Certain Personality Types May Be Attracted to Certain Types of Media

Personality psychology is a branch of psychology that studies personality and its individual differences. In the field of psychology, "personality" is defined as a dynamic and organized set of characteristics possessed by a person who uniquely influences his or her cognitions, emotions, motivations, and behaviors in various situations. These set of characteristics could potentially lead a person to prefer to interact with the world in a certain way.

Certain personality types prefer to interact with the world differently than others. 

Colleen Byrne, a professor in Clinical Psychology at the University of Maryland and a psychology clinic director, agrees with notion that certain personality types attracted to certain types of communication. Byrne says that people who are introverted may be attracted to text and email in comparison to people who are extroverted may prefer face-to-face conversation. 

According to Byrne,  certain personality types may be an indicator of what modes of communication they prefer.

In other words an introverted person may prefer reading the paper in the morning, and scanning the internet to stay informed. Extroverted people may prefer to watching television and possibly interacting with the internet more, such as blogging and providing citizen journalism. As Byrne puts it, introverted people prefer a "buffer" to stand behind, while extroverted people tend to want to be around people—they prefer interaction. 

The theoretical framework for personality psychology began with a Psychiatrist by the name of Carl Jung.

In 1921, Carl Jung, a Swiss Psychiatrist had the theory that there were various personality types that had different ways of perceiving the world. Jung hypothesized that there were four important channels through which people experienced the world and that for each channel there were two ways that a person could you this channel. These dichotomies were between introversion-extroversion, sensing-intuition, thinking-feeling, and judging and perceiving. People who prefer extroversion tend to focus their attention on the outer world of people and things. People who prefer introversion tend to focus their attention on the inner world of ideas and impressions. People who prefer sensing tend to take in information through five senses and focus on the here and now. People who prefer intuition tend to take in information from patterns and the big picture and focus on future possibilities. People who prefer thinking tend to make decisions based primarily on logic and on objective analysis of cause and effect. People who prefer feeling tend to make decisions based primarily on values and on subjective evaluation of person-centered concerns. People who prefer judging tend to like a planned and organized approach to life and prefer to have things settled. People prefer perceiving tend to like a flexible and spontaneous approach to life and prefer to keep their options open. This theory, along with these dichotomies, created the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality inventory, which helped people classify themselves by these four dichotomies and into one of 16 distinct personality categories.

Although the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality test may help a person discern their personality type, it does not show great validity.

Professor Bryne reports that the Myers-Briggs tests has no "checks and balances" to show that a person responded accurately. In other words, there are no validity scales to show the accuracy of someone's answers. The scale can be potentially skewed based on a person's mood on how they want to be perceived at a certain point in time.

The Myers-Briggs test is widely used to help people choose career choices and ways of being more efficient; however, according to Professor Bryne she would not recommend it if you wanted to be sure about the outcome. 

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Personality Test is widely used but still controversial.

After much research, the Myers-Briggs test has been shown to show very weak construct validity and criterion validity. In other words, the test's scales did not relate to other scales measuring similar concepts and the test did not predict specific outcomes related to interpersonal relations or job performance. Therefore, the National Academy of Sciences committee had to conclude that the Myers-Briggs test had relatively weak validity—the test does not seem to measure what it is supposed to measure. The National Academy of Sciences committee also reported low reliability—the degree of consistency of the results were low.

Although certain personality types may be attracted to certain types of media, there is not enough evidence to support such a claim.

Instinctively we may all have our own biases for certain types of people liking certain types of things. These biases tend to come from our own experiences, which could form stereotypes, prejudices, and even racist notions. However, there are currently not enough research to suggest that certain personality types are attracted to certain types of media. There are many different variables to predict such a thing. A person's gender, age, socioeconomic status, religion/spirituality, sexual orientation, developmental disability, nationality, and indigenous heritage are all factors that could influence a person's attraction to certain types of media. 

Are Certain Personality Types Attracted to Certain Types of Media?

In 1921, Carl Jung, a Swiss Psychiatrist had the theory that there were various personality types that had different ways of perceiving the world. Jung hypothesized that there were four important channels through which people experienced the world and that for each channel there were two ways that a person could you this channel. These dichotomies were between introversion-extroversion, sensing-intuition, thinking-feeling, and judging and perceiving. People who prefer extroversion tend to focus their attention on the outer world of people and things. People who prefer introversion tend to focus their attention on the inner world of ideas and impressions. People who prefer sensing tend to take in information through five senses and focus on the here and now. People who prefer intuition tend to take in information from patterns and the big picture and focus on future possibilities. People who prefer thinking tend to make decisions based primarily on logic and on objective analysis of cause and effect. People who prefer feeling tend to make decisions based primarily on values and on subjective evaluation of person-centered concerns. People who prefer judging tend to like a planned and organized approach to life and prefer to have things settled. People prefer perceiving tend to like a flexible and spontaneous approach to life and prefer to keep their options open.

This theory, along with these dichotomies, created the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality inventory, which helped people classify themselves by these four dichotomies and into one of 16 distinct personality categories.

Questions to ask an expert:

• Which distinct personality types are attracted to certain types of media?
• How should businesses cater to these personality types, in order to increase their viewers and attract a larger audience? 

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Cognitive Dissonance is Used in Everyday Life

In the book, Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication, the theory of cognitive dissonance is described as a theory of persuasion that states we act first and then rationalize our behavior afterward, in order to fit our actions into self-perceived notions of who we are. This theory helps explain a range of puzzling behaviors, including why college students subject themselves to things like hazing to join a fraternity or sorority

The term “cognitive dissonance” was coined in 1957 by Leon Festinger, an American social psychologist.

He coined this term while doing a participant observation study of a cult that believed that the earth was going to be destroyed by a flood. Festinger’s cognitive dissonance theory suggests that all humans have an inner drive to hold all our attitudes and beliefs in harmony and feel positive within our own-selves, so we can avoid disharmony. More specifically, cognitive dissonance refers to a situation involving conflicting beliefs or attitudes in which produces an internal discomfort. Naturally, we try to fix this discomfort by altering our attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs.

College students who put themselves through hazing to join a fraternity most likely go through cognitive dissonance. 

When they are forced to do an action they do not want to do, such as binge drinking, dissonance is created between their cognition and their behavior. The individual is going through forced compliance because he or she is performing actions that are inconsistent with his or her beliefs. After the behavior occurs (in this case, binge drinking), the behavior cannot be change since it is in the past, so dissonance will need to be reduced by re-evaluating their attitude to what they have done. They might rationalize by telling themselves it will all be worth it in the end, that it will make them have a lot of friends, or that it will help them make great networking connections for the future. 

Similarly, cognitive dissonance has been used to control large populations. An example in the past was in World War II where campaigns were made to tell the American people to donate their pots and pans, which were said to have been used to make ammunition, tanks, and planes. People’s dissonance of giving up their possessions was then rationalized with feelings of nationalism for the war effort.

Cognitive dissonance is also used in advertising and marketing.

Advertisers want to create dissonance for non-users of their product. Advertisers believe that a consumer may uses a particular product because he or she believes the advertising for that product, which claims that the product is the best of its kind. Other ways companies use the theory of cognitive dissonance to get people to like or buy their product is by getting their logo or brand name on a positive image. Some examples of this are companies such as Under Armour who advertises their products with the wounded warrior project and Starbuck’s partnership with Product RED to help people living with HIV or Aids in Africa. Dissonance may be created in people after they spend $7 on a cup of coffee at Starbucks. This is because realistically paying such a large amount on a cup of coffee is ridiculous. However, people are more willing to pay  $6 or $7 for a cup of coffee if they can rationalize their purchase by changing their thinking to relieve that discomfort by telling themselves their money is going to a good cause.

A similar organization that causes dissonance in their advertisements is TOMS.

TOMS started out as a shoe company with the commitment to change lives. They have a ‘One to One’ promise, with the commitment to help one person every time one of their products are purchased. If you purchase a pair of shoes from them they will make shoes specifically designed for a child in another country to wear them. Shoe distribution is also paired with education of hygiene and healthy behaviors. TOMS have even recently started selling eyewear as well, with the ‘ONE to One’ promise to help people in need of prescription glasses, medical treatment, and sight-saving surgery. In my opinion, when looking at the products they sell, the price tag does not match up with the quality of the product. They sell their products anywhere from $50 to $90 for a flimsy canvas pair of shoes. However, when deciding whether to buy a pair, cognitive dissonance occurs inside your head. Dissonance comes form the two conflicting decision paths. The cognitive dissonance theory says that the outcome of these opposing paths, whether to buy the pair of shoes, will be the one that requires the least emotional stress. Therefore, more people are willing to spend the extra money for a pair of TOMS shoes if they know the money is going to help people. This is how TOMS have been able to make a lot of business over the years. 

The Future of 3D Technology Looks Bright

In a society that has always been technologically driven, one of the latest crazes today is over 3D technology. 3D technology stands for three-dimensional technology. In short, the way 3D works is with cameras placing two different images over each other or in an alternating succession. Normally the human eyes produce two slightly different images, which are then transmitted to the brain. However, with the use of 3D glasses and the overlapping images, the brain is tricked into seeing two different images from the same source, creating a three dimensional image.

The use of 3D technology has been widely adopted by the movie industry.
3D movies have surprisingly generated 19% of box office revenue in 2011. This technology has created interest in dispersing it to other mediums and has reached the home. 3D TVs have already been in mass production, however the interest in 3D TVs have diminished over the years. Some of the biggest critiques of 3D TVs are the necessity of glasses to view the 3D images. The glasses are expensive, bulky, and without them the images appear blurry. For example, if you had a larger audience than expected at your home, exceeding the number of glasses available, not everyone would be able to clearly view the TV. With all these factors to be considered, there still seems to be a growing market for 3D technology. 3D technology has made its way to portable gaming devices and mobile phones (which are not yet available in the U.S.).

With much criticism whether the 3D technology market will rise or fall, innovators are still creating ways for the 3D market to flourish.
One of the biggest technological advancements in 3D technology has been by researchers in South Korea, who found a glasses-free method for people to watch movies in 3D. One glasses-free method used previously was with the use of a special filter covering the screen sending some of the light to your right eye and some to your left, creating a 3D image. However, this method would not work in the everyday movie theater because the projector would have to be positioned behind the screen, which is not necessarily the best economic option. The new glasses-free method would allow the projector to remain in the same spot, using optical technology to create a 3D image. The projector would send out polarized light to the screen, which is covered by a filter, and then is sent to the respective eye, creating the 3D image. The technology is still in its developing stages, due to its production of a low-resolution image, but it is a step in the right direction. With 25 million 3D TVs sold in 2011, there is a projected 180 million that will be sold in 2019. These figures predict that 3D TVs will be similar to the conversion from black and white TVs to color TVs; therefore, there is hope for a prosperous market in making everything three-dimensional. Maybe there will come a day when we think back and cannot remember how we ever lived without 3D technology.  

References: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/10/19/whats-wrong-with-3d/