The Science of Positive Media Psychology
From the start of the Film and Television era that portrayed the news, dramas and action programming, researchers were quickly concerned about the effects it might have on the audience. Naturally, the early research on Media Effects that dominated the research agenda for a long time was on the negative effects of TV violence, propaganda and morals. Of course, media psychologists soon realized that mass media is not all doom and gloom and came to realize that certain programming has an incredible positive impact on learning, health behavior change and diffusion of innovation, and of course, to entertain!
Even more so, with the birth of positive psychology over 30 years ago, researchers also started to see the potential mass media can have to positively impact human well-being and happiness. This is how the scholarship of positive media psychology was born which integrates the study of positive psychology, media psychology and media effects to answer the question: What role does media play in human flourishing? This interdisciplinary field of study is now integrated into university curricula and finds particular application for content creators across the film industry, health industry and businesses.
Just as early media effects scholars acknowledged the power that mass media can have on audiences' negative thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, so do positive media psychology scholars today see the positive impact that media can have.
Certainly, none of us has to think long and hard before remembering examples of ways in which the mass media (including social media) has increased our fears and stress levels during the beginning of the pandemic as well as elevated our moods and feelings of connection with others. There were the constant news cycles of COVID cases and death rates. But there also were videos of people clapping in unison on their balconies to support the first responders and shared Netflix parties of Tiger King.
What we see is that media can have an incredible impact on our health and well-being, on a mass scale like no other media, which also means that content creators have an incredible responsibility and opportunity in their hands.
About 20 years ago, some forward-thinking communication scholars arrived at a dead end when explaining entertainment experiences that seemed to be more than merely joyful (i.e., Vorderer, 2001, Oliver, 1993, Oliver et al., 2011, 2012, 2015; Wirth et al., 2012). We all understand that media makes us laugh and we often seek it out to feel entertained, escape our distressing environment, and manage potential dysphoric moods, or alleviate boredom. In fact, comedy and action are still amongst the most consumed media formats out there (Oliver et al., 2014).
However, media can also create more complex feelings such as laughter and sadness at the same time, elevation, compassion or even lead to self-reflection, reflection about life’s purpose, altruistic behavior and connectedness towards humanity (Bartlett & DeSteno, 2006; Cox, 2010; Oliver et al., 2012; Freeman et al., 2009; Janicke & Oliver, 2015; Lai et al., 2013; Schnall et al., 2010; Tamborini et al., 2011). And, while comedy and action movies are among the most consumed content, movies that are more somber and even dark content that is contemplative and can be considered meaningful (i.e., Seven, Unforgiven, The Verdict, Forrest Gump, Oliver et al., 2014) are those with the strongest critical acclaim (i.e., nominated for Oscar or Golden Globe Award, movie critics ratings from Rotton Tomatoes, IMDB user ratings). Researchers summarized these forms of more contemplative entertainment experiences under the eudaimonic theories of media, following Aristotle’s understanding of happiness which results from meaningful endeavors that include enhancing the welfare of others and humankind en-large.
Right now, the research on inspiring media effects on prosocial behavior, well-being, character development and the role new communication technologies play in the “good life” is just at the beginning: The beginning of a discipline that I think can have an enormous impact on finding solutions for many of the deep problems our society is facing today, including empathy deficiency, loneliness, aggression and discrimination. What role does media play in personal and humanities’ well-being? Positive Media Psychology is here to find out.