Interpersonal Communication Focus Area

The interpersonal area focuses on interactions in social and personal relationships. We examine how communication functions - including emotion, health, identity management, conflict, and maintenance - in relational contexts such as families, friendships, and romantic relationships.

The Faculty

Colin Hesse
Research: the communication of affection, emotions, and the relationship between the way we communicate and build relationships and our mental and physical health.

Department Focus Areas

Focus Areas:
   Interpersonal Communication
   Organizational Communication
   Mass Communication
   Political Communication

Loreen Olson
Research: interpersonal and family communication dilemmas that individuals encounter; primary research emphasis concerns the communicative elements of intimate and familial violence as well as a new area of communication scholarship she has labeled the “Communication of Deviance.”

James Roberts
Research: the intersection of communication, emotion, and biology; current research examines the impact of interpersonal communication on physical and mental health.

Select Recent Publications

Olson, L. N. & Mobley, S. (forthcoming, 2009). "It can't be domestic violence. . . We're just dating": Keia's story. In E. Kirby & C. McBride (Eds.), Gender actualized: Cases in communicatively constructing realities. Kendall Hunt Publishing.

Olson, L. N. (forthcoming, 2009). Deviance and human relationships. In H. T. Reis & S. Sprecher (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Human Relationships. Thousand Oaks, CA : Sage.

Aubrey, J. S., Click, M. A., Dougherty, D. S., Fine, M. A., Kramer, M. W., Meisenbach, R. J., Olson, L. N. , & Smythe, M. J. (2008). "We do babies!" The trials, tribulations, and triumphs of pregnancy and parenting in the academy. Women's Studies in Communication, 187-195.

Fine, M. A., Coffelt, T., & Olson, L. N. (2008). Relationship initiation following marital dissolution. In S. Sprecher, A. Wenzel, & J. Harvey (Eds.), The handbook of relationship initiation (pp. 391-407). New York: Taylor & Francis.

Olson, L. N., Coffelt, T. A., Berlin Ray, E., Rudd, J., Botta, R., Ray, G., & Kopfman, J. (2008). "I'm all for equal rights, but don't call me a feminist": Identity dilemmas in young adults' discursive representations of being a feminist. Women's Studies in Communication, 104-132 .

Olson, L. N. (forthcoming, 2008). Relational control-motivated aggression: A theoretical framework for identifying various types of violent couples. In D. D. Cahn (Ed.), Family violence: Communication processes. New Paltz, NY: SUNY Press.

Floyd, K., & Roberts, J. B. (in press). Principles of endocrine system measurement in communication research. In M. J. Beatty, K. Floyd, & J. C. McCroskey (Eds.), Biological dimensions of communication: Perspectives, methods and research. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

Witt, P. L., Brown, K. C., Roberts, J. B., Weisel, J. J., Sawyer, C. R., & Behnke, R. R. (2006). Somatic anxiety patterns of student speakers before, during, and after giving a public speech. Southern Communication Journal, 71, 87-100.

Roberts, J. B., Finn, A. N., Harris, K. B., Sawyer, C. R., & Behnke, R. R. (2005). Public speaking state anxiety as a function of trait anxiety and reactivity mechanisms. Southern Communication Journal, 70, 161-167.

Roberts, J. B., Sawyer, C. R., Behnke, R. R. (2004). A neurological representation of speech anxiety: Mapping salivary cortisol levels of public speakers. Western Journal of Communication, 68, 219-231.