What Is Media Psychology, and Why Do We Need It?

Defining the Territory

Defining “Mass Media”

Psychology and Media: An Uneasy Relationship?

Practicing Media Psychology?

 Theoretical Issues in Media Research

Early Approaches to Media

McLuhan and Postmodernism

Developments in Media Research

The “Effects” Tradition

Cultivation Research

Uses and Gratifications Research

The “Active Audience”

The Way Forward?

 Research Methods in Media Psychology

The Experimental Tradition

Survey Methods

Interviewing and Qualitative Analysis

Ethnography and Observation

Analysis of Media Texts

Discourse Analysis

PART II: PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS

AND INFLUENCES OF MEDIA

 The Effects of Media Violence

What Are the Immediate Effects of Watching Violent Media?

Characteristics of the Users of Violent Media

Cognitive Factors in Media Violence

Cultural and Ideological Aspects of the Media Violence Debate

Future Avenues in Media Violence Research

 Prosocial Effects of Media

Media and Prosocial Behaviour: The “Effects” Tradition

The Effects of “Prosocial Media”

Parental Mediation

 Pornography and Erotica

Definitions of Pornography and Erotica

A Brief History of Pornography

The “Effects” of Pornography

Effects and Uses of Child Pornography

Meanings of Pornography and Erotica

 Advertising

Advertising Through History

The Role of Psychology in Advertising

Cognitive and Behavioural Effects of Advertising

Rhetorical Effects of Advertising

Advertising and Children

Future Directions in Advertising

PART III: DEVELOPMENTAL ISSUES

IN MEDIA PSYCHOLOGY

 Young Children and Television

Fantasy Versus Reality: A Simple Choice?

Script and Schema Explanations

Children’s Socialisation Through Media

Imagination, Pretence, and Theory of Mind

Media and Adolescence

Media Use in Adolescence

The Role of Media Figures During Adolescence

Cultural Functions of Media Use

Media Influences on Adolescent Body Image

PART IV: THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF THE MEDIA

 Representations of Social Groups

Gender Representation in the Media

Media Representations of Men

The Effects of Changing Media Representations of Men

Representations of Minority Groups in the Media

Media Representations of Disability

Media Representations of Mental Health

Further Issues

 The Psychology of the Media Audience

“The Audience” in Media Research

What Is Parasocial Interaction?

Fans and Fandom

A Case Study: When Celebrities Die

PART V: GENRES

 News and Current Affairs

Sources of News

Content-Based Approaches to News Media

Information-Processing Approaches to News Reception

Bad News and Serious News

 Sport

Motivations for Viewing and Enjoying Sport

Problematic Aspects of Sport in the Media

CONTENTS vii

 Audience Participation and Reality TV

Audience-Participation Media: A History

The Appeal of Audience-Participation Media

 Soaps

Soaps: A History

Formal Features of Soaps

Soap Fans, Stigma, and Feminism

The Viewer as Psychologist: Identification and

Parasocial Interaction

Fantasy and Realism

PART VI: THE FUTURE OF MEDIA PSYCHOLOGY

 The Internet

The Internet: One Medium or Several?

A Brief History of the Net

The Internet in Research

Attitudes and Theories Toward the Net

Individual Aspects of Internet Use

Social Aspects of Internet Use

 Psychology in the Media

Psychologists in the Media

The Academia/Media Relationship

Science in the Media

Social Science in the Media

Guidelines and Training for Media Performance