By Akarsh Soni 2011 ME 10648 Anmol Jain

By. Akarsh Soni 2011 ME 10648 Anmol Jain 2011 CE 10329

● ● ● In general, “media” refers to various means of communication. Media is medium which helps in sharing or transfering any information from one person to another person. For example: Newspapers, Magazines, Radio, Television and any other channel of information

● ● ● The concept and method of psychology to study the impact of mass media on people, culture and groups. Focuses on ways of communication than oral face-toface talk and its effect on individuals. Media psychology focuses on the impact of media on the user i. e. how the information they transmit influence the way we think, our attitude, our beliefs about the world.

1. ADVERTISING MEDIA § Ads are purposely designed to bring a change in consumer action, belief and perception. § Eg: They put attractive women next to cars, let handsome actors tell how great a product is, or have women model show great the beach is. § It grabs our attention and compells us to buy products we don't need and trust wholly.

§ The Internet has added significantly to media's ability to influence consumers. § There are thousands of websites from both commercial and private sources hawking everything for sale under the sun.

● ● Media can shape who we are as both public and private people. If in a movie, celebrity wears clothes or use car or mobile of any brand, almost immediately, sale of that item skyrocket. It means that- Celebrity bring instant brand awareness in people. Advertisers use these seemingly “non-commercial associations” to increase the sales of their products. ●

§ Alcohol is most widely used drug in our society. § Studies have revealed that a large number of people use alcohol or cigarettes under the influence of their favourite celebrity smoking or drinking onscreen. § Seeing images of alcohol consumption on TV makes it more appealing to teens. § The advertising- to-sales ratio for alcohol is about 5 percent, while the typical industry advertising-to-sales ratio is about 2 to 3 percent (www. bussinessinsider. com).

§ Women are dieting more today then they have ever been before. § They ruthlessly harm their bodies in order to achieve an unattainable body figure that is portrayed by the media as being the ideal standard for today's women. § Commercials, billboards, women's magazine ads, etc. are all forms of the media that portray these ideal images of women. § Self-Starvation, Anorexia and bulimia are the primary diseases that go in the category of eating disorders.

1. APPARENT VIOLENT BEHAVIOUR § Exposure to violent television can and does influence children’s feelings, attitudes and behaviour. Children are more likely to show aggressive behaviour who are exposed to violence.

● ● Albert Bandura in 1961 and 1963 studied children´s behavior after watching an adult model act aggressively towards a Bobo doll. The findings support Bandura's Social Learning Theory, a behaviorist theory i. e. children learn social behavior such as aggression through the “process of observation learning” - through watching the behavior of another person.

§ Nag Factor refer to consistent crying and pleading by children to buy a certain product shown in TV commercials. § Their pleading will continue until their parents get them the product. § According to research, 2 - to 12 -year-olds indirectly impacted another $320 billion in household purchase due to the nag factor. § This has also resulted in increased stubbornness among children.

§ Now a days children prefer movies or TV as compared to social gathering and social events. § They are more comfortable in their virtual world thus making their social life confined to facebook friends or any other social networking site friends. § Meeting new people which was once considered to be the medium of broadening the psychological horizon is now getting out of scene.

§ Spiral of silence theory describes the process by which one opinion becomes dominant as those who perceive their opinion to be in the minority do not speak up because they fear isolation from society.

Only by understanding how and why mass media influence our lives, we can better cope with them and only by coping with them, we can change them so that they serve us rather than control us''