Donna M. Ashcraft
- Media Contact
Donna Ashcraft received her bachelor's degree from Buffalo State College and her master's and doctorate degrees from The State University Of New York at Albany. One of the founding mothers of the Women’s Studies program, she has taught at Clarion University since 1988. Her research interests include Collaborative Teaching and Learning; Gender Psychology; Human Sexuality; Social/Personality Psychology. Her most recent scholarly work is a book titled Deconstructing Twilight: Psychological and Feminist Perspectives on the Series.
Using feminist and psychological theory, Deconstructing Twilight examines the behavior, relationships, and gender roles depicted in the popular Twilight series. Including perspectives from both fans and detractors of the series, it discusses whether the character Bella, and the series in general is antifeminist or an example of modern feminism, and whether the relationship between Bella and Edward is healthy or maladjusted. Integrating research findings and theories in the areas of personality and social psychology, as well as scenes from the novels and surveys of readers, Deconstructing Twilight separates myth from reality regarding the series depictions of women, men, romantic relationships and motherhood. A social learning perspective is employed to demonstrate the effect the novels can have on gender role formation and the development of relationship scripts in young adult readers. Social psychological concepts are used to explain and integrate the discrepant views of fans and antifans.
Primary Interests:
- Gender Psychology
- Group Processes
- Personality, Individual Differences
- Sexuality, Sexual Orientation
Books:
- Ashcraft, D. M. (2013). Deconstructing Twilight: Psychological and feminist perspectives on the series. New York: Peter Lang.
- Ashcraft, D. M. (2012). Personality theories workbook (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.
- Ashcraft, D. M. (Ed.). (1998). Women's work: A survey of scholarship by and about women. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press.
Journal Articles:
- Ashcraft, D., Treadwell, T., Kumar, V. K. (2008). Collaborative online learning: A constructivist example. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 4(1), 109-117.
- Treadwell, T., & Ashcraft, D. (2005). A pedagogy for collaborative on-line research and learning: The CORAL model. National Society of Experiential Education Quarterly, 30(1), 10-17.
- Treadwell, T., Ashcraft, D., Teeter, T., & Ritchie, K. (2006, Spring). Peer mentor roles in a Collaborative On-line Research and Learning (CORAL). Compass: A Magazine for Peer Assistance, Mentorship and Coaching, 18(1), 37-47.
Other Publications:
- Ashcraft, D. M. (1992). Health in the workplace. In K. Kelley (Ed.), Issues, theory and research in industrial/ organizational psychology. Amsterdam: North Holland.
- Ashcraft, D. M., & Treadwell, T. (2008). The social psychology of on-line collaborative learning: The good, the bad and the awkward. In K. Orvis & A. Rittman Lassiter (Eds.), Computer Supported Collaborative Learning: Best Practices and Principles for Instructors. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
- Kelley, K., Dawson, L., & Musialowski, D. (1989). Three faces of sexual explicitness: The good, the bad, and the useful. In D. Zillman & J. Bryant (Eds.), Pornography: Recent research, interpretations, and policy considerations. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Courses Taught:
- Human Sexuality
- Personality
- Psychology of Women
- Social Psychology
Donna M. Ashcraft
Psychology Department
216 Harvey Hall
Clarion University of Pennsylvania
Clarion, Pennsylvania 16428
United States of America
- Phone: (814) 393-1870