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Psychology and the Media Essay

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The Image of Psychology through the Eyes of the Media

Abstract
Psychology can be presented by the media in forms such as magazine or newspaper articles, and the most popular today is through commercials watched on TV. Psychology is presented in a form of science today compared to what it was viewed as in the late 1800s and onto the 1900s. It is more of a science nature because viewers have to think about the meaning of the article or commercial to understand the message that is being presented. Then, psychology was viewed as a form or common sense. Psychology was never really looked at as a science but rather as philosophy in the 1980s. The public was often confused with the subject of psychology because it was always …show more content…

In the 1980s the federal government doubted psychology as a science and a profession… The government stated that it was a way of “promoting human welfare” (Ludy, 1986, p. 941). But, rather than psychology being looked at as philosophy, two students wanted to switch the views of psychology to being more scientifically related. James MKeen Cattell and Harry Kirke Wolfe were the first two Americans to receive their degrees with the help of Wihem Wundt (Ludy, 1986, p. 941). The two students thought deeply of their work and strongly believed that psychology would be the next big science in the media within the next thirty years. The media presents “hidden messages” that the common person many not always see, but the brain processes the information and triggers a reaction based on the viewers own thoughts. After watching many commercials on TV, social and cognitive psychology both come into play. Social psychology is when a person can select from his or her memory on a past situation that he or she has read or watched and can then reacts accordingly. After viewing many commercials some of the commercials tend to clash together by presenting the same message. When the viewer remembers seeing or hearing something specific from a commercial, the brain automatically reacts by thinking, “I’ve heard about this before.” Cognitive psychology is when the viewers are watching a commercial that may come off violent and then the viewers

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