MEDIA PSYCHOLOGY IN CONTEMPOPARY ENGLISH MEDIA DISCOURSE

Abstract

Media psychology is a study of human behavior, feelings, thoughts and ideas that are influenced by media. This branch of psychology, that considers personality in the context of interaction with modern means of communication, researches the constantly developing relationship between people and the media from a psychological point of view. The research has been carried out with the aim to prove that media psychology is a tool of linguistic representation of emotion in media discourse. This suggests an examination of how psychological principles apply to the study and analysis of language in the modern media context. The article also aims to reveal the linguistic features of positioning the subjects of discourse in the situation of risk and to formulate the principles of ecological representation of potentially traumatic information in the English-language media discourse. The focus has been placed on the issues that affect people’s ability to resist negative effects of media. The research is grounded in an integrated approach, which involves contextual analysis of English media discourse and considers both generation and reception contexts. It also highlights a psychological perspective, exploring its impact on individual consciousness, studying the mechanisms of discourse generation and perception, and emphasizing its individual and personalized aspects. The article examines diverse communicative goals in the context of media psychology, particularly highlighting how media influences our understanding and actions during crises or traumatic events. The communicative intentions could perform different functions through language. For instance, informative intention seeks to educate, while expressive intention evokes emotional responses. Persuasive intention aims to sway beliefs or behaviors, directive intention guides or instructs, and performative intention fosters a change through speech. The authors emphasize the crucial role of grasping these communicative intentions in order to prove ethical media discourse. The further in-depth interdisciplinary research on the interactions between media discourse and people’s psychology is suggested to foster better understanding and and the ability to manage media impact on society.