Psychology Communication

To better understand how and why communication occurs and what effects it has, it is necessary to get inside the "black box" of the human mind. Therefore, this course will concentrate on studying cognitive processes and their relationship to media and communication. While some attention will be paid to the psychological aspects of interpersonal communication, the primary the goal of the course is to develop an understanding of media from a psychological perspective. That is, the course will examine how perception, attention, memory, attitudes and emotion are related to the experience of mediated communication. These psychological responses will be examined in a range of contexts and communication functions including news and information, advertising and persuasion, and entertainment. This will help students become both better producers of media and more critical users.