Steve Wilson
Professor
phone: 765-494-7547
email: wilson25@purdue.edu
vita: Download here.
Education
Ph.D., Purdue University
M.A., Indiana University
B.A., Western Illinois University
Research
After earning his Ph.D. at Purdue and serving on the faculties at Michigan State, Northern Illinois, and Northwestern Universities, Professor Wilson returned to Purdue in 2000. Broadly speaking, his research explores intersections between interpersonal communication and social influence, such as how individuals manage multiple, conflicting goals when trying to influence others at home, in the classroom, or at work. He has explored how: parents respond to perceived child misbehavior, college students give advice to friends and family members, employees attempt to influence their boss, and individuals from different countries bargain during simulated business negotiations. Much of his current research is trying to identify patterns of parent-child communication that accurately distinguish families with a history of child abuse or neglect from families from similar economic and cultural backgrounds who have no history of child maltreatment. He also has received a research contract as part of a larger $1.5 million dollar grant from the Lilly Endowment to the Greater Lafayette Community Foundation to support a new local intergenerational learning center that aims to promote positive parenting and children's school readiness. Professor Wilson is leading a research team that is evaluating the new center.
Representative Publications
Books
- Smith, S. & W. & Wilson, S. R. (Eds.). (2009). New Directions in Interpersonal Communication Research. Thousand Oaks, CA.
- Wilson, S. R. (2002). Seeking and Resisting Compliance: Why People Say What They Do When Trying to Influence Others, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage (Winner of the 2005 Gerarld R. Miller Book Award from the NCA Interpersonal Communication Division and the 2005 Best Book award from the NCA Social Cognition Division).
Articles & Chapters
- Wilson, S. R. (in press). Seeking and resisting compliance. In C. R. Berger, M. E. Roloff, & D. Roskos-Ewoldsen (Eds.), Handbook of Communication Science (2nd ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
- Wilson, S. R., Kunkel, A. D., Robson, S., Olufowote, J. O., & Soliz, J. (in press). Identity implications of relationship (re)definition goals: An analysis of face threats and facework as young adults initiate, intensify, and disengage from romantic relationships. Journal of Language and Social Psychology.
- Wilson, S. R., Roberts, F., Rack, J. J., & Delaney, J. (2008). Mothers' trait verbal aggressiveness as a predictor of maternal and child behavior during play-time interactions. Human Communication Reserach, 34, 392-422.
- Wilson, S. R. (2006). First- and second-order changes in a community's response to a child abuse fatality. Communication Monographs, 73, 481-487.
- Olufowote, J. O., Miller, V.D., & Wilson, S.R. (2005). The interactive effect of role change goals and relational exchanges on employee upward influences tactics. Management Communication Quarterly, 18, 385-403.
Recent Graduate Courses Taught
- COM 512 Theories of Interpersonal Communication
- COM 612 Interpersonal Influence
- COM 612 Communication and Child Maltreatment
- COM 674 Culture and Negotiation
- COM 682 ANOVA