Communication psychology, is one field of study that is ubiquitous in present day, owing much of its credit to the widespread use of all forms of media. Every sector in modern world is heavily reliant on media and digital technologies, such as education, health, government, defence, trade and commerce, journalism, etc. While each field has its own research and development wing to find out on-going problems in the field and suggest solutions. Every sector also ensures that a viable amount of focus is also given to communication while doing the research. Since, researches on communication exist in almost every field, communication psychology comes into play automatically. Every time we talk about communication taking place, it is customary to think or talk about the effects it has on the audience. Almost all models of communication talk about feedback or effect, not having to mention, feedback stems from psychological effects of media and the message.
This research study aims to explore the roles and uses of psychology in communication. This research proposes to analyse and understand how deeply communication and psychology are rooted in each other. The researcher is well aware that, numerous researches have been conducted on communication psychology as a field of study. However, as a steadfast belief of research that there is always some room left for new knowledge, I have put my individual observations and opinions on the subject.
The first aim of the study was to understand and analyse the relationship between communication and psychology. This was achieved through review of literature and laying down the theoretical framework of the dissertation. In the history of social science, psychology and communication have collided with each other time and again, sometimes as parts of one another and sometimes as different disciplinary fields. A lot of work has been done on both the fields, leaving us with rich literature work to rely on. Therefore, content analysis of available literature was conducted.
The second aim of the research was to observe the psychological effects of mass media and content
on youth population for which university students from, University of Lucknow and Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, were picked as the population of study. The researcher also aimed at verifying practical implications of communication theories like the cultivation theory, uses and gratification theory, agenda setting theory, etc.
The researcher found out that communication as a field of an academic discipline owes a lot of credit to psychology, an older and more established academic discipline. Psychology’s theoretical framework provided the backbone that communication needed to establish itself as an academic field.
It was also found that mass media and content have a clear and distinctive effect on university students aged roughly between 18 – 28. Not only this it is also verifiable through this study that certain communication theories (mentioned later in data analysis and interpretation) do hold true and have observable practical implications. A questionnaire in the form of the google form was circulated on social media and researcher got 103 responses through the questionnaire.
Ms. Vertika Tiwari (Post- Graduate in Journalism and Mass Communication, Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh)
Dr. Lok Nath (Assistant Professor, Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, School of Media and Communication, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh)
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