The media is not a neutral window onto the world. Every news clip, social media feed, film, or recommended video decides what comes into view and what is left out. Because our lives are constantly surrounded by these frames, they shape how we see ourselves, whom we trust, and how we feel. As media moves from television and radio to short-form content, streaming, gaming, podcasts, algorithmic feeds, and generative AI, the frame has become personal and more immersive, making it harder to step away from.

Research across psychology, media studies, communication, sociology, literature, and education has examined the media’s effects on identity, belief, attention, and well-being. The Media Psychology Research Colloquium 2027, organised by the Media Psychology Lab, Department of Psychology, CHRIST (Deemed to be University) brings them into one single conversation.

Out of Frame: Media and Human Experience

Every frame shows something and leaves something out. A news clip, an Instagram feed, a film still or a recommended video decides what we see, what we skip and what we come to believe. We live inside these frames, and they shape how we see ourselves, whom we trust and how we feel.

Out of Frame: Media and the Human Experience asks what media puts in view, what it hides, and what happens to people who live inside the frame. It explores three connected questions. How does media shape identity, relationships and belonging? How do audiences decide what is real, true and believable in an age of spectacle, misinformation and synthetic content? And how are today's platforms, algorithms and formats changing attention, memory, emotion and wellbeing?

Sub Tracks 

Media, Self, and Connection
How media shapes identity, relationships, and belonging.

• Self-presentation, social comparison, body image, and identity in mediated spaces

• Parasocial bonds, influencer culture, fandom, and human-AI companionship

• Friendship, intimacy, family, and online communities

• Group identity, polarisation, and collective emotion

Media, Reality, and Belief
How audiences negotiate what is real, true, and believable.

• Hyperreality, post-truth, and the blurring of real and mediated

• News framing, credibility, and public opinion

• Misinformation, deepfakes, and AI-generated media

• Representation, stereotypes, and narrative persuasion
  
  

Media Today: Content, Technology, and the Mind
How the contemporary media environment affects cognition and experience.

• Short video, streaming, gaming, podcasts, memes, and generative AI

• Platforms, algorithms, attention economies, and ethics

• Attention, multitasking, memory, and constant connectivity

• Doomscrolling, binge-watching, digital fatigue, and immersion