Mass Media and Psychology

Application of Psychology in Information Technology and Mass Media

Media psychology

Media Psychology seeks an understanding of how people perceive, interpret, use, and respond to a media-rich world. In doing so, media psychologists can identify potential benefits and problems and promote the development of positive media

PSYCHOLOGY AND MEDIA: AN UNEASY

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Why do so many psychologists still regard television as nothing more than

a tin box generating visual stimuli, while the rest of the world is constantly

digesting and regurgitating its contents? One of the reasons for psychology’s

slowness in picking up on the influence of media is that, as a young

science, it has been cautious in its selection of topics for inquiry. Partly

this caution derives from its uncertain status as a science, so there has

been a neglect of topics that do not easily lend themselves to measurement,

preferably in the context of the laboratory. This caution is not peculiar

to psychology. Within academia in general, the media are not considered

a fit topic for academic research; many media researchers can recall

snooty comments from colleagues about their interest in the “trivia” and

“junk” of media culture. This attitude has trickled down to the student

body. One of my third-year students reportedly said to another, “Surely

you can’t be studying reality TV for your final year project?” These are not

stuffy, fogeyish young people, but they feel that academia is no place in

which to pick apart their leisure pursuits.

Negative attitudes to the serious study of media pervade far beyond the

academy: in the United Kingdom, even as recently as 1993, the Education

Secretary of the Conservative government referred to media studies as “cultural

Disneyland for the weaker minded” (O’Sullivan, Dutton, & Rayner,

1998, p. ix). Furthermore, the media themselves are not above pouring

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