Publications

Books

Practical Jury Dynamics2

A juror's thoughts can have more power than evidence. What can you do differently, to influence a juror's thinking?

Practical Jury Dynamics2 (LexisNexis 2008) is for both civil and criminal attorneys, drawing from research in persuasion, neuroscience, social psychology, jury research, and group dynamics. The book is organized to give attention to 3 neglected parts of every juror's Trial World:
• The bio-physiology of any juror's brain. What are a juror's mental tools and limits?
• The social psychology of a juror's perceptions. How does a juror make sense of and evaluate the behaviors of other people?
• The effects of group dynamics on a juror's vote. What happens when an individual juror becomes part of a task group?

Roger J. Dodd, trial attorney and best-selling author (with Larry Pozner) of Cross Examination: Science and Techniques said:
"Jury work is frightening, fatiguing, and leaves little time for intellectual research or reading interesting professional writings. SunWolf goes beyond all of that. SunWolf's books and teachings are ESSENTIAL to every person who dares to call herself or himself a trial lawyer. It does not matter the depth of experience of the lawyer, the type of case, or the venue—she has something to make the lawyer better on every page. No long frustrating search for the gold nugget—every page has nuggets for every level of experience. The entire bar is benefitted by this ground-breaking, interdisciplinary, unique perspective."

Jury Talk {the DVD}

Filmed with dual-cameras at a San Francisco CLE program, Dr. SunWolf shares 3-1/2 hours of cutting edge tools for every trial, including:
• Juror Competency
• Stressed, Medicated, & Sleep-Deprived Jurors
• Effect of a Juror's Religious Beliefs
• The Not-a-Question Voir Dire
• The Bio-psychology of Every Juror's Mind
• How Jurors Make Sense of the Behaviors of Other People
• The Surprising Power of God and Devil Words
• Voir Dire of Experts (so jurors disregard their opinion)
• Juror Misconduct (spotting it, preventing it, calling it out)
• Juror Notes You Want Them to Send
• New Items for Questionnaires

Peer Groups

PEER GROUPS:
EXPANDING OUR STUDY OF SMALL GROUP COMMUNICATION
[Sage Publishing 2008]

• Examines the dynamics of real world peer groups: children's play groups, adolescent cliques, street gangs, elite hot task groups, and decision-making juries.
•Brings marginalized groups and ethnicities to the stage, from African American cowboys to multi-ethnic street gangs, including the hurt of children left out of peer groups.
• Dr. SunWolf has an inviting writing style, shares the words and provocative thinking of real world group members, and draws on research from social psychology, communication, and group dynamics.

"I enjoyed the book, learned a lot, and LOVE her creativity in discussing different examples that help group constructs come to life. It represents the breadth of the new Group Communication Division in NCA better than any book I have seen."
~Professor David Seibold, University of California, Santa Barbara

Writing

One of the advantages of being a writer is that you get to talk, without being interrupted.

~SunWolf

Awards

• (2008) Santa Clara University Award for Recent Achievement in Scholarship, recognizing a tenured faculty member whose scholarly work over the previous five years represents a major contribution to a field of knowledge.
• SunWolf, & Leets, L. (2010). Peer group rejection: The stress of excluding others, being excluded, or watching group exclusion as children age. Top Paper, Group Communication Division of the National Communication Association.
• (2008) Ernest Bormann Book Award, National Communication Association, Group Division, most outstanding scholarly book in the previous two years awarded to SunWolf for Practical Jury Dynamics2: From One Juror's Trial Perceptions to the Group's Decision-Making Processes (LexisNexis).
• (2005) Award for Career Dedication to Pro Bono Work, The American Society of Trial Consultants, “In honor of your efforts to ensure compelling advocacy for indigent and capital defendants.” Recipient of the first individual award, presented at the annual conference, Philadelphia, PA.
•(2005) Most Outstanding Scholarly Article, National Communication Association, Applied Communication Division, journal publication selected for its significant contribution to scholarship in applied communication theory, research, and practice for (co-author Laura Leets), Being Left Out: Rejecting Outsiders and Communicating Group Boundaries in Childhood and Adolescent Peer Groups. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 32(3), 195-223.
• (2000) First Annual Dennis S. Gouran Research Award,National Communication Association, Group Communication Division, most outstanding scholarly journal article in previous two years, for Jurors' Intuitive Rules for Deliberation: A Structurational Approach to the Study of Communication in Jury Decision Making. Communication Monographs, 65, 282-307.• SunWolf, & Leets, L. (2003). Communication paralysis during childhood social exclusion: Social dynamics that prevent children from expressing disagreement with peer group rejection of others. Top Four Paper, Language and Social Interaction Division of the Western States Communication Association.
• SunWolf, & Leets, L. (2002). Being left out: Communicating group boundaries and resisting inclusion attempts in childhood peer groups. Top Paper, Group Communication Division of the National Communication Association.
• SunWolf (1999). Telling tales in jury deliberations: Jurors’ uses of fictionalized and factually-based storytelling in argument. Top Three Paper, Group Communication Division of the National Communication Association.
• SunWolf (1999). Unlocking the jury box: Structuring and leadership in real-life jury deliberations. Top Quantitative Paper, Commission on Communication and Law, the National Communication Association.
• SunWolf, & Seibold, D. R. (1997). Jurors' intuitive rules for deliberation: A structurational approach to the study of communication in jury decision making. Top Paper, Applied Communication Division of the National Communication Association.

Publications

• SunWolf. (in press). Understanding group dynamics using narrative methods. In A. B. Hollingshead & M. S. Poole (Eds.), Research methods for studying groups: A behind-the-scenes guide. New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis.
• SunWolf. (2010). Counterfactual thinking in the jury room. Small Group Research, 41(4), 474-494.
• SunWolf. (2010). Investigating jury deliberation in a capital murder case. Small Group Research, 41(4), 380-385.
• Frey, L. R., & SunWolf (2009). Across the applied divides: The great debates of applied communication scholarship. In L. R. Frey & K. Cissna (Eds.), Handbook of applied communication (pp. 26-54). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
• SunWolf, Frey, L. R., & Lesko, J. (2008). Story as medicine: Research on the healing effects of storytelling and storylistening. In K. Wright & S. Moore (Eds.), Applied health communication: A reader (pp. 35-61). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
• SunWolf. (2007). Facilitating death talk: Creating collaborative courtroom conversations about the death penalty between attorneys and jurors. In L. R. Frey & K. Carragee (Eds.), Communication activism (Vol. 1, Communication for social change, pp. 273-309). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
• SunWolf (2006). The shadow side of social gift-giving: Miscommunication and failed gifts. Communication Research Trends, 25(3), 3-21.
• SunWolf. (2006). Decisional regret theory: Reducing the anxiety about uncertain outcomes during group decision making through shared counterfactual storytelling. Communication Studies, 57(2), 1-29.
• Honos-Webb, L., SunWolf, Hart, S., & Scalise, J. (2006). How to help after national catastrophes: Findings following 9-11. Humanistic Psychologist,34(1), 75-97.
• SunWolf. (2006). Empathic attunement facilitation: Stimulating immediate task engagement in zero-history training groups of helping professionals. In L. R. Frey (Ed.), Facilitating group communication: Innovations and applications with natural groups: Vol. 1: Facilitating group creation, conflict, and conversation (pp. 3-32). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
• SunWolf (2006). Juror stress: New challenges to juror competency. The Champion, 30(5), 10-15.
• Leets, L., & SunWolf. (2005). Adolescent rules for social exclusion: When is it fair to exclude someone else? Journal of Moral Education, 34(3), 343-362.
• SunWolf, & Frey, L. R. (2005). Facilitating group communication. In S. Wheelan (Ed.), The handbook of group research and practice (pp. 485-509). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Frey, L. R., & SunWolf. (2005). The communication perspective on group life. In S. Wheelan (Ed.), The handbook of group research and practice (pp. 159-186). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• SunWolf (2005). Rx Storytelling, prn: Storysharing as medicine. Storytelling, Self, Society, 1(2), 1-9.
• SunWolf, Frey, L. R., & Keränen, L. (2005). Rx Story-prescriptions: Healing effects of storytelling and storylistening in the practice of medicine. In L. M. Harter, P. M. Japp, & C. S. Beck (Eds.), Narratives, health, and healing: Communication theory, research, and practice (pp. 237-257). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Frey, L. R., & SunWolf (2005). The symbolic-interpretive perspective on group life. In M. S. Poole & A. Hollingshead (Eds.), Theories of small groups: Interdisciplinary perspectives (pp. 185-239). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• SunWolf (2004). Once upon a time for the soul: A review of the effects of storytelling in spiritual traditions. Communication Research Trends, 23(3), 3-19.
• Frey, L. R., & SunWolf (2004). A symbolic-interpretive perspective on group dynamics. Small Group Research, 35(3), 277-306.
• SunWolf (2004). Stories as medicine. Journal of Communication Studies, 21(2). 5-14.
• Honos-Webb, L., SunWolf, & Shapiro, J. L. (2004). The healing power of telling stories in psychotherapy. In J. D. Raskin & S. K. Bridges (Eds.), Studies in meaning 2: Bridging the personal and social in constructivist psychology. New York: Pace University Press.
• SunWolf, & Leets, L. (2004). Being left out: Rejecting outsiders and communicating group boundaries in childhood and adolescent peer groups. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 32(3), 195-223.
• SunWolf, & Leets, L. (2003). Communication paralysis during peer group exclusion: Social dynamics that prevent children and adolescents from expressing disagreement. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 22. 355-384.
• SunWolf (2003). Grief tales: The therapeutic power of folktales to heal bereavement and loss. Diving in the Moon: Honoring Story, Facilitating Healing, 4, 36-42.• SunWolf (2002). Getting to “GroupAha!”: Provoking creative processes in task groups. In L. R. Frey (Ed.), New directions in group communication (pp. 203-217). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• SunWolf, & Frey, L. R. (2001). Storytelling: The power of narrative communication and interpretation. In W. P. Robinson, & H. Giles (Eds.), The new handbook of language and social psychology (pp. 119-135). Sussex: Wiley.
• SunWolf (2001). Toxic words: How courts co-opt defense attorneys into using language that facilitates conviction. The Champion, 25(7), 28-32.
• Honos-Webb, L., SunWolf, & Shapiro, J. (2001). Towards the re-enchantment of psychotherapy: The container model of storying in treatment. Humanistic Psychologist, 29, 70-97.
• SunWolf (2000). Talking story in trial: The power of narrative persuasion. The Champion, 24(8), 26-31.
• SunWolf (1999). The pedagogical and persuasive effects of Native American lesson stories, African dilemma tales, and Sufi wisdom tales. Howard Journal of Communications, 10, 47-71.
• SunWolf, & Seibold, D. R. (1999). The impact of formal problem-solving procedures on group processes, members, and task outcomes. In L. R. Frey (Ed.), D. S. Gouran, & M. S. Poole (Assoc. Eds.), The handbook of group communication theory and research (pp. 395-431).Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• SunWolf, & Seibold, D. R. (1998). Jurors' intuitive rules for deliberation: A structurational approach to the study of communication in jury decision making. Communication Monographs, 65, 282-307.
• Cargile, A. C., & SunWolf (1998). Does the squeaky wheel get the grease? Understanding direct and indirect communication. In T. Singelis (Ed.), Teaching about race, culture and diversity (pp. 221-229).Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Seibold, D. R., Meyers, R. A., & SunWolf (1996). Communication and influence in group decision making. In R. Y. Hirokawa & M. S. Poole (Eds.), Communication and group decision making (2nd ed., pp. 242-268). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.