Campaigning for the 2024 elections is in full swing. It has been projected that the 2023-2024 election cycle will be the most expensive in history, with political expenditures expected to reach $10.2 billion, spread across broadcast, cable, radio, satellite, digital, and connected television (AdImpact, n.d.). Throughout this year-long political season, many campaign messages will be…
In 1998, Lilly Friedland and I conducted an APA Media Psychology Division 46 task force study that has been central in establishing and expanding the scope, challenge and opportunity in media psychology. More than twenty-five years, i.e., a quarter century, has now passed and the media psychology agenda has advanced. As our culture has become…
Superhero Identification: From PJ Masks to Marvel Universe
Please enjoy the Fall/Winter 2023 issue of The Amplifier Magazine. In its pages, we hear from our Executive Board, Media Psychology Greats and new student voices. I sincerely thank everyone who contributed their time and wisdom. I also want to extend a warm welcome to Perry Reed, who helped co-edit this issue and will go…
Ethnomusicologists tell us music is ubiquitous across time and place; the archaeological record for instance shows a rich tradition across many continents, from ancient flutes to bullroarers (Blacking, 1974; Nettl, 2015). With the advent of modern music technologies, such as synthesizers, digital sampling, stutter editing, and pitch correction, issues of aesthetics, authenticity, and the intersection…
Danny Wedding receives the Society’s 2023 Award for Distinguished Lifetime Contributions to Media Psychology and Technology
During our tenure as the Co-Chairs of the Society for Media Psychology and Technology Student Committee, we have had the privilege of contributing to and witnessing the growth of our committee and its initiatives within the Division. We have established a foundation for student involvement and engagement throughout the committee and beyond. Moreover, we have…
Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is an ambiguous mental disorder characterized by the presence of two or more personality states—called alters—within one person. Alters act, think, and feel like individual people and alternate in response to social or external stimuli. As a non-congenital disorder, alters normally begin to develop around the age of six to shield…
Our APA convention is one of my favorite weeks of the year-for me, it is like a holiday. The overflowing opportunities to reunite with dear friends, learn from exceptional scholars, participate in exciting events, and be so amazingly inspired by our student poster sessions, all wondrously amalgamate to create a synergy of enthusiasm for me…
Don Grant and Karen Shackleford have been elected as new Fellows of APA. They will be “official” in January and inducted at the 2024 convention in Seattle! We have a new Academic Chair of the Student Committee – Ayomide Tikare! She will be supporting with The Amplifier student column and student accountability groups. Danny Wedding’s Movies and Mental Illness 5th Edition will be published early…
“A central challenge [of AI] … `is how—and what—to teach it” (Kissinger et al., Italics added, p. 59)
Some of Marshal McLuhan’s provocative ideas
With the arrival of ChatGPT, the field of artificial intelligence has unintentionally, crossed into the murky territory of education. Since its launch in November 2022, ChatGPT has been subjected to significant scrutiny regarding plagiarism, privacy issues, and potential data breaches (Roose, 2023; Tlili et al., 2022). We continue to see countless think pieces being published…
Confidentiality and Reproductive Health The Council passed a policy asserting that confidentiality is central to the practice of psychology, and that psychologists should follow the APA Ethics Code when it comes to patient confidentiality surrounding reproductive health. The policy reaffirms “that a psychologist’s allegiance to the Ethics Code, including ethical standards related to patient confidentiality,…
Recently, book banning has been front and center in the news. So much so, that the best-selling author of young adult fiction Judy Blume has noted that book banning “has become political… it’s worse than it was in the 80s” and expresses concern over intolerance in the USA, “about everything, gender, sexuality, racism” (McIntosh, 2023).…
Media Matters
Have you ever been part of what you considered to be a high-performing team? Those magical synergetic experiences where the team seems energized, cohesive, and collaborative, members feel safe enough to express their thoughts and opinions (even if they’re unpopular), as well as the work gets done and goals are met. I am grateful that…
A tribute to the outgoing editor
Dr. Eileen Kennedy-Moore, a clinical psychologist and author of many traditionally published books for parents and kids about children’s feelings and friendships, started a podcast for children called Kids Ask Dr. Friendtastic. Each 5-minute episode features an audio recording of a question about friendship from a child plus an answer from her. Listen at https://DrFriendtastic.com/podcast or on…
Our use of devices-and especially the potential influence of screentime on adolescent mental and physical health-is a current topic of robust discussion (Williams, 2022), investigation (Ferguson, et al., 2022), controversy (Armitage, et al., 2023), and even legislation (Frechtling, 2023). Experts including the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry have offered their screen behavior recommendations…
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