It’s Getting Easier – AND Harder To Give Psychology Away

Pauline Wallin, PhD Private Practice, Camp Hill, PA drwalling@drwallin.com In his 1969 APA President’s address, Dr. George Miller exhorted psychologists to give psychology away. We diligently got to work, doing community presentations and writing articles, opinion pieces, and self-help books. We were interviewed by news reporters and magazine writers. A few of us had call-in…

Media Psychology, Ethics and Persuasive Design

Wayne Warburton, PhD Macquarie University wayne.warburton@mq.edu.au One issue for media psychologists is that media and technology industries are sometimes driven by different motivators than are most of the psychologists who study them and work with them. Notably, most media and technology entities are for-profit organizations who must compete successfully in a crowded marketplace to be…

Involving Students in Media Literacy Plan Creation and Implementation

Megan Hopper, PhD Illinois State University khopper@ilstu.edu Joshua Fitzgerald, MS Illinois State University Jifitz1@ilstu.edu & Alexander Kritselis, MS Illinois State University agkrits@ilstu.edu Media scholars and educators are often avid media consumers conflicted by their awareness of the negative impact the media can have on individuals (including themselves) and their enjoyment of multiple forms of popular…

The Motivational Pull of Television Dramas

Paul Adachi, PhD University of Rochester padachi@ur.rochester.edu Binge watching hit drama TV series seems to be a common practice these days.  Americans spend over 30 hours a week watching TV and dramas are among the most popular genres (Nielsen, 2012, 2017).  Although media psychologists have long been interested in why people watch TV, my colleagues…

The Unresponsive #Cyberbystander: Why Don’t We Help

Kelly P. Dillon, PhD Department of Communication, Wittenberg University dillonk@wittenberg.edu @KellyPDillon We know from decades of anecdotes, observations, and scientific research that it is critical to make bystanders aware of emergencies occurring in their immediate environment. In the post-9/11 era, the phrase “see something, say something” captured the idea succinctly. But what about less obvious…