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10 Keys to Good Interactive Apps for Pre-schoolers

November 17, 2011 By 7 Comments
ostory animals

Social media has redefined "participatory" in all kinds of ways.  Social technologies and easy-to-use tools have changed fundamental assumptions about how we interact with everything, not just each other.  It's time we get used to the idea that kids these days think media is for interacting and not watching.  Parents can take comfort in knowing that interactive technology, when developed well, allows a child to actively engage in their own learning.  One such app, Wendy's Giant List of Things to Do for the iPad, has 10 qualities that would make Piaget proud. The current generation of toddlers is growing up with the expectation that media allows active play and, more excitingly, that information is something they can interact with, explore, manipulate, and share.  This attitude will be a big plus when they are old enough for science class.   Easy-to-use technologies like the iPad with its touch screen are encouraging development of interactive apps and books that are fun and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, Interactive, Psychology Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Social Networks: What Maslow Missed

November 8, 2011 By 7 Comments
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Model

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs model, developed in 1948, resonated across many disciplines, from business, technology and education to its field of origin, psychology.   It spoke to potential and to positive conceptualizations of human motivation.  As popular and widely applied as this model has been, however, insights from the use and adoption of social technologies like Facebook and Twitter, combined with increased knowledge about brains and networks, show that our understanding of Maslow’s model misses the mark in a very fundamental way.  It doesn’t give enough credit to the role of social connection. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs captivates us because it brings a sense of order to the chaos of human behavior.  Psychologists, educators, parents, and marketers have been trying to figure out what influences behavior for a long time.   In contrast to the behaviorist’s carrot and stick, both widely employed and frequently discredited, Maslow’s hierarchy has a nice … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Psychology

Unlikely Heroes: Resilience with a Dragon Tattoo

October 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment
2011-10-24-lisbeth-salander-rooney-mara

Hollywood's remake of the film from the bestseller "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"is scheduled for release just before Christmas.  It comes on the heels of the 2009 Swedish film versions of the Stieg Larsson's Millenium Triology*.  While not exactly family fare, I loved Larsson's books and I'm not the only one eager to see how Director David Fincher handles the material.  The marketing build-up to the December release, concern about the explicit sexual violence, the casting intrigues, and the inevitable comparison to the Swedish versions have, however, eclipsed the true power of the book -- the psychology, particularly of Larsson's complex anti-hero, the anti-social, computer hacker, Lisbeth Salander.   The Psychology of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo furthers this discussion. The soon to be released anthology published by BenBella  and edited by fellow PT blogger Robin Rosenberg and Shannon O'Neill, is collection of essays (including mine) examining the psychology of Lisbeth … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture & Society, Positive Psychology, Psychology Tagged With: , ,

Media Psychology: The ‘Field Whose Time Has Come’ Makes it to Times Square

August 25, 2011 By 1 Comment
2011-08-Bernie-Award-Times-Square

Dr. Bernie Luskin founded the very first media psychology doctoral program in the United States (and possibly even the whole world) at Fielding Graduate University. In his time at Fielding, I'll bet I heard Bernie say “media psychology is a field whose time has come” at least a hundred times. And he was right, because an announcement of Bernie's APA Lifetime Achievement Award, including a photo of Bernie flanked by several former students and media psychology PhDs (including me!) made it onto PRNewswire display on Times Square. I mean, really, how cool is that? Even without Times Square, the field of media psychology is definitely a field whose time has come. Media psychology is responding to the awareness that technology and mediated communication are inseparable from almost every aspect of our lives. Media psychology is also exciting because it is continually changing, challenging scholars and practitioners to evaluate and understand what is happening in the “space … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, Psychology Tagged With: , ,
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