ABSTRACT
Media psychology emerges principally from the disciplines of psychology and communication, both of which contain a large number of theories. Authors begin with the three most cited theories in communication research between 1956 and 2000: cultivation theory, uses and gratifications, and agenda-setting theory. The original premise was that political candidates, in particular, are no longer presented in person but are presented through mass media. Within the context of the uses and gratifications theory, it has been proposed that one way social groups use media is to build positive images for their in-group. The intersection of media psychology with evolutionary psychology then involves the way that the authors respond to media in ways that are inherent to humans as they have evolved over the life of our species. Relating this to media psychology, because our species has not had time, in an evolutionary sense, to adapt to media, they process mediated stimuli as if they were real.
