PERSUASION AND SOCIAL INFLUENCE AT MICHIGAN STATE

Faculty:

Frank Boster
Maria Lapinski
Tim Levine
Kelly Morrison
Hee Sun Park
Kami Silk
Sandi Smith
Gwen Wittenbaum
 
Adjunct Faculty:
Stan Kaplowitz
Kim Witte


Rankings:

CIOS #1 Ranking: Persuasion (2007)


Courses/Seminars:

Social Influence and Conflict Management
Persuasion
Compliance-Gaining
Risk Communication
Mass Communication and Public Health
Focus Groups in the Social Sciences
Campaign Design and Analysis
Health Communication


Affiliations:

Health and Risk Communication Center
Department of Community and Behavioral Health (School of Public Health), University of Iowa
Trial Practice Institute, College of Law, Michigan State University
Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station
National Food Safety and Toxicology Center
National Center for Food Protection and Defense


Grants

Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Center
Focused Health and Risk Communication Research
A Social Norms Approach to Reduction of Risky Alcohol Consumption on Campus
Land Use Attitudes in the Tri-County Area
Adolescents' Identification with Televised Portrayals of Male and Female Scientists
Bioeconomic Initiatives and Science Literacy


Journals on which we hold editorial board membership:

Social Influence
Communication Monographs
Human Communication Research
Journal of Communication
Communication Research
Journal of Applied Communication Research


Selected Publications:

Achter, P., Parrott, R.L., & Silk, K.J. (2005). African Americans' Opinions about Human Genetic Research. Politics and the Life Sciences, 23, 60-66.

Atkin, C.K., & Smith, S.W. (in press). Social Judgment Theory. International Encyclopedia of Communication. Blackwell Publishers.

Boster, F.J. (2005). Communication as social influence. In G.J. Shepherd, J. St. John, & T. Striphas (Eds.), Communication as . . .Perspectives on theory (pp. 180-186). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Bresnahan, M.J., Lee, S.Y., Smith, S.W., Shearman, S.M., & Yoo, H.J. (2007). Reservations of the Spirit: The Development of a Culturally Sensitive Spiritual
Beliefs Scale about Organ Donation. Health Communication, 21, 45-54.

Bresnahan, M.J., Lee, S.Y., Smith, S.W., Shearman, S.M. Park, C.Y, & Yoo, J. (2007). The Theory of Planned Behavior in willingness to commit to posthumous organ donation in Japan, Korea, and the United States. Health Communication, 21, 201-211.

Cho, H., & Boster, F.J. (2005). Development and validation of value-, outcome-, and impression-relevant involvement scales. Communication Research, 32, 235-264.

Goei, R., & Boster, F.J. (2005). The roles of obligation and gratitude in explaining the effect of favors on compliance. Communication Monographs, 72, 284-300.

Horodynski, M., Olson, B., Brophy-Herb, H., Silk, K., & Shirer, K. (in press). The infant feeding series (TIFS) curriculum. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

Lapinski, M.K. (2006). StarvingforPerfect.com: A theoretically-based content analysis of pro-eating disorder websites. Health Communication, 20, 243-253.

Lapinski, M.K. & Nwulu, P. (in press). Can viewing a short film change HIV-related risk and stigma perceptions? Results from an experiment in Abuja, Nigeria. Health Communication.

Lapinski, M.K. & Orbe, M. (2007). Evidence for the construct validity and reliability of a scale measuring the components of co-cultural theory. Communication Methods and Measures, 1, 137-164.

Lapinski, M.K & Rimal, R.N. (2005). An explication of social norms. Communication Theory, 15, 127-147.

Lapinski, M.K., Rimal, R., DeVries, R., & Lee, E.L. (2007). The role of group orientation and descriptive norms on water conservation attitudes and behaviors. Health Communication, 22, 133-142.

Lindsey, L.L.M., Silk, K., von Friederichs-Fitzwater, M.M., Hamner, H.C., Prue, C.E., & Boster, F. J. (in press). Developing effective campaign messages to prevent neural tube defects: A qualitative assessment of women's reactions to messages. Journal of Health Communication.

Morrison, K. (2005). Motivating women and men to take protective action against rape: Examining direct and indirect persuasive fear appeals. Health Communication, 18, 237-256.

Park, H.S., & Smith, S.W. (2007). Distinctiveness and Influence of Subjective Norms, Personal Descriptive and Injunctive Norms, and Societal Descriptive and Injunctive Norms on Behavioral Intent: A Case of Two Behaviors Critical to Organ Donation. Human Communication Research, 33, 194-218.

Parrott, R.L., Silk, K.J., Condit, C.M., Dorgan, K., & Harris, T.M. (2005). Risk comprehension and judgments of statistical evidentiary appeals: When a picture is not worth a thousand words. Human Communication Research, 31, 423-452.

Parrott, R.L., Silk, K.J, Dillow, M.R., Krieger, J.R., Harris, T.M. & Condit, C.M. (2005). Development and Validation of Tools to Assess Genetic Discrimination and Genetically Based Racism. Journal of the National Medical Association, 97, 1-11.

Rimal, R.N., Lapinski, M.K., Cook, R.J., & Real, K. (2005). Moving toward a theory of normative influences: How perceived benefits and similarity moderate the impact of descriptive norms on behaviors. Journal of Health Communication, 10, 433-450.

Silk, K.J., Bigsby, E., Volkman, J., Kingsley, C., Atkin, C., Ferrara, M., & Goins, L.A. (2006). Formative research on adolescent and adult risk factors for breast cancer. Social Science and Medicine, 63, 3124-3136.

Silk, K.J., & Parrott, R. L. (2006). All or nothing... or just a hat?: Farmers' sun protection behaviors. Health Promotion Practice, 7, 180-185.

Silk, K.J., Sherry, J., Winn, B., Keesecker, N., Horodynski, M. A., Sayir, A. (2008). Increasing nutrition literacy: Testing the effectiveness of print, website, and game modalities. Journal of Nutrition Education & Behavior, 40, 3-10.

Silk, K.J., Weiner, J.L., & Parrott, R.L. (2005). Gene cuisine or franken-food? The theory of reasoned action as an audience segmentation strategy for messages about GM foods. Journal of Health Communication, 10, 751-767.

Smith, S.W., Atkin, C.K., Martell, D., Allen, R., & Hembroff, L. (2006). A social judgment theory approach to conducting formative research in a social norms campaign. Communication Theory, 16, 141-152.

Smith, S.W., Atkin, C.K., & Roznoswki, J.A. (2006). Are "Drink Responsibly" alcohol campaigns strategically ambiguous? Health Communication, 20, 1-11.

Smith, S.W., Lindsey, L.L.M., Kopfman, J.E., Yoo, J., & Morrison, K. (in press). Predictors of engaging in family discussion about organ donation and getting organ donor cards witnessed. Health Communication.

Smith, S.W., Rosenman, K., Kotowski, M., Glazer, E., McFeters, C., Law, A., & Keesecker, N. (2008). Using the EPPM to create and evaluate the effectiveness of brochures to increase the use of hearing protection in farmers and landscape workers. Journal of Applied Communication Research.

Steinke, J., Lapinski, M. K., Crocker, N., Zietsman-Thomas, A., Williams, Y., Higdon, S., & Kuchibhotla, S. (2007). Assessing media influences on middle school-aged children's perceptions of women in science and engineering using the draw-a-scientist test (DAST). Science Communication, 29, 35-64.

Steinke, J., Lapinski, M.K., Zietsman-Thomas, A., Crocker, N., Williams, Y., Higdon, S., & Kuchibhotla, S. (2006) Assessing media influences on girls' perceptions of science, engineering and technology. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 12, 295-323.

Volkman, J., & Silk, K.J. (in press) Adolescent females and their mothers: Examining perceptions of the environment and breast cancer. Journal of Health Psychology.

Weiner, J., Silk, K.J., & Parrott, R.L. (2005). Family communication and genetic health: A research note. The Journal of Family Communication, 5, 313-324.