interest in the process of writing has grown steadily over the past 20 years. The
journey from Janet Emig's (1971) pioneering volume on the composing processes
of high school students has been intellectually vigorous and has appropriately
attracted researchers from diverse disciplines in the humanities and social sciences.
In a relatively short period of time, an impressive literature has emerged on how
people go about formulating their thoughts and expressing them in the form of
written symbols. After centuries of effort devoted to analyzing and interpreting texts,
the contemporary focus on how texts are composed in the first place seems long
overdue, particularly to scholars in the humanities and education.
The present book brings my perspective as a cognitive psychologist, rooted in
experimental methodology, to the rapidly expanding field of composition research.
I initially investigated the cognitive processes called upon in writing because the
subject was so woefully neglected by my colleagues. Cognitive psychology not only
includes intricate theories and experimentation on speech production, speech com-
prehension, reading comprehension, and memory, it also includes detailed work on
higher-order thinking processes such as problem solving, reasoning, and decision
making. It struck me as obvious that a complete psychological account of thinking
and language must surely include research on written composition.
With time, it became clear to me that composition research did much more than
just fill a gap in the cognitive psychology literature. The study of how people express
their thoughts in written form brings together scholars from the humanities, educa-
tion, and the social sciences in pursuit of a much grander challenge. For the act of
writing exemplifies to me the very essence of what it means to be human. Creating
meaning through the use of symbols is a ubiquitous human activity. The making of
meaning in art, dance, music, and oral and written discourse may well be the defining
attribute of our species. The study of writing, then, offers one window through which
to view the core of what appears to be a distinctly human mode of thinking.
This book, then, treats the intersection of meaning-making, thinking, and writing
from the perspective of an experimentalist and cognitive psychologist I do not claim
to cover the full scope of any one of these topics to the satisfaction of my colleagues
in cognitive psychology. The literature on thinking, for instance, is far too broad to
tackle in a book focused on writing. Still, a book focused on the intersection of
viii Preface
thinking and writing may increase the accessibility of the literature on composition
to cognitive psychologists. Although this literature appears in educational psychol-
ogy textbooks (e.g., Mayer, 1987), it is strangely absent from cognitive textbooks,
despite extensive coverage of reading, speech, language, and thinking. One major
textbook in cognitive psychology covered writing in one edition but then tellingly
dropped it from a subsequent edition (Anderson, 1990a).
Similarly, a full discussion of the many ways that people create meaning in their
lives through the shared symbols of culture would take us on perhaps an endless
journey through the humanities. The work of semiologists who investigate the full
range of human symbol use is far too large to encapsulate in these pages. Indeed,
covering even the more limited intersection of meaning-making and writing to the
complete satisfaction of scholars from the humanities, education, and the social
sciences is probably beyond the scope of any single volume. As we shall see, the
nature of writing varies across social and cultural contexts. The collaborative writing
in a business setting, for example, differs in process and product from the creative
writing of a cloistered poet. A complete account of writing demands a far more
detailed consideration of contextual differences than is possible here.
What I do aim to provide here is a theoretical framework that readers from the
humanities, education, and the social sciences can use to understand and interpret
the composition literature. The framework attempts to do justice to the profound
significance of meaning-making as a defining feature of human cognition and to
organize the findings on writing in a manner understandable to readers with widely
different backgrounds. This work addresses the needs of upper-level undergraduates
and graduate students in courses dealing with the psychological aspects of writing.
Such courses can be found in departments of English, communications, educational
psychology, or psychology. Faculty in any of these departments who pursue or plan
to pursue research on written composition should also find the book informative.
Finally, I hope that the general reader finds the material accessible, for understanding
how people go about creating meaning through the use of symbols enlightens us
about a profound characteristic of ourselves.
I thank Joan Bossert, Senior Editor at Oxford University Press, for her enthusi-
asm for the project, helpful suggestions, and guidance in bringing the book to com-
pletion. It has been a pleasure working with all of the editorial staff. I also thank
Mike Sharpies for his useful comments on the manuscript along with other anony-
mous reviewers. I have profited from discussions and correspondence over the years
concerning writing research with fellow investigators, including Jim Hartley, Bruce
Britton, Marcy Lansman, Bob Boice, and John Gould. Secretarial and library staff
plus research assistants helped with various aspects of my research and with pre-
paring the manuscript, especially Robin Collier, Ramona Taylor, Mona Brown, Cara
Saling, Andy Stewart, Janet McKean, Anne Freeman, and Suzanne Mueller. Lastly,
I thank my spouse, Carol, and children, Alicia and Kristin, for their encouragement
throughout the duration of this work.
Rolla, Missouri R.T.K.
November 1993
Contents
1. Homo Symbolificus, 3
2. An Analysis of Meaning-Making, 25
3. Process and Performance, 47
4. Knowledge, 71
5. Personality, 97
6. Strategies, 120
7. Word Processors, 140
8. Idea Processors, 161
9. Work Environments, Schedules, and Rituals, 185
10. The Psychology of Symbol Creation, 203
References, 225
Index, 249