Michael Roloff

Michael Roloff's research and teaching interests center around interpersonal influence. He has published articles and offers courses focused on persuasion, interpersonal compliance-gaining, conflict management, organizational change, and bargaining and negotiation. His current research is focused on conflict avoidance and serial arguing in intimate relationships, the interpretation and construction of persuasive messages, and the effects of planning and alternatives on negotiation processes. Roloff is the author of Interpersonal Communication: The Social Exchange Approach, and he has co-edited four research volumes: Persuasion: New Directions in Theory and Research, Social Cognition and Communication, Interpersonal Processes, and Communication and Negotiation. A former editor of Communication Yearbook, Roloff is currently the co-editor of Communication Research. He was co-recipient of the Woolbert Award for Outstanding Contribution to Communication Research from the Speech Communication Association and he also received a publication award from the Social Cognition and Communication Division of the National Communication Association.

Roloff has been the chair of the Interpersonal Communication Division of the National Communication Association. He is currently the director of the National Communication Association Publications Board, and he has received several teaching awards from groups at Northwestern, including the Associated Student Government, the Mortar Board, and the Alumni Association. In 2009, Roloff was named a fellow of the International Communication Association and a distinguished scholar of the National Communication Association.

Education