Description: Taking a relational approach to the study of interpersonal communication, this best-selling text helps students better understand their relationships with romantic partners, friends, and family members. Updated with the most current research findings and advances in theory, Close Encounters, Seventh Edition offers insightful examples and case studies to show how state-of-the-art research and theory can be applied to specific issues within relationships. While maintaining the spotlight on communication, authors Laura Guerrero, Peter Andersen, and Walid Afifi also emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of the study of personal relationships by including research from such disciplines as social psychology and family studies. The text covers issues relevant to developing, maintaining, repairing, and ending relationships. Both the "bright" and "dark" sides of interpersonal communication within relationships are explored, offering a comprehensive overview of the varied dynamics of close relationships. The Seventh Edition features new research on technology-mediated communication in areas such as online dating, sexting, and cancel culture.
Brief description: Laura K. Guerrero (PhD, University of Arizona, 1994) is a professor in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University, where she teaches courses in relational communication, nonverbal communication, emotional communication, research methods, and data analysis. She has also taught at the Pennsylvania State University and San Diego State University. Her research focuses on communication in close relationships, such as those between romantic partners, friends, and family members. Her research has examined both the "bright side" of personal relationships, including nonverbal intimacy, forgiveness, relational maintenance, and communication skill, and the "dark side" of personal relationships, including jealousy, hurtful events, conflict, and anger. She recently developed a theoretical framework (hurtful events response theory) to explain patterns of communication following hurtful events in close relationships. Dr. Guerrero has published more than 100 journal articles and chapters related to these topics. In addition to Close Encounters, her book credits include Nonverbal Communication in Close Relationships (coauthored with K. Floyd), Nonverbal Communication (coauthored with J. Burgoon & K. Floyd), The Handbook of Communication and Emotion (coedited with P. Andersen), and The Nonverbal Communication Reader (coedited with M. Hecht). She has received several research awards, including the Early Career Achievement Award from the International Association for Relationship Research, the Dickens Research Award from the Western States Communication Association, and the Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award from the Interpersonal Communication Division of The International Communication Association. Dr. Guerrero serves on editorial boards for several top journals in communication and relationships. She lives in Phoenix (during the school year) and San Diego (during the summer) with her husband, Vico, and their daughters, Gabrielle and Kristiana. She enjoys reading, writing fiction (when not writing nonfiction), dancing, and taking long walks in the mountains or on the beach.