The Media Zone

How the media make sense and nonsense of the world

Stuart Fischoff, Ph.D. is Senior Editor of the Journal of Media Psychology and Emeritus Professor of Media Psychology at Cal State, Los Angeles. See full bio

May 25, 2008, Media

Comments on "Media Psychology and Your Media-Crazed Life"

Media Psychology and Your Media-Crazed Life

By Stuart Fischoff, Ph.D. on May 25, 2008 in The Media Zone

...the public doesn’t simply sit back, sponge-like, absorbing the media mindlessly. It doesn’t passively suck in the milk of media where, when, and how it is given. Read More

Right On!

Submitted by Anonymous on May 27, 2008 - 5:57am.

I look forward to reading more. Keep it coming!

Favorite monster movie...hmmm...

The Cell

It had so many awesome things going on visually that though I barely remember the story line, the hook--getting inside the head of a deranged killer--was poignantly provocative. Toss in the artistic melange of color and texture and it was a movie just dying to become my fave.

your comment

Submitted by Stuart Fischoff, Ph.D. on May 27, 2008 - 1:39pm.

Thanks for your comments. If you go to the following site http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/sfischo/psychological_appeal_of... you can look at the research my students and I did on people's favorite monsters. Quite Fascinating. Thanks for being my first commenting visitor. Stuart

I Agree!

Submitted by JB on May 28, 2008 - 12:18am.

Thanks for the post. Very insightful. I completely agree. I'm sick of people telling us that we are 'victims' of the media, because, after all, we are choosing to take it in. Sure, we should all know a little bit more about those tricky advertisers spiking our TV shows with 'hidden' ads and branding techniques, but come on, consumers make their own choices in the end. Keep up the engaging posts!

Your Blog

Submitted by Noel Thistlethwaite ^i^ on May 28, 2008 - 8:07pm.

"Hi Stu" Very cool Blog............ ^i^

Huzzah!

Submitted by Jackie on May 29, 2008 - 8:30am.

I am so excited to follow your blog. I have been interested in Media Psychology for a long time and am glad to see it's getting some attention finally. There's nothing more exciting than being on the edge of a field about to explode!

Hopefully this can lead to a deeper analysis than "consumers make their own choices in the end." (Not an intentional dig, but there is way more going on here than what a consumer chooses.)

choosing

Submitted by Stuart Fischoff, Ph.D. on May 29, 2008 - 9:36am.

Jackie, You're absolutely correct but this was a maiden blog and I actually cut it off so that it didn't become a manuscript. But the notion of choice is most interesting, particularly since so many people either don't realize it's there or are afraid to make one for fear that it's the wrong one or that they'll be punished for it, or that they'll make the right one and be stuck with having to make another one. And that will screw up their cognitive style and existential road map which is short, narrow, but comfy. When I was a practicing therapist most of what I tried to do (but not all certainly) was to help people actually see that they had choices since they were so caught up in their problems and traps that they didn't think there were any. Eventually, after turning away their pleas (direct and indirect), I persuaded them that if I chose for them then they missed the chance to grow. They had to make choices, see the consequences, and move on with that information. They had to see that they were ultimately responsible for their lives. In the psychology biz that's sometimes called "locus of control." They can get advice, clarification, etc., but they had to choose. Many could, some could not and went on to therapists who took them into their clinical family and made the choices for them. They're still with these therapists today. Good for the therapist, in a most narrow sense but bad for the patient. So, if I can help people be savvier about whether or not there is a choice and if there seems not to be, why? then I'm a happy blogger. Media literacy is a great goal. Stuart

Thanks for the in-depth

Submitted by Jackie on May 29, 2008 - 11:51am.

Thanks for the in-depth response, much appreciated.

I certainly agree that the choice is there to be made. Media literacy is needed to help us (as a whole and individuals) understand the options and make a choice.

Again, really looking forward to following the blog :)

Btw, my favorite / scariest movie monster would be the crazed psychopaths that invade homes and torture residents for no apparent reason ("Funny Games", "The Strangers"

Sounds like the beginning of a revolution to me

Submitted by Damon on May 29, 2008 - 1:45pm.

The thoughts your expressing seem to be everywhere we look but no one is making any forward steps to change anything. Im in school now and I see my peers using every level of technology without any effort. I even often wonder how I was able to keep in touch with anyone before I had a cellphone. Ive heard many students and professors speaking about the media as a force and how it is changing the world for the betterment of a select few(the government included in that).

In the past when something like this has become such a buzz in society there has been something of an uproar from the masses in form of protests or even revolutions. Why is nothing being done? Like you said are we too far gone? Or is it because now it is a personal revolution that must occur?

It seems that in order for the world to change now, it would take each person standing against their own desires to have more in order to stop the forward motion of this train.

I dig the blog.

media-crazed lives

Submitted by Stuart Fischoff, Ph.D. on May 30, 2008 - 12:20pm.

Damon, Thanks for the comments. A lot of the madness is generational and it's actually hard to say whether or not we'll be dealing with "a new brain" and new wiring (I'll be discussing this in an upcoming post) as youth take over the world. It remains to be seen whether or not we're too tethered to our media appliances or whether or not the notion of being alone with our thoughts has outlived is relevance. I happen to think that we do need to be unhooked daily to reflect on our lives and problems and goals, etc., but maybe I'm just wedded to a pre-portable world. Nevertheless, there are far too many people walking around in the supermarkets talking on the phone with conversations like "Hi, it's me, I'm in the supermarket shopping; just thought I'd give a call and say hello." Right, for all she knows she may never leave the supermarket alive and must set her house in order. These types, Damon,they set back the invention of language and speech several centuries! Stuart