Department of Sociology
Brian Colwell 
Assistant Professor
Brian Colwell received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 2006. His research and teaching interests are in the areas of social psychology, group processes, social order, social control, and research methods.
| Research Interests : | Publications |
The thrust of my research is to better understand how social context can influence the development, strength, and substance of social bonds. My specific projects are an expression of this basic interest.
I have researched the quality of social bonds among prison inmates in the California prison system. This project specifically looks at how inmates determine one another’s trustworthiness as well as the role of status appraisals in the regulation and organization of inmate social life. The primary data for the project comes from in-depth interviews and a close-ended survey of 74 prison inmates held in 16 California prisons.
I am currently engaged in a collaborative project investigating how systematic variation in the goal-oriented definition of social situations impacts perceptions of one’s social relations. Data from this project will come from controlled laboratory experiments.
Drawing board projects include an exploration of how variation in prenatal and childbirth caregiving impacts the quality of the relationship between the birthing mother (and any additional family), care provider, and the newborn child. Also, I would like to compare the structural differences between the Missouri and California prison systems and what, if any, ramifications these differences have for interpersonal and intergroup social relations.
Colwell, Brian. "Deference or Respect?: Status Management Practices Among Prison Inmates". Social Psychology Quarterly. 70: 442-460. 2007
“Group Norms and Identity Congruence in Prison: The Social Context of Inmate Adaptation”. Under Development.
“‘Self-Interested’ or ‘Interested in Self’?: The Basis of Interpersonal Trust in Prison Communities”. Under Development.
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University of Missouri
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