THE AVERAGE AMERICAN SPENDS UP TO SIX HOURS A DAY WITH SOME SORT OF SCREEN MEDIA, BUT LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT HOW THAT EXPOSURE AND INTERACTION AFFECTS USERS.
Researchers in the field of media psychology at Michigan State University are seeking to understand the causes and consequences of humans’ media use.
With the largest concentration of media psychologists in the world in MSU’s College of Communication Arts and Sciences, experts are working across disciplines to analyze how people interact with content, how stories impact users and why we choose to spend time with various media. Their findings will help explain the roles, uses and effects of media communication.
June 12, 2019
The psychology of screen time
MSU’s media psychologists are studying topics such as binge-watching, fear appeal messages, race and media and many more topics related to the time people spend connected to a variety of media. A few projects are highlighted below.
The impact of binge-watching on your health
Morgan Ellithorpe, assistant professor of advertising and public relations, partnered with Allison Eden, assistant professor of communication, to conduct research on the effects of binge watching. The two presented their findings at the 67th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association.
In the age of fake news, concerns about misinformation seem to have reached a pinnacle in U.S. society. A new research study to be published in Human Communication Research reports the results from two experiments that test whether beliefs based in “fake news” can be affected.
Connections between social media use and risky decision-making
Bad decision-making is a trait often associated with drug addicts and pathological gamblers, but what about people who excessively use social media? New research at Michigan State University shows a connection between social media use and impaired risky decision-making.
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Jennifer Trenkamp, MSUToday editor