Christopher R. Agnew is Professor and Head of the Department of Psychological Sciences at Purdue University. He received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research focuses on close, interpersonal relationships. He has published widely, authoring more than 60 journal articles and chapters. His research has received funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Dr. Agnew serves on the editorial boards for the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, and Personal Relationships. He was the recipient of the Early Career Award from the Relationships Researchers Interest Group of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology and is an elected Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and the American Psychological Association. He is currently President-Elect of the International Association for Relationship Research.

Recent Publications:

Agnew, C. R., Arriaga, X. B., & Wilson, J. E. (2008).  Committed to what? Using the Bases of Relational Commitment Model to understand continuity and changes in social relationships. In J. P. Forgas & J. Fitness (Eds.), Social relationships: Cognitive, affective and motivational processes (pp.147-164).New York: Psychology Press.

Arriaga, X. B., Agnew, C. R., Capezza, N., & Lehmiller, J. J. (2008). The social and physical environment of relationship initiation: An interdependence analysis.  In S. Sprecher, A. Wenzel, & J. Harvey (Eds.), Handbook of relationship initiation (pp.197-215).  New York: Psychology Press.

Lehmiller, J. J., & Agnew, C. R. (2008). Commitment in age-gap heterosexual romantic relationships: A test of evolutionary and socio-cultural predictions.  Psychology of Women Quarterly, 32, 74-82.

Etcheverry, P. E., & Agnew, C. R. (2008).  Romantic partner and friend influences on young adult cigarette smoking: Comparing close others’ smoking and injunctive norms over time.  Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 22, 313-325.

Goodfriend, W., & Agnew, C. R. (2008).Sunken costs and desired plans: Examining different types of investments in close relationships.  Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 1639-1652.

Agnew, C. R. (2009). Commitment, theories and typologies. In H. T. Reis & S. K. Sprecher (Eds.), Encyclopedia of human relationships (Vol. 1, pp. 245-248). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Agnew, C. R., & VanderDrift, L. (2009). Survey methods in relationship research. In H. T. Reis & S. K. Sprecher (Eds.), Encyclopedia of human relationships (Vol. 3, pp. 1611-1615). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Etcheverry, P. E., & Agnew, C. R. (2009).  Similarity in cigarette smoking attracts: A prospective study of romantic partner selection by own smoking, smoker prototype, and perceived approval.  Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 23, 632-643.

Hoffman, A. M., Agnew, C. R., Lehmiller, J. J., & Duncan, N. T. (2009). Satisfaction, alternatives, investments, and the microfoundations of audience cost models.  International Interactions, 35, 365-389.

VanderDrift, L. E., Agnew, C. R., & Wilson, J. E. (2009). Non-marital romantic relationship commitment and leave behavior: The mediating role of dissolution consideration. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 1220-1232.

Agnew, C. R. (2010).  Committed to relationship science: Lessons from Rusbult. Personal Relationships, 17, 150-151.

Agnew, C. R., Carlston, D. E., Graziano, W. G., & Kelly, J. R. (Eds.) (2010). Then a Miracle Occurs: Focusing on Behavior in Social Psychological Theory and Research.  New York: Oxford University Press.

Le, B., Smoak, N. D., Agnew, C. R., Korn, M. S., & Mutso, A. A. (2010). Predicting non-marital romantic relationship dissolution: A meta-analytic synthesis.  Personal Relationships, 17, 377-390.

Rusbult, C. E., & Agnew, C. R. (2010). Prosocial motivation and behavior in close relationships. In M. Mikulincer & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Prosocial motives, emotions, and behavior (pp. 327-345). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Lehmiller, J. J. & Agnew, C. R. (2011).  May-December paradoxes: An exploration of age-gap relationships in Western Society.  In W. R. Cupach & B. H. Spitzberg (Eds.), The dark side of close relationships II (pp.39-61).  New York: Routledge.

Etcheverry, P. E., Hoffman, N. G., & Agnew, C. R. (in press).  Romantic partner influence on young adult cigarette smoking: Testing a behavioral mechanism.  Social Influence.

Kelly, J. R., & Agnew, C. R. (in press).  Conceptualizing and assessing behavior.  In K. Deaux & M. Snyder (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Personality and Social Psychology.  New York: Oxford University Press.

Rusbult, C. E., Agnew, C. R., & Arriaga, X. B. (in press). The Investment Model of Commitment Processes. In P. A. M. Van Lange, A. W. Kruglanski, & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Handbook of theories of social psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

VanderDrift, L. E., Lewandowski, G. W., Jr. & Agnew, C. R. (in press). Reduced self-expansion in current romance and interest in relationship alternatives.  Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.