Special Interest Group Reports

Media First Response Consultation to Offset Psychological Risks for Communities during Crises: An Update Mary Gregerson, PhD mary.gregerson@aol.com, oltowne@aol.com Christopher J. Ferguson, PhD cjfergus@stetson.edu Rodney L. Lowman, PhD rllowman@gmail.com June Wilson, PhD, RN june.wilson@dominican.edu The Fall/Winter 2014  Amplifier Magazine had the first report on the training called Media First Response (MFR; https://div46amplifier.com/2014/12/11/make-a-difference-media-first-response-is-crisis-media-consultation-for-community-leaders-and-journalists/) being sponsored by…

Committee Reports

APA Toronto Convention Program Committee Report Program Highlights: Media Psychology For Good Chair: Pamela Rutledge, PhD Pamelarutledge@gmail.com The Division 46 theme for the upcoming 2015 Convention in Toronto is “Media Psychology For Good.” In keeping with this focus, Division 46 has a rich line-up of symposia that explore the positive impact, use, and potential of…

Member News

Dr. Frank Farley has been honored by the Pennsylvania Psychological Association (PPA) with its highest award for public contributors to psychology, the “Psychology in the Media Award.” His contributions as a public intellectual cover all forms of media including television, radio, newspapers, magazines, blogs and Internet sites. Recent contributions, with the average usually over 100…

All the Lonely People: Music on Life’s Discordant Journey

Don Baird The Chicago School of Professional Psychology dbaird3k@gmail.com A review of Living is easy with eyes closed (2013) (Original title: Vivir es fácil con los ojos cerrados) Director: David Trueba; Producer: Christina Huete; Strand Releasing When psychologist Abraham Maslow began his studies of self-actualization, he sought to include the importance of the arts in…

Detoxing Negative Thoughts

Kathryn Stamoulis, PhD Associate Editor Review of Book O’Gorman, P. A. (2014). The Girly Thoughts 10-Day Detox. Health Communications Inc., $12.95. Many people are weighed down with negative thinking, “the shoulds,” “the oughts,” and “the musts.” For women there is much noise out there that contributes to their having many “shoulds,” “oughts,” and “musts” thoughts.…

Student Spotlight: Boontarika “Boonie” Sripom

Shayne Aquino, PsyD Student The Chicago School of Professional Psychology Aquino.shayne@gmail.com Boontarika “Boonie” Sripom has actively engaged in disseminating psychology since graduating from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology with her Master’s in Clinical Psychology in 2013. On her website Organized Messes, Boonie describes herself as an “artist, geek, and gamer interested in reducing stigmas…

Brands Harnessing Digital Marketing to Maintain Superiority Over Consumer Reviews

Heidi West, MA Student Fielding Graduate University hwest@email.fielding.edu For decades, businesses have studied consumer behavior, tracked spending trends, and developed products for the consumers. With the onset of the digital age, consumers might have assumed that the Internet provided an opportunity to level the playing field. The democracy of the Internet allowed consumers to study…

The Digital Drug

Don Grant, MA, MFA, CCDC, PhD StartAgain Media, Los Angeles doctordeeg@gmail.com A synthetic “drug” of pandemic global proportions has now emerged as potentially the most dangerously addictive threat across all population demographics. Easily accessible, completely legal, and designed for mass distribution via attractive packaging, the drug can be purchased over the counter and is often…

Still Divided: Technology and Inequality

Jasmin Tahmaseb McConatha, PhD JTahmasebMcConatha@wcupa.edu Michael J. Corcoran, MA MC671887@wcupa.edu West Chester University of Pennsylvania One way of maintaining a sense of competence as we age is to become technologically skilled. In the past, Internet users have been younger, more educated, and affluent people who enjoy economic and social resources (Carpenter & Buday, 2007). That…

Evolution of Television in Pakistan

Shahbaz Siddiqui, MSc OP Nucleus Media shahbaz@nucleusmediagroup.com Pakistan’s television industry has evolved in the last 50 years starting with the launching of Pakistan Television (PTV) in 1964 as a privately owned channel licensed by the Government of Pakistan. PTV was initially financed by Wajid Ali, a leading industrialist, in collaboration with Japan’s Nippon Electric Company…

Branded Content and Transmedia Storytelling

Billie Goldman Intel Billie.goldman@intel.com For media psychologists, working on the frontiers of individuals’ interactions with new media technology, social films present a fascinating opportunity to inform, educate, and effect social change. The recent success of Intel and Toshiba’s social film marketing campaign is evidence that engaging storytelling across media technologies can influence people’s behaviors. In…

Do Sex and Violence Sell?

Robert B. Lull, MA lull.4@osu.edu Brad J. Bushman, PhD bushman.20@osu.edu The Ohio State University Industry projections estimate US advertising revenue will reach $187 billion in 2015 (Lunden, 2015). A single business with that amount of revenue would place 4th on the Fortune 500 list — ahead of Apple, General Motors, and Ford. As media researchers, we…

From the Editor: My First Experience With a Reporter

V. Krishna Kumar, PhD kkumar@wcupa.edu In the early 1960s some university and technical training centers in the USA and former USSR employed electronic student response systems during lectures to measure student’s comprehension via multiple-choice items. Students responded by pressing response keys, usually five or fewer, and the percentages of students selecting various options were displayed…

APA Council of Representatives Report: February 2015 Meeting

Elizabeth Carll, PhD drcarll@optonline.net A full day was allotted to Council’s new responsibility focusing on strategic mega issues relating to psychology. The topic agreed upon was Translating Science into Policy. In addition to the usual 600 page agenda, Council also received reading assignments to prepare for the discussions so that all members would have a…

Past-President’s Column: Forensic Media Psychology: A Growing Professional Specialty

Bernard Luskin, EdD bernieluskin@gmail.com In a previously published analysis in my Psychology Today column, The Media Psychology Effect, I outlined the emergence of Forensic Media Psychology (FMP) as a professional specialty in psychology. In this essay, I highlight the importance of this emerging specialty and the ensuing professional opportunities increasingly available as the field grows…