Warning: T-Mobile Video May Cause Spontaneously Bursts of Smiling. (Previously published on the PsychologyToday blog "Positively Media.")As you gear up for Thanksgiving, be thankful for T-Mobile because they have once again tapped into the joyful side of humanity. Following their viral homerun with the flash mob event in Liverpool Station, T-Mobile has produced ‘Welcome Back' that is not only exuberantly entertaining and ‘feel good' but will have you looking forward to the holidays and, if not to traveling, at least to seeing family and friends. Although filmed at Heathrow Airport and shown in the U.K., it's a perfect warm-up for Americans who are getting reading for the Thanksgiving holiday and braving the most notorious travel day of the year. Thanksgiving is a holiday whose sole point is to share a meal with loved ones and feel gratitude for our blessings. It's not about buying things, hiding things, wrapping things, or watching a ball drop. It's about the tradition of … [Read more...]
How Media Psychology Contributes to Ergonomics
I received the following thoughtful question: Human factors are investigated under the scientific discipline called Ergonomics for comprehending human cognition, or the brain system, in order to design information systems within human factor limitations. How are ergonomics and media psychology related? Human physiology and cognition are obviously central issues to ergonomics and they take into account human development across the lifespan from that perspective. Media psychology also looks at the experiential aspects of human interaction with objects and environments across the lifespan. It extends the usability to the perceptions of self and self-reflection, such as, identity, self-efficacy (competence), engagement and flow (in contrast to attention), persuasion, qualitative perceptions of aesthetics, and attribution or the meaning we give to our interactions. For example: Did this experience make me feel competent or incompetent? Did I feel able to make a good … [Read more...]
Positively Media: New Blog on Psychology Today
I am very excited to announce that I have joined the blogging community on Psychology Today's website writing about the positive use of media and social technologies. My blog there is called Positively Media: How we connect and thrive with emerging technologies. The first posting is called Zen Moment: Social Media isn't a "thing," it's a state of being talks about the phenomenon of social media. Check it out! I'd love to have your feedback. … [Read more...]
