J.T. Ptacek

Psychology Department

Contact Information

211 O'Leary Center
email: ptacek@bucknell.edu
570-577-1694

Education

University of Washington, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, 1992 - 1993
Post-doctoral fellowship
Supervisor: David R. Patterson, Ph.D.

University of Washington, 1987 - 1992
Ph.D., Psychology: Spring 1992
Major area: Personality/Social Psychology
Advisor: Ronald E. Smith, Ph.D.
M.S., Psychology, 1988
Major area: Personality/Social Psychology

Willamette University, 1981-1985
B.S., cum laude, 1985
Major area: Psychology
Minor area: Economics

Research Interests

Over the past several years I’ve been continued to pursue several lines of research. Exploring basic and applied issues in coping has occupied most of my research time. Most recently, colleagues and I were able to demonstrate that coping, while clearly transactional as the process unfolds, includes a stable component. With students, I have also been working on the development of surveys to assess support sensitivity and courage. The study of support sensitivity evolved from our work on gender differences in coping processes and in the perceptions that men and women have about these coping differences. We are attempting to identify and assess those characteristics of people that make them better (or worse) support providers. The work on courage, similarly, has its roots in my coping research, as I have conceptualized courage as the ability (or willingness) to use problem-focused coping strategies in situations in which there is a potential for an important loss and the outcome is far from certain. Finally, while working with athletes and athletic teams at Bucknell, I’ve become increasingly interested in the factors differentiate arousal, worry, and anxiety and how these distinct experiences might relate to physical performance.

Selected Publications

Coping

Ptacek, J. T., Pierce, G. R., Thompson, E. L. (2006) Finding evidence of stability in coping processes. Journal of Research in Personality, 40, 11-37-1151.

Ptacek, J. T., Pierce, G. R., & Ptacek, J. J. (2007). Coping and Psychological Adjustment to cancer: An Examination of the Personal and Social Context. Journal of Psychosocial Oncology, 25, 37-58

Ptacek, J. T., Smith, R. E., & Raffety, B.D., & Lindgren, K.P. (2008). Coherence and Transituational Generality in Coping: The Unity and the Diversity. Anxiety, Stress, & Coping: An International Journal, 21, 155-172.

 

Communicating Bad News

Ptacek, J. T., & Eberhardt, T. L. (1996). Breaking bad news: A review of the literature. Journal of the American Medical Association, 276(6), 496-502.

Ptacek, J. T., & Ptacek, J. J. (2001). Patients’ perceptions of receiving bad news about cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 19(21), 4160-4164.

Ptacek, J. T., Leonard, K., & Eberhardt, T. L. (2004) "I’ve got bad news . . . " Veterinarians' recollections of communicating bad news to clients. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 34, 366-390.

Ptacek, J.T., & McIntosh, E. G. (2009). Physician Challenges in Communicating Bad News. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 34, 380-387.

 

Burn Injuries

Patterson, D. R., & Ptacek, J. T. (1997). Baseline pain as a moderator of hypnotic analgesia for burn injury treatment. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 65, 60-76.

Ptacek, J. T., Patterson, D. R., & Doctor, J. (2000). Describing and predicting the nature of procedural pain following thermal injury. Journal of Burn Care and Rehabilitation, 21, 318-326.

Difede, J., Ptacek, J. T., Roberts, J., Barocas, D., Rives, W., Apfeldorf, W., Yurt, R. (2002). Acute stress disorder after burn injury: A predictor of posttraumatic stress disorder? Psychosomatic Medicine, 64, 826-834.

Patterson, D. R., Tininenko, J, & Ptacek, J. T., (2006). Pain during burn hospitalization predicts long-term outcome. Journal of Burn Care and Rehabilitation, 27, 719-726

 

Courses Taught

Introductory Psychology (PSYC 100)
Psychological Statistics (PSYC 215)
Personality (PSYC 228)
Applied Methods in Personality (PSYC 298)
Advanced Personality (PSYC 325)
Sport Psychology (PSYC 234)
Positive Psychology (PSYC 135)
Independent Study (3-5 students each semester)