Department of Communication : Western Illinois University

News

Dr. Steven Wilson Presented the Thompson Lecture

Mar 30, 2009

Steven R. Wilson (WIU BA 1982), Professor, Department of Communication, Purdue University delivered the Thompson Lecture March 30th, 2009.

Dr. Wilson's lecture "Parent-Child Play: Collaboration or Power contest?" was enjoyed by the WIU community.

The lecture presented findings from research on mothers' trait verbal aggressiveness and maternal and child behavior during brief playtime interactions. Verbally aggressive messages attack another person's self concept as opposed to his/her ideas; trait verbal aggressiveness refers to a general tendency to use aggressive messages during disagreement.

Although frequent exposure to verbally aggressive messages has detrimental effects on children's self esteem and social competence, this research explores whether mothers who have a tendency towards verbal aggressiveness communicate differently even in settings where triggers for aggressive behavior are largely absent.

Forty mothers completed a 10-minute playtime with one of their children (3-8 years old) and then completed a questionnaire assessing trait verbal aggressiveness. Mother's trait verbal aggressiveness was positively related with their rates of directing behavior, and inversely with their children's rated cooperation, even in a situation where very little verbally aggressive communication actually occurred. These findings have implications for understanding what is being tapped by measures of trait verbal aggressiveness as well as for parent education programs.