handbook of media psychology: the science and the practice

This comprehensive and up-to-date resource presents the state of the science in the expanding and widely influential field of media psychology and technology. Covering theoretical concepts, research, and practice, this handbook explores key areas relevant to developing media psychology and technology in today’s world.

The impact of media and technology is discussed as are the uses and misuses of various media outlets, including television, film, and social media. How media affects public opinion and attitudes is given special attention, as are psycho-social and neuropsychological factors. The authors are recognized experts in this field, many associated with the American Psychological Association’s Society of Media Psychology and Technology. This relevant and timely handbook provides researchers and academics with rich wide-ranging presentations of an area critical to the dissemination and discussion of results and implications of ongoing scientific investigations for bringingabout social change in democratic societies through the use of media and technology.

Grant J. Rich, (Ph.D., Psychology, University of Chicago) is the current (2024) President of the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Society for Media Psychology and Technology (Division 46). Dr. Rich is a Fellow of the American Psychological Society, APA, and five of APA’s divisions including D46. Dr. Rich has extensive experience in managing organizations and projects. He served APA’s Society of the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence: Peace Psychology Division (D48) successfully for three years as its APA Convention Program Chair, and, for four years, as Editor of International Psychology’s (D52) substantial quarterly International Psychology Bulletin, receiving its President’s Award for Extraordinary Service. Among other honors, he received the Academic Service Award from the American University of Phnom Penh and twice was a NEH Fellow. Dr. Rich has published over 110 peer-reviewed journal articles/book chapters/entries in leading journals including American Psychologist, Journal of Positive Psychology, Humanistic Psychologist, Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, and Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma. He is the senior editor of nine academic books, including Pathfinders in International Psychology (2015) Internationalizing the Teaching of Psychology (2017), Human Strengths and Resilience (2018), Teaching Psychology Around the World, Volume 4 (2018), and 5 (2020), Psychology in Southeast Asia (2020), Psychology in Oceania and the Caribbean (2022), and Psychosocial Experiences and Adjustment of Migrants: Coming to the USA (2023). Dr. Rich is a leader in online and global education, serving as Senior Contributing Faculty at Walden University, where he has worked since 2013. His publications include several books/articles focused on diversifying psychology education (e.g., via online education/media/MOOCs), articles on attitudes towards media celebrities, and articles/chapters on creativity, particularly concerning popular/classical musicians, including cinematic depictions. Dr. Rich serves on several editorial boards, including PLOS One and APA’s Traumatology and Peace & Conflict. He has also published over 100 book reviews and made over 110 professional presentations in the USA and internationally, including APA, American Educational Research Association, American Anthropological Association, APS, International Association of Applied Psychology, and International Council of Psychology (ICP). Dr. Rich has an abiding interest in behavioral health technologies, including prescription digital therapeutics (PDTs) and their precursors, such as the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) approaches. He is the recipient of the 2023 Frances Mullen Award for Distinguished Contributions to International Psychology (ICP).

V. K. Kumar, PhD, is Professor Emeritus at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, where he taught for 45 years. Before that, he taught at Case Western Reserve University for 6 years. He also taught summer sessions as a visiting professor two times at the University of Iowa and once at the University of Alberta-Edmonton, Canada. He served as the 2014 President of the APA Society for Humanistic Psychology. He also served as the 2020 President of the APA Society for Media Psychology and Technology. He has served as Editor/Co-Editor of The Amplifier Magazine of the Society for Media Psychology and Technology from 2008-2022. He has published over 170 scholarly works, which include articles based on empirical work, review-based articles, edited books, book chapters, book and film reviews, blogs, editorials, and columns as an officer in the Society for Media Psychology and Technology in The Amplifier Magazine. He has served as a consulting editor and peer-reviewer for a variety of journals and served as a special issue editor for the Journal of Group Psychotherapy, Psychodrama & Sociometry on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Psychodrama, American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, and the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. He is an elected Fellow of APA in several societies: Teaching of Psychology, Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Science, Educational Psychology, Psychological Hypnosis, Humanistic Psychology, Health Psychology, Media Psychology and Technology, and International Psychology. He received the 2015 Distinguished Lifetime Contribution Award in Media Psychology and Technology and the 2018 Distinguished Professional Contribution Award in Media Psychology and Technology Award from the APA Society of Media Psychology and Technology. He and his co-authors (including several students) have received awards for their papers in Hypnosis published in the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis and presented as part of divisional programming of the Society for Clinical Hypnosis at APA annual conventions. He received his license as a psychologist in Pennsylvania in 1991 and maintained it until the end of the term in 2023. As a psychologist, he held practice privileges at the Brandywine Hospital (1993-2006), Coatesville, PA, and at the Center for Cognitive Therapy, University of Pennsylvania (2002-2012). He received the Community and Congressional Affairs Volunteer Recognition 1000 Hour Pin in September 2004 for his voluntary service at the Coatesville Veterans Administration Medical Center, Coatesville, PA.

Frank H. Farley, PhD, aPast President of the American Psychological Association (APA), has been president of numerous APA Divisions, including the Society for Media Psychology and Technology as well as Divisions 1,3,10,15,26, 32,48, and 52. He has also served as former president of the International Council of Psychologists (ICP), and the American Educational Research Association (AERA), among other leadership positions. He has published over 250 scholarly articles, and 7 books, and has been elected Fellow of numerous professional organizations including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, New York Academy of Sciences, APA, AERA, Association for Psychological Science, Psychonomic Society, International Association of Applied Psychology, Canadian Psychological Association, Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, Eastern Psychological Association, and Midwestern Psychological Association. He has engaged in over 1000 media interviews, contributions and coverage, including TV (e.g., CNN, NBC, FOX, ABC, CBS, CBC Canada, ’Newsy’ TV, Russian TV), Radio (e.g., USA--Voice of America; CANADA--CBC; Corus Radio Network’s all-Canada Roy Green Show; UK-- BBC World Service; France24; Russia; Australia); Newspapers (e.g., USA Today, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, LA Times, London Times, Denver Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, Toronto Sun, Vancouver Sun, Montreal Gazette, Ottawa Sun, Edmonton Sun, Victoria Citizen, Daily Memphian, Associated Press news service, San Francisco Chronicle); Magazines (e.g., Time Magazine, People Magazine, Psychology Today, Newsweek Magazine, US News and World Report, Runners World, VIA Magazine--AAA’s magazine, Powder Magazine, Shape Magazine, Outside Magazine, Physics World, Men’s Health, Popular Science, O--Oprah’s Magazine). Among his notable professional contributions to media psychology was his creating and chairing in 1994 ＂The Assembly of the 21st Century＂ held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC with a veritable who’s who of almost 35-40 public psychologists (e.g., Phil Zimbardo, Albert Ellis, Elizabeth Loftus) participating, to debate the status and future of this great field. Dr. Farley also created and ran for some years a monthly seminar on psychology and public policy for the US Senate and House of Representatives on the fourth Friday of every month on Capitol Hill in DC.