What Is A Media Psychologist?

A media psychologist is a psychologist who specializes in applying psychological science to understand and predict how people interact with and are impacted by media and technology.  Whereas other disciplines related to media and technology focus on the ‘what,’ media psychology looks at the ‘why’ of how individuals and society use, develop, produce and distribute media.  For some time, there have been two common misconceptions about media psychology.  The first was that ‘media’ means mass media. The second was that being a media psychologist implies you are a clinical psychologist who appears in the media.  The rapid growth of media and technology over the last few years has begun to shift that image. Yet the definition is still hard to explain because media psychology reaches far beyond any single medium.  Media psychology is a discipline that uses psychology to study and understand mediated experience--any interaction where technology facilitates or filters human experience.

Why Media Psychology?

The rapid spread of technology over the last fifty years has left few places on earth untouched by technology. The social and economic consequences have been dramatic.  The cell phone is the most rapidly adopted consumer technology in world history, making communication technology both personal and mobile.  In the U.S., not only has cell phone ownership among U.S. adults long passed the 95% mark, but over 80% of mobile subscribers have smartphones, enabling mobile video, music, gaming, and social network consumption.  In sub-Saharan Africa, mobile penetration is over 75% of the population. Rural farmers in Ghana are able to access the prices of corn and tomatoes before making the over-200 mile trip to market.  Citizens from around the globe participate in political and social events as they ripple across the world, real-time, on social media.  We have smartphones, smart cars, smart houses and, before long, smart cities.  Mobile networks provide access to social groups, education, entertainment, health and social services, and career and commercial opportunities; they allow us to offload our daily tasks with the click of a button.  Technology increasing enables virtual connections and environments.  These implications of these issues just skim the surface of media psychology.

Media psychologists study the underlying psychological dynamics of how people interact with media and technology in order to find solutions and innovations across multiple fields. Media psychologists work in industries across almost every domain, from academia to high-tech businesses and from healthcare to all variety of entertainment.  Here is a glimpse of some research and applied questions media psychologists deal with in different industries.

Marketing and communications:

• How do I create engagement with my customers?
• How do I build a brand story?
• What is narrative persuasion?

Game and virtual reality development:

• How does virtual game play impact individual beliefs about self-efficacy, resiliency, or social dynamics?  
• How can we create compelling nonlinear narratives?

Fundraising:

• What are the elements that allow us to attract and engage attention and emotion when the audience moves from screen to screen?  
• How do I speak to my donors needs?

Education:

• How do I effectively support learning styles using technology?
• How do I create appropriate boundaries when my students want to friend me on Facebook?
• How do I communicate the value of digital citizenship or prepare students to find and evaluate good information?
• Advocacy, NGOs and nonprofits:
• How can I effectively leverage technology to deliver social services to diverse populations?

Governments:

• How can we construct and use media technologies that promote positive social values?  
• How do we sensibly regulate the use of big data, facial recognition and misinformation?

Business:

• How do we establish appropriate social media and communication guidelines for our employees?
• How should we communicate with our customers in a social environment?  

Entertainment:

• How can we create immersive environments by developing multiplatform strategies
• How do social technologies disrupt traditional business models and what can we do to protect ourselves from extinction?
• How do I understand audience responses to my content?

Healthcare:

• How can we create a mobile app that meaningfully supports a patient’s health?
• How do we use technology to make information transfer easier and safer?
• How can we design content to support positive lifestyle change?

Technology development:

• What is it that people are trying to do where technology can make it better, easier, or faster?

If you are intrigued or inspired by any of these questions, then media psychology may be the perfect path for you.  If you have questions I missed, please let me know!