What is Media Psychology?          Pamela  Rutledge,  PhD,  MBA  

         September  2015  

Defining Narrative 1

The last half century has seen an

explosion of new media that has transformed our society

How do we understand human experience in a media-rich, globally-networked world?

Biological Imperative: Born to Communicate

From early man to present, people have invented ways to communicate and connect

+

Media + psychology = ?

How Do We Define It? • Psychology is the study of

human behavior, emotions, and cognitions

• Media includes all forms of mediated communications and technologies

• Multi-disciplinary

• Continually changing

Why  Do  We  Define  Media  Psychology?  

• Set the compass and standards of a field

• Frame the work of its practitioners

• Create an intellectual basis for exchange and integration

• Inform the public

Cognitive

Positive

Constructivist

Social

Narrative

Developmental

Psychologists Often Disagree Complex Systems

Neuropsych Individual Differences

5  Major  PerspecDves  

Biological  • EvoluDonary  • Neuroscience  

Psycho-­‐dynamic  • Freud  

Behavioral  • Skinner  

CogniDve  •  Piaget  

HumanisDc  • Carl  Rogers  

Different  views  on  the  roots  of  human  development  and  behavior  

Theory Changes Questions We Ask •  Narrative •  Social •  Developmental •  Positive •  Personality •  Emotions •  Attitudes/Beliefs •  Preferences •  Perception

Psychology  is  Really  Old  

Phineas  Gage  1848  

Neuropsychology & Evolutionary Psychology

§  Biological and evolutionary explanations for behaviors and emotions

§  Triune brain theory §  Implications for research on

attachment style, relational style, attention, fear, persuasion, addiction as related to media use and influence

Psychoanalytic Theory

þ Focus is on understanding conscious and unconscious processes

þ Developed by Sigmund Freud

þ Theorists: Horney, Adler, Erikson, Jung, Fromm, Rank, Klein, Sullivan

þ Basis for understanding personality and elements of media effects tradition, uses and gratifications, parasocial relationships

Behaviorism  þ People  respond  to  environmental  sDmuli  without  his/her  

mental  state  being  a  factor  þ People  learn  behaviors  through  condiDoning  

þ Operant  –  making  a  connecDon  through  reinforcement  of  posiDve  or  negaDve  rewards  

þ Classical  –  naturally  occurring  sDmulus  paired  with  learned  response  

þ Pavlov,  Skinner,  Watson,  Hull  (drive  reducDon),  Bandura  (social  learning)  

Humanistic Psychology

þ Holistic view that focus is on the human context for motivations, attitudes and needs

þ Rogers, Fromm, Maslow, Sullivan

þ People select media experiences that satisfy cognitive, social and emotional needs

Cognitive Psychology þ Cognitive Revolution

þ  Reaction to Behaviorism þ  Perception, Language, Attention, Memory, Problem Solving, Decision

Making and Judgment, Intelligence

þ Among the theorists: þ Early: Gestalt Wertheimer, Wundt, þ Chomsky, Broadbent, Gardner, Piaget þ Bruner, Beck, Seligman

þ Applicability for media psychologists includes:

þ Usability, developmental appropriateness of technology and content, Information comprehension, schemas, categorization, belief formation, perception and learning styles

Social Learning/Social Cognition • Bandura • Learning in a social

context • People can learn by

observing from others • Behaviorist perspective

vs. Cognitive perspective • Learning can occur

without a change in behavior

• Basis for research on violence, stereotype emulation, media framing

Evolved into Social Cognition

Overt  Behavior  

Environment  Individual  Factors  

þ Roots in social psychology

þ Theorists have moved toward this perspective from other schools of thought þ  Bandura

þ  Bruner

þ  Allport

þ  Festinger

þ Reciprocal Determinism

Social Constructionism

• Shifts emphasis to social dimension

• People construct beliefs about the world from their interactions with other people, environments, and culture

• Learning is most successful when people provide “scaffolding” to help learners reach the next level

• Basis for most research on identity development, multiple intelligences

• Major theorists: Vygotsky, Gergen, and Mead

Social  Psychology  

þ Social  idenDty  þ Group  affiliaDon  

þ Group  behaviors  þ Stereotypes  þ Social  influence  þ CogniDve  dissonance  

þ Sherif  –summer  camp/group  conflict  

þ Tajfel  –  social  idenDty  þ Asch  –  social  influence  þ Cialdini  –  persuasion,  social  influence  

þ FesDnger    

Narrative: The Storied Nature of Life þ Narrative provides

• Meaning and identity • Sharing of narratives • Basis for organizing, making meaning and sharing of

experience • Universal themes, archetypes and myths • McAdams, Josselson, Polkinghorne, Bruner, Jung, Campbell • Related theories:

•  Presence •  Narrative transportation •  Mirror neurons

Developmental Psychology •  Maturation across the lifespan where development progresses

through stages, transitions, relational skills, or life tasks •  Many draw from psychoanalytic theory and identified stages that

must be successfully mastered for healthy development •  Names to know: Erikson, Piaget, Bowlby, Ainsworth

Positive Psychology

•  Focus is on the empirical study of •  Positive emotions

•  Optimism •  Resilience •  Self-Efficacy •  Trust

•  Strengths–based traits •  Healthy institutions and systems

•  Seligman, Csikszentmihalyi, Deiner, Fredrickson, Lyubomirsky

•  Relevant to development of prosocial media including public service messaging, learning technologies, gaming, usability

What Does a Media Psychologist Do?

•  Many specializations combine the knowledge of psychology and media applications

•  Design and production •  Assessment and evaluation of technology, interfaces, usability, and

content, developmental and cognitive fit •  Industry specific solutions: education, media literacy, healthcare,

marketing, entertainment, public policy, social support

Media Psychology:

Psychology for the 21st Century þ Ability to evaluate and anticipate impact: þ Individual and social interaction þ Access to information þ Content production and distribution þ Disruption þ Dissolving boundaries

Why media psychology? Media and technology have

inherent moral issues Psychology is unique in its focus on the health and wellbeing of individuals and society

Pamela Rutledge, PhD, MBA prutledge@fielding.edu Twitter: @pamelarutledge Blog: www.psychologytoday.com/blog/positively-media

         

Thank you!!