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Prof. Claude H. Miller, Ph.D.

Prof. Claude H. Miller, Ph.D.

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I started out in fine art as a painter, printmaker, and photographer. One thing I noticed early on was how some people would take offense at some of my work, whereas others would admire it, and still others would be entirely apathetic. This range of responses fascinated me, so I went to graduate school in communication, and set about studying the nature of indignation and offense-taking.

Nowadays my work focuses on affective responses to influences messages in various contexts, and on the roles of conation and emotion in social and interpersonal influence. Recently I've been looking at the effects of psychological reactance on the process of inoculation, and on health promotion and risk prevention messages. I'm also interested in terror management theory, the nature of cognitive biases, and the use of vested interest theory in persuasive message design, especially as applied to disaster-related communication.

Primary Interests:

  • Attitudes and Beliefs
  • Causal Attribution
  • Communication, Language
  • Emotion, Mood, Affect
  • Health Psychology
  • Judgment and Decision Making
  • Nonverbal Behavior
  • Person Perception
  • Personality, Individual Differences
  • Persuasion, Social Influence
  • Self and Identity
  • Social Cognition

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Journal Articles:

  • Adame, B., & Miller, C. H. (2016). Vested interest: Developing scales for assessing flooding preparedness. Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, 25, 282–297. 10.1108/dpm-08-2015-0196.
  • Averbeck, J.M., & Miller, C. H. (2014). Expanding language expectancy theory: The suasory effects of lexical complexity and syntactic complexity on effective message design. Communication Studies, 65, 72-95.
  • Bessarabova, E., & Miller, C. H., (2017). A further exploration of the effects of restoration postscripts on reactance. Western Journal of Communication, 81, 385-403.
  • Landau, M. J., Arndt, J., Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., Miller, C. H., Cohen, F., & Ogilvie, D. M. (2004). Deliver us from evil: The effects of mortality salience and reminders of 9/11 on support for President George W. Bush. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 1136-1150.
  • Mason, A.M. & Miller, C.H. (2015). The ability of inoculation to confer resistance to potentially deceptive health-nutrition related advertising claims. Health Education Journal. doi: 10.1177/0017896915569365. Retrieved from: http://hej.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/02/02/0017896915569365.abstract
  • Miller, C. H., Adame, B. J., & Moore, S. D. (2013). The role of vested interest in disaster preparedness. Disasters, 37, 1-27.
  • Miller, C. H., & Averbeck, J.M., (2013). Hedonic relevance and outcome relevant involvement. Electronic Journal of Communication, 23 (3), Retrieved January 27, 2014, from the CIOS Website, http://www.cios.org/www/ejc/v23n34toc.htm#millerfr 2013
  • Miller, C. H., Ivanov, B, Compton, J., Averbeck, J. Robertson, K.J., Sims, J.D., Parker, K. A., & Parker, J.L. (2013). Boosting the potency of resistance: Combining the motivational forces of inoculation and psychological reactance. Human Communication Research, 39, 127-155
  • Miller, C. H., Lane, L. T., Deatrick, L. M., Young, A. M. & Potts, K. A. (2007). Psychological reactance and promotional health messages: The effects of controlling language, lexical concreteness, and the restoration of freedom. Human Communication Research, 33, 219-240.
  • Miller, C. H., & Quick, B. L. (2010). Sensation seeking and psychological reactance as health risk predictors for an emerging adult population. Health Communication, 25, 266-275.
  • Wright, K. B., & Miller, C. H. (2010). A measure of weak-tie/strong-tie support network preference. Communication Monographs, 77, 500-517.

Other Publications:

  • Adame, B., & Miller, C. H. (in press). Risk perception and earthquake preparedness motivation: Predicting responses to a Cascadia Subduction Zone catastrophic event. In V. Fletcher & J. Lovejoy (Eds.), The really big one: Risk, health, and environmental communication. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
  • Miller, C. H., (2016). Hedonic relevance and outcome relevant involvement. In D. K. Kim & J. Dearing (Eds.) Health Communication Measures. New York: Peter Lang. pp. 99-106.
  • Miller, C. H., (2015). Persuasion and psychological reactance: The effects of explicit, high-controlling language. In R. Shulze & H. Pishwa (Eds), The exercise of power in communication: Devices, reception and reaction. London: Palgrave McMillan. pp 269-286.
  • Miller, C. H., & Adame, B.J. (2016). Scales for measuring the dimensions of vested interest. In D. K. Kim & J. Dearing (Eds.) Health Communication Measures. New York: Peter Lang. pp. 265-278
  • Miller, C. H., & Cortes Quantip, R. J. (2017). Anger in health and risk messaging. In R. Perrott (Ed.) Encyclopedia of health and risk message design and processing, New York: Oxford University Press (pp. 117-128).
  • Miller, C. H., & Landau, M. J. (2008). Communication and the causes and costs of terrorism: A terror management theory perspective. In D. O'Hair, R. Health, & G. Ledlow, (Eds.), Terrorism: Communication and rhetorical perspectives. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press (pp. 93-130).

Courses Taught:

  • Affective Processes in Communication
  • Communication and Emotion
  • Empirical Research Methodology
  • Health Communication
  • Interpersonal Communication
  • Nonverbal Communication
  • Persuasion and Social Influence
  • Relational Communication

Prof. Claude H. Miller, Ph.D.
Department of Communication
University of Oklahoma
610 Elm Avenue, Room 125b
Norman, Oklahoma 73019
United States of America

  • Work: (405) 325-0861
  • Mobile: 405.234.0455
  • Fax: (405) 325-7625

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