Media Psychology the Topic of the Proposal

¶ … Media Psychology

Psychology

The topic of the proposal is related to media psychology and reality television. Media psychology is an interdisciplinary field that works in collaboration with fields such as neuroscience, computer science, international relations, and philosophy. Media psychology seeks to understand the perceptions, interpretations, uses, responses, and relationships among media and media consumers. Media psychology identifies both the benefits and the drawbacks of media consumption. Media psychology reads media as a text and as an entity with behaviors, relationships, and cultures. Media psychology receives increasing attention in the 21st century as the media landscape of the times is much more rich, diverse, and abundant than other periods in human history. Media is a much larger fixture in more people's lives around the world in the 21st century. The growing consensus among media critics, researchers, theorists, producers, consumers, and distributors is that media affects human behavior and attitudes. Therefore, the relevancy of media psychology augments as time passes.

Media psychology with regard to reality television is an important topic for me. Reality television has become very popular over the past two decades in America. Reality television is a very popular genre of television programming. The appeal of reality television for the masses may not be clear to all researchers. Reality television programs and mock-documentary style programs generate a great deal of revenue for local and national television networks. People who would not become celebrities have become famous and entered the limelight because of reality television. America is a country that has a fixation with celebrities and celebrity culture. The excess of reality television programs can contribute to the increase of interest in becoming a celebrity and fixating on celebrity culture. An aspect of reality television programming of which many consumers are unaware, is that reality television programs are written, directed, and produced just like traditional narrative programming. If consumers considered this, perhaps they would questions the degree of reality within reality programming. How real is reality television? If consumers were aware of the construction and production involved in reality television, perhaps some would consider what may be the unseen mechanisms that govern the realities they experience? More enlightened consumers may also consider how reality television may be an instructive guide for achievement and awareness, rather than empty-headed mimicry with no regard for safety or for consequence. I have a professional and research background in many areas that compose and intersect with media psychology. As this is an expanding field, there is plenty of room for research. Thus, media psychology appeals to me via the content, the interdisciplinary aspect, the significance as a contemporary issue, and the potential to effect significant behavioral and social change in the world.

Some questions I have regarding media psychology and reality television are what are the categories of reality television? Are there specific behaviors associated with the viewers of certain kinds of reality television? What is the spectrum of affects reality television has upon the individual, the group, the community, and the society? How can media psychologists and media producers collaborate so as to construct media that promotes healthy behaviors and attitudes? How can media be effectively designed and distributed to effect significant social change? What are the responsibilities of the media producer, the media researcher, and the media consumer? How does media reinforce and dismantle stereotypes? Do the affects of media consumption crossover into other realms besides reality, such as virtual reality (a person's digital presence online)

Some possible hypotheses my research could prove or invalidate are: reality television alters consumers' perception and relationship with actual reality; reality television can help people break out of detrimental behavior patterns and gain internal motivation; reality television contributes to the decrease of social intelligence and poor communication plaguing cultures today; reality television exposes consumers to aspects of daily life or of other cultures of which they were previously unaware. I am interested in quantifying the affects of media. I am also interested in the qualitative affects, but many researchers commenced researching this area. I want to gather statistics that support that media affects people and changes their behaviors. I do not want to find data that allows people to use media as a crutch or excuse for unacceptable or inappropriate behavior. I am also not interested in gathering data that can be used to blame only the media when a media-inspired accident occurs. My hope is that the data gathered would shed light on the ways humans can use media to make themselves better and the world better while still being adequately entertained.