Psychology in media

Introduction

The human-media dynamic has become more universal and integral to human functioning than ever before. Demand for media psychologists is growing exponentially as the media impact on human behavior becomes more profound and complex. Need of psychology in media has emerged due to a social and commercial demand for the application of psychological theory and research into media impact in both academic and non-academic settings. Psychology has become essential in media for understandings of how people understand, use, and respond to today’s media-rich world to identify potential benefits and problems and promote the developmental positive media. The need to understand media has increased with its ability to influence and inform. Each media innovation raises new psychological questions that often are discussed in public and in the mass media which has caused to emerge new branch of study know as Media Psychology.

Objective

This paper is written to explain the need and importance of psychology in the academic and professional field of media. It deals with questions like why psychology has become one of the discipline media students has to study. It also discusses on new branch of psychology, Media Psychology and what it deals with.

Discussion

The media have come to be integral parts of a variety of social institutions such as schools, hospitals, political and military systems, even religions, and their real and virtual assemblies. The media shape the way news gathering and transmission, advertisings, political processes and campaigns, wars, diplomacy, education, entertainment, and socialization are conducted. Media not only informs but its impact on human behavior has becomes more profound and complex. For example, television has changed the way sports are played, as it demands game rules to speed up on-field action in order to keep the home viewing audience watching the commercials between plays. News about celebrities push off the front pages and out of prime time news agendas and people know more about American Idol’s Paula and less about Islam’s Osama and Russia’s Putin.

Psychological analysis on media addresses human behavior and mental processes related to media: Which thoughts and feelings, which physical reactions and actions emerge in different individuals in different situations and cultures, before, during, and after the usage of media? Issues like the effect of prosocial games in children, the effect of social networks in growth and behavior to the issues of how humor is used to create hope and Influence of Media on the Predisposition to Conflict are to be analyzed and discussed which demand the knowledge of both fields.

It deals with the issues of over all effect of media. It deals with the issues like narcotizing

dysfunction. The term refers to a social consequence of mass media. It believes that with so many news, media and issues being informed to public, the public are becoming apathetic and shows only superficial concern for the problems of society. It hypothesize that the constant flood of information and news has a narcotizing rather than an energizing effect on the audience.

Issues covered by both media and psychology, and the vast field where these discipline overlap has resulted in a new field of study. Media Psychology is one of the most exciting and innovative branches of Psychology to emerge in the 21st century. It is an applied and research branch of psychology and part of a larger international and interdisciplinary trend in understanding the impact media have on individuals and groups. Media psychology is a specialized and highly-regarded discipline within psychology that has far-reaching implications for all of those involved in media production.

Conclusion

To summarize, study of psychology in media is necessary to analyze the human behavior, especially so in an increasingly media-dominated society. Its dimension captures the worlds of entertainment and advertising and their short- and long-term impact on values, attitudes and behavior. It is important to explore the media from psychological aspect as they exert influence on social, educational and strategic communications, on Information Technology and telecommunications, on politics and sports, on ideology and on religion, on war and peace and on diplomacy and terrorism, and on physical and psychological wellbeing.

References:

• What Does a Media Psychologist Do? Dr. Pamela Rutledge April 5th, 2009
• Journal of Media Psychology, Media Psychology Research Institute (MPRI)
• http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/sfischo/index.html
• http://www.mprcenter.org/mpr/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_psychology