Fielding Graduate University

2020 De la Vina Street
Santa Barbara, California 93105
Admissions: 805-898-4026

Washington DC Offices
700 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, 2nd Floor
Washington, DC 20003

Media Psychology Programs

Fielding’s Media Psychology programs enable students to enter at their qualification, readiness and goal levels. The PhD in Media Psychology program provides a research-based program that informs practice in an evolving field of study. The Masters of Arts in Media Psychology is 100% online, applies psychological science to media and technology landscapes. The 3-course Certificate in Media Psychology program is also 100% online, and offers emphases in Media Neuroscience and Brand Psychology & Audience Engagement.

Learn More: Media Psychology

Archive

Virtual Media Psychology Symposium / 

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July 15, 2020

Ken is a second-year PhD student in Psychology with an emphasis in Media Psychology at Fielding Graduate University. His interest is in educational digital storytelling as a means of narrative persuasion towards personal and social transformation. Ken’s research focus includes understanding the relationship of audience with protagonist in light of experience-taking, and the impact on belief change. SYMPOSIUM SESSIONS Parasocial Relationships: Conversation with Four Authors of Real Characters Real Characters: Parasocial Relationships During a Pandemic  ...

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June 30, 2020

Bradley J. Bond, PhD, is the director of the aMP lab and a faculty member in the Communication Studies department at the University of San Diego. Dr. Bond joined the department of Communication Studies in 2012 after completing his postdoctoral work with Dr. Sandra Calvert in the Children’s Digital Media Center housed in the department of psychology at Georgetown University. Dr. Bond received his BA in communication at Bradley University, and his MA and PhD in communication at the University of Illinois. SYMPOSIUM SESSIONS Parasocial Relationships: Conversation with Four Authors of Real Characters Parasocial Relationships and Changing World Conditions WEBSITE https://sites.sandiego.edu/amplab/...

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June 4, 2020

In the last six years Keith Oatley's principal research has been on Cognitive psychology and literary fiction. He has developed the theory that fiction is a form of simulation that runs on minds. With Maja Djikic and Raymond Mar, he is a member of a small team that conducts research on readers' responses to short stories and other literature. The group has found the first evidence that, as compared with reading non-fiction, reading fiction is associated with improved empathy and theory of mind, and that literary fiction enables small but possibly important changes in readers’ personalities. Keith Oatley is a cognitive psychologist and novelist. His research is on the psychology of emotions and the psychology of fiction. He is the author of...

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May 26, 2020

Melanie C. Green, Ph.D., is a Professor in Communication at the University at Buffalo. Her work has focused on persuasion and belief change. In particular, Melanie’s research examines how narratives can change the way individuals think and behave, including the effects of fictional stories on real-world attitudes and the persistence of belief change over time. Her theory of "transportation into a narrative world" focuses on immersion into a story as a mechanism of narrative influence. She has also studied the challenges of correcting story-based misinformation and the effects of conflicting stories. She has examined persuasion in a variety of contexts, from health communication to social issues. She has edited two books on these topics (Narrative Impact and Persuasion: Psychological Insights...

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May 22, 2020

David Ewoldsen, Ph.D. brings an interdisciplinary approach to the study of communication and the media, and draws from communication scholarship, social and cognitive psychology, cognitive science, and cognitive anthropology. A respected researcher and scholar, his most recent ventures have focused on racism and the media, comprehension of media messages, cooperative video game play, entertainment, and the role of attitudes in risky health behavior. Ewoldsen completed a joint Ph.D. in psychology and speech communication at Indiana University in 1990. Following his Ph.D., he served as a postdoctoral fellow in the cognitive sciences program at Vanderbilt University from 1990-1991. Shortly afterward, he became faculty at the University of Alabama with appointments in the Department of Communication Studies, Psychology, and African American Studies. In...

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May 20, 2020

Karen Shackleford is a social psychologist who studies the social construction of reality via media. For example, she studies how people’s beliefs, attitudes and ideas are influenced by our consumption of fictional narratives in all of their forms. She also investigates the relationship between being a fan or consumer of popular culture fiction and positive outcomes such as well-being, empowerment and positive belief change. Ultimately, she is interested in better understanding how our interactions and relationships with characters and stories can change us. She has focused particular attention on our understanding of social categories such as race, gender and sexual orientation in the media shapes our social thinking, including that related to identity, stereotypes, prejudice and well-being. In addition to...