Media and Social Life

Mary Beth Oliver (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison) is a distinguished professor in the Department of Film/Video & Media Studies and co-director of the Media Effects Research Lab at The Pennsylvania State University. Her research in media effects focuses on entertainment psychology and on social cognition. Her recent publications on these topics have appeared such journals as the Journal of Communication, Human Communication Research, and Communication Research, among others. She is currently an associate editor of the Media Psychology journal.Arthur A. Raney (Ph.D., University of Alabama) is the James E. Kirk Professor of Communication and director of doctoral studies in the School of Communication at Florida State University. His research primarily examines how and why we enjoy various media entertainment content, with specific attention to the role morality plays in those processes. His writings on these issues have been published in various anthologies, as well as in the Journal of Communication, Media Psychology, and Communication Theory, among others. He is currently an associate editor of the Media Psychology journal.

• Part 1: Media and the Self1: Emotion, Media, and Our Social World2: Media and Identity 3: Morality and the Selection, Reception, and Effects of Entertainment Media4: Media and Spirituality5: Integrating Technology and Media and the Social Learning Ecosystem: The Evolving State of Formal LearningPart 2: Media and Relationships6: Media and Social Groups7: The Domestication of Media in the Family8: Media and Friendships9: Sex, Romance, and Media: Taking Stock of Two Research Literatures10: Mediated Relationships and Social Life: Current Research on Fandom, Parasocial Relationships, and IdentificationPart 3: Emerging Media and Social Life11: Video Games and Social Life12: The Structural Transformation of Mobile Communication: Implications for Self and Society13: The Place Where Our Social Networks Reside: Social Media and Sociality14: Blogging