Kipling D. Williams is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychological Sciences at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and ...

West Lafayette West Lafayette () is a city in Wabash Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, about northwest of the state capital of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette is directly across the Wabash River from its sister city ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

. He received his Ph.D. in

Social Psychology Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the ...

from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pu ...

. He is most noted for his research on ostracism and has developed unique methods to study the processes and consequences. Williams has conducted research in several areas, including

aggression Aggression is overt or covert, often harmful, social interaction with the intention of inflicting damage or other harm upon another individual; although it can be channeled into creative and practical outlets for some. It may occur either reacti ...

, group processes and close relationships. However, he has specific research topics that include

ostracism Ostracism ( el, ὀστρακισμός, ''ostrakismos'') was an Athenian democracy, Athenian democratic procedure in which any citizen could be exile, expelled from the city-state of Athens for ten years. While some instances clearly expressed ...

, social loafing and social compensation, internet research,

stealing thunder Stealing thunder is to use someone else's idea for one's own advantage, or to pre-empt them. Origin The idiom comes from the peevish dramatist John Dennis early in the 18th century, after he had conceived a novel idea for a thunder machine for his ...

, which is a specific tactic used to deflate any negative impact of changing a person’s testimony, law and psychology. Williams has a primary interest in social influence. In addition, he has contributed to publications in both the field of psychology and in the field of law, which deal with issues of different realms of social influence. Some of these realms of social influence concern

eyewitness memory Eyewitness memory is a person's episodic memory for a crime or other dramatic event that he or she has witnessed. Eyewitness testimony is often relied upon in the judicial system. It can also refer to an individual's memory for a face, where t ...

and testimony, biasing judges’ instructions, and most recently, on influencing jurors to scrutinize confidence inflation in court cases. However, Williams’ interests mostly include group processes and social influence. While some people regard this as simple group research, he regards it as a phenomenon of very basic social influence. He believes that an individual’s emotions, subsequent social susceptibility, and motivations are all impacted when that person is ostracized. Williams believes that “social influence is of great importance to his self-definition and to his interest in social psychology.”Kip Williams
/ref> Simply put, he believes that “the heart of social psychology is social influence.” He was an associate editor of both the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin and Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice. He is currently the editor of

Social Influence Social influence comprises the ways in which individuals adjust their behavior to meet the demands of a social environment. It takes many forms and can be seen in conformity, socialization, peer pressure, obedience, leadership, persuasion, sales, a ...

Books and chapters in books

*Co-editor. The Psychology of Social Conflict and Aggression. NY: Psychology Press, 2011. *Co-editor. The Social Outcast: Ostracism, Social Exclusion, Rejection, and Bullying. NY: Psychology Press, 2005. *Co-editor. Psychology and Law: An Empirical Perspective. NY: Guilford Press, 2005. *Ostracism: The Power of Silence. NY: Guilford Press, 2001. *Ostracism: A Temporal Need-Threat Model. In Zanna, M. (Ed.) Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 41 (pp. 279–314). NY: Academic press, 2009. *Co-author. Using Virtual Game Environments to Study Group Behavior. In Hollinhshead, A.B. and Poole, M.S. (Eds.) Research Methods for Studying Groups: A Behind-the-Scenes Guide. (pp. 173–198). NY:m Taylor & Francis/Routledge, 2012. *Ostracism. Annual Review of Psychology, 2007, 58, 425-452.

Cyberball

He has a free downloadable program called “Cyberball,” which can be used in research to study issues that surround ostracism. Dr. Williams has contributed to different psychological articles and he has also written several different books related to his psychological interests.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Kipling American psychologists Social psychologists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)