Gayle S. Stever is Professor of Psychology at Empire State University of New York, USA. She works in the areas of developmental psychology, media psychology, and fan studies. Her writing has centered around celebrity-audience relationships, the nature of attachment both within and outside of a media context, evolutionary psychology as it relates to media, and mixed-methods research.

David C. Giles is Reader in Media Psychology at the University of Winchester, UK. He explores the impact of media on human behavior with a particular interest in celebrity-audience relationships, the dynamics of online interaction, qualitative research methods, and psychological issues around artistic and cultural activities.

J. David Cohen is a faculty member at Empire State University of New York, USA. His research focuses on rewatching media, parasocial experiences, and how media affects human development. Other specific topics of interest for J. David Cohen are narrative psychology, advertising, new media, and social psychology.

Mary E. Myers is an assistant professor in the School of Communication & the Arts at Regent University, VA, USA. She built and currently leads the Doctor of Strategic Communication doctoral program - the nation's first technical doctorate in strategic communication. Her work also explores parasocial and place attachment, artificial intelligence, and crisis communication.

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

1. Media and Media Psychology

Gayle S. Stever

2. Key Theories and Concepts from Media Psychology

Gayle S. Stever

3. Research Methods

Gayle S. Stever, David C. Giles, J. David Cohen

4. Positive Psychology, Moral Reasoning, and Prosocial Behavior

Gayle S. Stever

5. Social Justice and the Media: Gender, Age, Size, and Disability

Gayle S. Stever

6. Social Justice and the Media: Race, Ethnicity, and Socioeconomic Status

Gayle S. Stever

7. Aliens Eating Reese's: Media Influence and Advertising

J. David Cohen

8. Propaganda, Fake News, and Deep Fakes

Mary E. Myers

9. Processes of Audience Involvement

Gayle S. Stever

J. David Cohen

10. Dark Media: Violence, Pornography, and Addiction

J. David Cohen

11. Join the Adventure: The Psychology of Gaming

J. David Cohen

12. The Social Nature of Media

Gayle S. Stever

13. Media Psychology and Public Health

J. David Cohen

Gayle S. Stever

14. Artificial Intelligence

Mary E. Myers

15. The Psychology of News and Political Communication

David C. Giles

16. The Future of Media Psychology

David C. Giles

Index