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Ch. 3—The psychology of mass communication: Thinking about our media use
Guidelines for in-class discussions and exercises:
• If students have young children in their lives, they may be assigned to interview a pre-
schooler about his/her experience with TV, Internet, and other media. Have them think
about how differently from adults children view the content of media and why this is so.
• There are many video examples online of change blindness and attentional blindness.
Consider showing some in class without context and then having the students watch
them later knowing what to look for.
• Have students reflect on their own experience with various cognitive components of
media experience. For example, how do they experience transportation in watching a
movie and how does this enhance their experience and enjoyment?
• Have a whole-class or small-group discussion on how the media both reflect reality and
create a reality. You can set up opposing views for each for each of several content
areas. For example, for advertising say “Media sells us products to meet needs and
wants we already have” versus “Advertising creates needs and wants in us that we
CHAPTER SUMMARIES/ABSTRACTS
Chapter 3: The Psychology of mass communication: Thinking about our media use
• Here, we examine some of the psychological processes that are behind our use of media like
attention, suspension of disbelief, transportation, and identification. We also take a look at how
media sometimes becomes a perceived reality, such as with parasocial media relationships. In
