Persuasion

by Michael E. Roloff and Gerald R. Miller

Published 13 March 1980
An expert in the study of mass communications and an expert on interpersonal communication bring together contributions that explore the ways in which we are persuaded. Essays cover three major aspects of the subject: theory and definition of persuasion, factors in the persuasion process, and the application of persuasion to negotiation, marketing, family relationships and politics.

′This collection seemed to me a good review of a fascinating field. As a therapist, I found I was able to pull together a range of ideas that I considered worthy of development and application...Though not written with therapists in mind, this book represented for me an introduction to a new range of possibilities for influencing people towards a more productive way of thinking and acting.′ -- Alliance News, March/April 1981


There are few edited volumes on interpersonal communication that have the breadth of focus of Interpersonal Processes. Divided into three broad sections, this interdisciplinary work covers functions of interpersonal communication, interaction phenomena and relationships.

Interpersonal Processes updates the classic Explorations in Interpersonal Communication (SAGE 1976). Original contributors have revised their chapters and, together with other scholars, provide new insights and recognise the emergence of new research areas.


As interest in interpersonal communication grew among communication researchers during the late 70′s, contemporary researchers in social psychology and sociology worked on the fields of personal perception, interpersonal attraction and non-verbal communication. The papers in this volume reflect the issues of concern to those researchers.

′Without exception, the contributors treat communication as it exists in the real world...This focus on research related to real problems, rather than to the study of communication in a vacuum is to be commended...the last article...is sufficiently interesting that it is like the end of a good movie...You will simply recommend it (and the entire book) to friends, as I am doing here.′ -- Southern Speech Communication Journal, Winter 1978