Dr. Pamela Rutledge, Director
Dr. Rutledge is the Director of MPRC. With a multi-disciplinary background in media production, design, and psychology, Dr. Rutledge uses psychological science to understand motivation and persuasion and how that predicts media and technology use and influence. She gives businesses and individuals the psychological principles to create media experiences and content that engage, inform, and empower.
Whether researching, writing, or speaking, Dr. Rutledge’s goal is translating science into strategies and actions, such as decoding audience responses to entertainment, designing persuasive communications, or helping people develop a healthy relationship with media. She has worked on many media projects for clients such as Fox Films, Warner Bros, OWN, and Saatchi & Saatchi and as an expert witness on fandom and fan behaviors.
Dr. Rutledge joins Cyberwise founder Diana Graber for a monthly webinar tackling media literacy and “what parents need to know” about kids, technology, and social media. (See Cyberwise Chat for information on upcoming events and links to the videos and podcasts of previous episodes.)
As a professor of Media Psychology at Fielding Graduate University program, Dr. Rutledge introduced courses on social technologies, brand psychology, audience engagement strategies, storytelling, and positive media psychology. She was the developer of the Brand Psychology and Audience Engagement Certificate Program, as well as the Positive Media Psychology concentration. She is currently Professor Emerita.
Dr. Rutledge has published both academic and popular work. These include a text on positive psychology. She has also written book chapters on meaning-making and fandom, transmedia narrative engagement, and positive media psychology, including the role of social media in the popularity of the Twilight Saga and on resilience in the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Dr. Rutledge is the Editor-in-Chief of the open-access journal Media Psychology Review and an Advisory Board Member at UC Irvine Extension. She has authored “Positively Media” on Psychology Today since 2007 and is a frequent expert source for the media on social trends and popular culture related to social media and technology use. She is quoted frequently in publications such as The NY Times, The UK Guardian, Seventeen Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, CAPRICHO, Good Morning America, ABCnews.com, Korrespondent, Men’s Health, Toronto Sun, and USAToday.
Dr. Rutledge holds a PhD and and MBA. She can be reached at prutledge@mprcenter.org, at http://www.pamelarutledge.com, or at drpam.Substack.com, where you can subscribe to her free newsletter.
