I get a lot of questions about career paths in media psychology, particularly among those thinking of pursuing a degree in the field. I certainly empathize with that confusion--and the desire to make sure someone will give you a job if you do all that work. Media psychology, as a new field, doesn’t offer up any quick and easy answers. It's helpful to think about how to define media psychology broadly and then make it relevant to individual interests and goals. It the largest sense, media psychology is using psychological theory to understand how people use, consume, and produce media. It has applications to groups and individuals as well as nations. The word media is often assumed to be mass media, but media psychology looks at communication that is mediated by technology. Needless to say, the field paints with a pretty broad brush. Some people start with their current or hoped-for career and then target their approach to the degree in a way that supports their needs. … [Read more...]
What Does a Media Psychologist Do?
Think of media as a utility like electricity
I am frequently asked questions about studying media psychology and about what jobs exist for media psychologists. Here are a few questions I received recently: How are social networking sites viewed in Media Psychology? Are Media Psychologist working at most companies encouraged or discouraged from joining such sites? How companies feel about employees having personal information online? How are blogs, podcasts, and vodcasts used in the job? Most of the answers to the questions like these are dictated by the environment in which a person works, particularly when a person is part of an organization of any kind, from educational to corporate. Different companies and organizations have different policies. More important, however, is that media psychology is an emerging field. Therefore, there is no narrow or established definition of a media psychologist. Media psychology has as many applications as there are disciplines, from education, business, politics, and … [Read more...]
