Planning: Psychology and Media

Psychology of Media 

Psychology of media is the study of the mind according to media. It explains why people enjoy watching movies through various psychological theories.  

Psychic Apparatus

Psychic Apparatus was created by Sigmund Freud. His idea was that the human mind can be broken into three main part which govern our behaviour this being ID, Ego, Superego. 

• The ID is only concerned with pleasure. It cares nothing of consequences and operates on impulse and instinct.
• The SUPEREGO is concerned with the reality of consequences. It is highly aware of how others perceive us, constantly acting in a manner which will lead you to gain approval from others.
• The EGO negotiates between the two parts of the brain making the decision of whether to follow instinctual impulse (pleasure) or to act according to expectations of others (consciousness).

The Mirror Stage & Ideal I 

The Mirror Stage and Ideal I were created by Jaques Lacan. He stated, infants are unable to recognise themselves as individuals until the age of 18 months, thus allowing them to establish their interpretation of themselves. This is known as the Mirror Stage.

He also presented the idea that we are unable to think negatively about ourselves because we have nothing to compare it to and we have always thought of our thoughts as being 'perfect'. This is known as the Ideal I.

Why Do We Watch Media?

According to Freud the protagonist (hero) and antagonist (villains) are commonly hyper-exaggerated examples of either good or evil and watching these characters acts as a way of appeasing those facets of our behaviour.

However, Jaques Lacan believed we watched because we are able to associate with characters in film and 'see ourselves' through characters on screen. Although, we don't associate with everything a character provides, only what suits us. Disassociation also makes us watch as we tend to find it amusing.

Scopophelia- Pleasure through looking at the human form (often sexual)
Voyeurism- sexual pleasure gained through looking at the human form ( when they are unaware of it) i.e spying.
The Gaze-  the idea of looking (gaze) is what fulfils our sexual  pleasure. How the gaze is constructed is also what helps to create the binary structure of gender.
Objectification- sexual objectification through are are gaze females are portrayed as sexual objects they are represented as being weak in many different ways.
cinema audience- audiences in the cinema act as voyeurism due to the nature of the way we watch films.
Binary structure-  this is used to make things more powerful than others. For example a man is seen as more powerful than a woman.