Media Psychology

3 credits

Media Psychology is the study of mediated communication, or acts of social information transmission that occur with the help of technology. This class will examine how majortheories of Social Psychology (dehumanization, social identity, attributional biases, group polarization, etc.) explain and contextualize online communication. During this class, students will read and discuss articles about major topics in mediated communication (media) and social/cognitive psychology. Information will be presented in lecture and seminar-discussion formats, and will occur through active debate about relevant subjects today. Students will learn about topics such as artificial "intelligence" and confabulation, fake news/misinformation, rumor on social media, narrative persuasion, social cognitive learning theory, and fandom studies. They will be expected to develop their own examples of relevant phenomena, using popular media and psychological science.