Seeking and Resisting Compliance: Why People Say What They Do When Trying to Influence Others

Steven R. Wilson (Ph.D., Purdue University) is Professor in the Department of Communication at Purdue University. He also has been a faculty member at Michigan State, Northern Illinois, and Northwestern Universities. His research and teaching focus on interpersonal communication, social influence, and aggression/conflict. He is the author of Seeking and Resisting Compliance: Why Individuals Say What They Do When Trying to Influence Others (Sage, 2002), for which he received the Gerald R. Miller book award from the National Communication Association's interpersonal communication division in 2005. He also has published more than 50 articles and chapters in communication journals such as Communication Monographs, Communication Research, and Human Communication Research, interdisciplinary journals such as Child Abuse & Neglect, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, and Journal of Language and Social Psychology, and edited volumes such as the Handbook of Communication and Social Interaction Skills and the Handbook of Communication Science (2nd ed.). His recent research explores patterns of parent-child interaction in families at risk for child maltreatment as well as patterns associated with children's school readiness (funded by the Lilly Endowment). He is active in both the National Communication Association and the International Communication Association, and has served as chair of the interpersonal communication division for both associations. From 2001-2003, he served as one of five associate editors of the interdisciplinary journal Personal Relationships. In 2008, he was honored with the Bernard Brommel Award for Outstanding Scholarship or Distinguished Service in Family Communication from NCA.