Understanding Media Psychology

Gayle S. Stever, David C. Giles, J. David Cohen, Mary E. Myers

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000457872
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Understanding Media Psychology is the perfect introductory textbook to the growing field of media psychology and its importance in society, summarizing key concepts and theories to provide an overview of topics in the field.

Media is present in almost every area of life today, and is an area of study that will only increase in importance as the world becomes ever more interconnected. Written by a team of expert authors, this book will help readers to understand the structures, influences, and theories around media psychology. Covering core areas such as positive media psychology, the effects of gaming, violence, advertising, and pornography, the authors critically engage with contemporary discussions around propaganda, fake news, deepfakes, and the ways media have informed the COVID-19 pandemic. Particular care is also given to addressing the interaction between issues of social justice and the media, as well as the effects media has on both the members of marginalized groups and the way those groups are perceived. A final chapter addresses the nature of the field moving forward, and how it will continue to interact with closely related areas of study.

Containing a range of pedagogical features throughout to aid teaching and student learning, including vocabulary and key terms, discussion questions, and boxed examples, this is an essential resource for media psychology courses at the undergraduate and introductory master's level globally.

1 Media and Media Psychology

DOI: 10.4324/9781003055648-1

Gayle S. Stever

Source: Image by TrifF from Shutterstock

In This Chapter

• Introduction

• What Is Media?

• History of Media

• Digital Media and the 21st Century Versus Traditional Forms of Media

• Television, Then and Now

• What Is Media Psychology?

• Media Psychology Defined

• Media Literacy

• Convergence Theory

Figure 1.1 Source: www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-woman-using-smart-phonesocial-media-1573945981

Glossary

Binge-watching: Watching television episodes one after the other with at least three episodes in a row being watched at one time.

Parasocial interaction: Interaction with a media figure that is one-sided and not reciprocated.

Introduction

Media is arguably one of the most important subjects in 21st-century society, touching all aspects of community life, and has become progressively more and more a part of our lives. Our goal is to put the present reality of media use into a historical context that recognizes and reminds us that there are many kinds of media that can be divided into individual media and mass media. Many associate the term media with mass media. What is the difference?

Anytime we communicate in a way that is other than face-to-face, we are using media. Individual media include (but are not limited to) telephone, text messages, email, physical letters, video conferencing, fax machine . . . any time the communication is among a small number of individuals. The mediated nature of interpersonal communication might possibly be the biggest change in the media landscape in the past two decades.While individual email accounts came into widespread use in the 1990s, it was not until the early 2000s that a larger percentage of people had cell phones. The introduction of the smartphone resulted in even bigger changes in interpersonal media. These changes are discussed throughout this book.

We also discuss mass media, which is any time a communication is intended for a large audience. Films, television, websites, newspapers, radio broadcasts, and the like are all part of mass media. While it is tempting to think that media psychology today is more about digital media than traditional media, television is still one of the most used modes of news consumption and entertainment in Western culture.

Three prominent aspects of media psychology are media effects, the effects of both the content of media and the technology associated with media, media processes such as perception and attention, and media literacy, which includes the optimum way to mitigate against the potential pitfalls that can come along with media use (Raney, Janicke-Bowles, Oliver, & Dale, 2021). All of these are discussed in some depth throughout this book.

Each of the 14 chapters in this book has, in addition to the content for that topic, questions, a glossary, and references. The website that is a companion to this book has further help for facilitating your learning.

What Is Media?

What is the role that media plays in the day-to-day life of the 21st-century world? It has been argued that we live “in” rather than “with” media (Deuze, 2011). If this is so, people have adapted to the continuous presence of media and assimilated it into the non-mediated aspects of their lives. As media becomes a greater part of our lives, it also becomes more invisible to us on a conscious level. We become habituated to the presence of media, and thus, we become less aware of its influence on a day-to-day or even minute-to-minute basis.

Think of it as being like electricity. There was a time in human life when electricity was not a pervasive part of every aspect of life. At that time, it was easy to sort out what part of life involved electricity and what parts did not. As it became more available, fewer and fewer things were done apart from electricity. Cooking, cleaning, reading, even outdoor camping became infused with electricity. At one time, we considered whether a situation involved electricity, but now, it is taken for granted that almost everything will involve the use of electricity. In addition, and more important for this analogy, we do not think or talk about it much at this point in human history. It is a nondiscursive aspect of our shared lives together.

Media has become like that, where we spend so much time in mediated worlds that we no longer consider those parts of our lives as being separate from the rest of our lives. Consider what happens to you during a power failure. This recently happened to me, and while I was seeking alternate forms of power for basic needs (lighting, cooking, warmth), I was also seeking forms of media that did not require my homes electricity (books, newspapers, battery-powered radios, my cell phone that did not depend on my local wireless for a signal).When the availability of the media I’m used to having was cut off, I was sent scrambling to replace those mediated sources of information and interaction with alternative forms to meet those needs that have developed as a result of always having media available, each and every day.

Thus, the nondiscursive presence of media during every waking moment of our lives and the resulting influence this has on our thoughts and behaviors are two of the key subjects of this book. I see references to “the media” as if it were some distant concept unrelated to us as individuals. Nothing could be further from the truth. When a finger is pointed at “the media” as some kind of negative societal force, that finger needs to be pointing right back at each one of us.The fact is that society would not be able to survive as it is without mediated messages. It is the responsibility of each of us to approach media messages (both the ones we send and the ones we consume) with integrity and honesty. Chapter 8 talks about the occasions when media is used for propaganda or “fake news.”

Note in my preceding example that “media” was a source of information. When we look at the primary functions of media, they can be described, first, as sources of information but, second, as ways for social connection. Think of the telephone. If I call someone, I might first be looking for information from that person. “What time are we getting together? Where will we meet? What am I supposed to bring?” But I also might just be looking for a connection to that person that conveys care and concern. “How are you doing? What do you have planned? How are you feeling?” In the case of someone to whom I am very close, I might just be looking for proximity. “I called because I wanted to hear your voice. I called to remind you that you matter to me. I called in order to spend time with you.”The telephone is a form of interactive media where two or more people connect in order to share something.

Think of television. There are numerous reasons to turn on the television. Again, I might be looking for information. I turn on the news to see what the weather will be, which roads are closed, or what has happened of importance during the day. More often, the television is turned on in order to experience various kinds of entertainment. My favorite program, a sporting event, a musical performance ... all these things are forms of entertainment that keep a person engaged and mitigate boredom. Television as we experience it is not usually interactive. Nothing I do in real time affects what is going on with what I am watching. There are exceptions to this.The experimental program Rising Star in 2014 showcased new talent and had viewers use cell phones to vote from home for their favorite singers. Thus far in media, this kind of television is rare, but a day could be coming when it is more common.

As we discuss media, we will reflect on the purposes of various kinds of media and the roles that media plays in our daily lives.

History of Media

Figure 1.2The invention of the printing press by Gutenberg.

Any history of media usually begins with the printing press, dated to about 1440 and invented by Johannes Gutenberg. This invention changed the rate at which material could be printed and arguably changed the course of human society for all time. But it was not until the 1700s that daily newspapers became prominently available, and this was more likely to mark the time of mass consumption of printed material on a day-to-day basis, material that evolved and changed with the times and that spread information to a wider and wider audience. At about the same time, magazines, or periodicals as they were often called, also began being published and distributed. These were the most prominent forms of “mass media” until the advent of radio in the 1920s. At this point, changes in the media landscape started to come very quickly, with television and film and, then by 1975, the advent of the personal computer. In each case, there is a period between the introduction of each new medium and its widespread adoption, but clearly change was the order of the day in the 20th century.

Digital Media and the 21st Century vs. Traditional Forms of Media

An important feature of media to consider is that it is in a constant state of change. Not only is media today very different from what it was 50 years ago, but media today also does not necessarily look the same as it did a year ago or will look a year from now It is not just change but also the rapid rate of change that makes the role of media in our society so difficult to grasp. In the 1970s, mediated forms of communication consisted primarily of books, television, radio, newspapers, and magazines. Immediate communication with various other parts of the world was only possible through wireless transmissions accessible only to a very few people or telephone calls that, for other parts of the world, were so expensive as to be impractical for the average everyday message. Even by the early 1990s, telegraph, telephone, and FAX communication were the main ways that the average person could communicate with far away continents.

The internet changed all that. Beginning in the 1990s, it became progressively easier to communicate instantly with people around the world. Traditional forms of media gave way to digital forms of media. In the 2020s, it is possible to communicate instantly with anyone in the world who has access to the internet. This communication can involve written words, images, sounds, and videos. In such a context, it becomes possible to carry on communication and thus relationships with people anywhere in the world.

Figure 1.3

It is also important to recognize that while the newer forms of digital communication make it possible to connect with anyone in the world who has access to the internet, all the traditional forms of media still exist and have an influence on a subset of the population. For example, talk radio still exists and people still listen to radio programs and are influenced by them. Daily newspa...