Media Psychology Certificate (with emphases)

This 3-course, online certificate is designed for professionals who want to apply psychological theory and research to the use, impact, and development of media and technology. Students gain theory and practice of how media affects individuals and cultures and how media can be used for socially constructive purposes. They create applied solutions for sustainable change.

The objective of the program is to provide students with a grounding in the use of psychology for branding and marketing. Students will focus their studies on either media neuroscience or brand psychology and audience engagement.

Brand Psychology & Audience Engagement emphasis

• Build marketing and PR plans to increase profitability, longevity and customer engagement.
• Learn the new standards in branding and marketing to extend reach in the marketplace.
• Develop user personas to find and engage your audience.
• Identify and construct targeted audience profiles.
• Learn how to create satisfying and engaging user messages, services, and products.
• Understand the effects of transmedia storytelling in building successful entertainment franchises.

Media Neuroscience emphasis

• Designed for professionals of varied backgrounds who want to learn and apply persuasion theories based on ground-breaking neuromarketing research.
• Study the psychology of human motivation.
• Gain new insight on how visual perception impacts media design and message.
• Influence the way people think, buy and work.
• Review the pros and cons of popular theoretical frameworks used to explain and predict the effect of public information and social advocacy messaging.
• Discover ways to improve the persuasive effect of any media campaign.
• Understand the impact of neuroimaging technologies on neuromarketing research.
• Learn how the nervous system influences neuromarketing methods.
• Use eye tracking, EEG, GSR and fMRI research to solve marketing, social advocacy, advertising communication, and public campaigns.

From traditional media to today’s digital landscape, media psychologists work in a number of careers where the application of psychology to media and technology make a difference.

Companies recognize the need to apply psychology in organizational communications from HR to Twitter. Marketing is increasingly focused on the power of storytelling and identity as behavioral drivers across platforms. Entertainment tackles the perceptual limitations across multiple screens. Healthcare leverages media to provide care to marginalized and geographically disperse populations. Educators are adapting content to virtual spaces for online education. Media psychology is everywhere.