On our challenging call to action
UCLA School of Education & Information Studies
In 1998, Lilly Friedland and I conducted an American Psychological Association (APA) Division 46 task force study that has been central in defining the scope, challenge, and opportunity in media psychology. More than 25 years, a quarter century, has now passed and the media psychology agenda has advanced. As our culture has become increasingly human-centered and screen-deep, media psychology has experienced growing importance in computer science, psychology, engineering, and all fields where human communication is essential. Marshall McLuhan is famously quoted as saying, “The medium is the message.” Today, one can add that “Media psychology explains the message.” Smartphones, tablets, fitness trackers, televisions and all manner of wearables are hyperpersonalized and screen-deep. For some, a screen is the last thing you see at night and first thing in the morning.
The APA’s Society for Media Psychology and Technology is a world leader in the study and analysis of effects and implications of media on individual behavior and in society. Media psychology offers a social thermometer for measuring social change. It studies human neural networks as they are emulated in artificially simulated applications. Artificial intelligence (AI) applies calculations, simulating human reasoning, problem solving methods, patterns of knowledge in applications that assist in decision making, learning and human behavior. AI applications now range from simple software to very complex networks powered by quantum physics methodology. AI is at center stage in commerce, public policy and public affairs, health care, entertainment, education, manufacturing and in literally every facet of social media and world culture. Post-pandemic, we are experiencing an AI boom similar to the dot boom at the end of the twentieth century.
Central to the vision of AI and seminal in media psychology is synesthesia: the study of the blending of the five senses of sight, sound, speech, touch and taste, and their millions of combinations. Media psychology offers a lexicon for explaining machine and human behavior including the implications of synesthesia. It offers a language in psychology and media that explains the effects of technology, and especially AI, on human behavior.
Because of recent advancement, there is an increasing need for courses, certificates, and degree programs in media psychology throughout colleges and universities teaching diverse programs. Whether it is criminal justice, engineering, sociology, economics, business, law or healthcare, teaching or learning, including media psychology is important. Graduate program examples include Stanford University, where media psychology is located in the School of Communications, New York University, where media psychology is in the School of Education, or Fielding Graduate University, where media psychology is in the School of Psychology.
The current boom in AI shines a spotlight on media psychology and is a challenging call to action in launching new courses and programs in colleges and universities. It is also a challenge to the academic members of the Society for Media Psychology and Technology, APA Division 46 to provide the important, needed leadership.
Resources
Cytowic, R.E. (1989). Synesthesia (1st ed., Vol. 1). MIT Press
Cytowic, R.E. (2024). Your stone age brain in the screen age. MIT Press.
Luskin, B.J. (2019, June 30). Synesthesia, semiotics, semantics, and how we learn (the media psychology effect). Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-media-psychology-effect/201906/synesthesia-semiotics-semantics-and-how-we-learn
Luskin, B.J., & Friedland, L. (1998). Division 46 task force study of new career opportunities in the emerging field of media psychology. American Psychological Association.
