A university has launched Britain’s first media psychology course.
The degree at Salford University will look at TV audiences, the growth of internet sites Facebook and Twitter, and the subconscious techniques used by ad men.
But armchair analysts who fancy themselves as the next Big Brother pundit will be disappointed.
Course leaders say the 12-month degree is aimed at psychology graduates who want to work in the media.
Adam Galpin, one of the tutors, said there was huge interest in employing psychological techniques in television, marketing and advertising.
He said: “There is a huge demand in industry to understand audiences and how they access the media.
“The way people interact with each other and the sheer amount of information available has changed in a short space of time.
“It’s not uncommon nowadays for people to be sat in front of the television with their laptop on, while talking on the phone.
“Psychology is the key to understanding this behaviour and getting key messages across.”
The postgraduate MSc in Media Psychology will also look at how television and magazines shape audiences, the influence of celebrity culture, and new uses of smartphones and handheld devices.
Dr Galpin, who has previously carried out psychological tests on the best design fro websites, said many broadcasters and advertising firms wanted to know how to use internet and social media to better effect.
He added: “The way in which advertisers and marketing professionals try to influence our behaviour has also moved on rapidly and has become much more subtle and sophisticated, there are now many more channels for these groups to use to reach out to consumers.
The 25-student course will begin in September. Lessons will take place at the university's new campus at MediaCity, where more than 1,500 students and staff will be based.
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Its only a matter of time before a University does a course on The Psychology of Universties who Launch Pointless Courses. The students taking this course will also have to take a course in Irony.
Is this a justified £9,000 course as well.
What a waste of time!
Interesting spin from the MEN. This is a course, not a degree. I can understand a semester of looking at the psychology of social media, as this is a worthwhile academic pursuit. Given that it's only 8-10 weeks, I can't see the problem with it.
The way this is spun is so that the reader might believe it's a 3 year degree.
Come on MEN you've totally spun this story to bear bait the readers. It's not a stand alone degree, it's a masters degree, and frankly one on a subject that is very much relevant today.
Oxford and Cambridge are said to be worried about the competition from Salford.
As for " getting key messages across” have they though of telling the truth?
Might have known it was Salford. I started a new degree developed in medical imaging. one year after the course started all the major sponsors pulled out and the course was left with no direction and basically abandoned! after I finished my degree I spent 2 years trying to find a job only to be told my course wasnt recognised. Total waste of my time and I have a 12k debt to pay back. I wouldnt bother with any course like this IMO.
a degree course in the psycholgy of stupid courses would be more appropiate, lets hope the new fee costs price this kind of thing out of students reach.
This is actually a massive subject which is still quite poorly understood and for the first time in history large amounts of real data is being collected.
The likes of Facebook and Twitter have got petabytes of data which is in dire need of real scientific analysis to properly work out how social networks behave, how ideas are generated and propagated through the network and how different members of a network can have different roles.
This is a subject which covers computing, mathematics, social Darwinism and psychology, a 1 year masters course is barely going to scratch the surface.
It is an important enough subject,
Can you imagine if someone studied why things fall to the ground, oh hang on a minute didn't Isacc Newton do that once, where did it get him? to be probably the most famous scientist ever, that all our physics studies are basic on.
Moral of the story, you'll never know what you can find out.