Travis Wilson

  • Associate Professor of Psychology

Areas of Study

Education

  • BS, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1997
  • MS, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2008
  • PhD, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2011

Biography

I teach courses in developmental psychology, research methods in psychology and developmental science, and a seminar in child development. My research concerns social adaptation during middle childhood, a time when children’s competencies take flight and engender greater agency to live cooperatively in social groups.

I study developmental processes of children’s peer relations in school settings and links between children’s peer relations and academic motivation. Because children’s relationships are dynamic (they gain and lose friends all the time) and multilayered (they are immersed in friendship dyads, peer groups, and neighborhood environments), I also have interests in social network analysis and other innovative methodologies.

Jamison, R., Wilson, T. M., & Ryan, A. M. (In press). "Too Cool for School? The relationship between coolness and academic reputation in the first year of middle school." Social Development.                       

Wilson, T.M., Rodkin, P. C., & Ryan, A. M. (2014). "The company they keep and avoid: Social goal orientation as a predictor of children’s ethnic segregation." Developmental Psychology, 50, 1116-1124. 

Rodkin, P., Ryan, A. M., Jamison, J., & Wilson, T.M. (2013). "Social goals in middle childhood: Relations to social behavior and social status." Developmental Psychology, 49, 1139-1150.

Wilson, T.M., & Rodkin, P. C. (2013). "Children’s cross-ethnic relations in contemporary elementary schools: Concurrent and prospective associations between ethnic segregation and social status." Child Development, 84, 1081-1097.

Wilson, T., Perry, M., & Anderson, C. J. (2012). "Sustaining scientific inquiry: Prompting children for meaningful reflection." Instructional Science, 40, 19-46.

Wilson, T., Karimpour, R., & Rodkin, P. C. (2011). "African American and European American students’ peer groups during early adolescence: Structure, status, and academic achievement." Journal of Early Adolescence, 3174-98.

Wilson, T., & Rodkin, P. C. (2011). "African American and European American children in diverse elementary classrooms: Social integration, social status, and social behavior." Child Development, 82, 1454-1469. 

Wilson, T., & Rodkin, P. C. (2011). "Peer relations of Latina/o children in Midwest U.S. elementary schools". In N. Cabera, F. Villarruel, & H. Fitzgerald (Eds.), Latina and Latino children’s mental health (pp. 117-148). New York: Praeger. 

Garandeau, C. F., Wilson, T., & Rodkin, P. C. (2010). "The popularity of elementary school bullies in gender and racial context." In S. R. Jimerson, S. M. Swearer, & D. L. Espelage (Eds.), The International Handbook of School Bullying. Mahwah, N. J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Sims, L., Perry, M., Schleppenbach, M., McConney, M., Wilson, T., & Miller, K. (2008). "Look who’s talking: Reflecting on differences in math talk in U.S. and Chinese classrooms." Teaching Children Mathematics15, 120-124. 

Rodkin, P. C., & Wilson, T. (2007). "Aggression and adaptation: Psychological record, educational promise. "In P. Hawley, T. D. Little & P. C. Rodkin (Eds.), Aggression and adaptation: The bright side to bad behavior. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. 

Rodkin, P. C., Wilson, T., & Ahn, H. J. (2007). "Social integration among African- and European-American children in majority white, majority black, and multicultural elementary classrooms." In L. Hanish & P. C. Rodkin (Eds.), Social Network Analysis and Children’s Peer Relations. San Francisco: Wiley.

Spring 2025

Research Methods II — PSYC 300
Advanced Methods in Developmental Psychology — PSYC 302
Teaching Assistant — PSYC 500
Practicum in Psychology — PSYC 501
Supervised Research in Psychology - Full — PSYC 510F
Supervised Research in Psychology - Half — PSYC 510H
Senior Portfolio — PSYC 599

News

Seeing Results

November 17, 2014

Rachel Marino ’13 applies her research to education programs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, making art-based education more accessible to students and teachers alike.