This chapter provides an overview of the effects of consuming media content spanning entertainment, news, and advertising—content that is increasingly delivered over a wide range of technological platforms (e.g., computers, televisions, smart phones)—on the psychophysiological responses of media audiences, focusing in particular on how media content affects neural responses and the ways in which those neural responses act as biological mechanisms of psychological and behavioral responses. The chapter highlights the psychophysiological approach to studying how individuals interact with media, and provides a theoretically and methodologically rich environment for advancing the scientific study of how all forms of mediated experience influence thoughts, feelings, and actions. The chapter focuses in particular on how the media psychophysiology approach has been applied to understanding media violence and persuasion, underscoring the ways in which this approach has provided a way to address questions of long-standing interest to scholars in the field.

This article presents an Integrative Model of Sustainable Health Decision-Making and a toolkit to equip U.S. Extension professionals with knowledge and skills to engage in adult immunization education. The objective was to reduce mistrust and increase willingness and confidence toward delivering vaccination education. The model was developed through an explanatory parallel mixed methods design. Data collection included a needs assessment survey, interviews, workshops, and Neuromarketing message testing. The resulting toolkit was pilot tested before final delivery. Four key needs were identified: tailoring trainings based on Extension roles, prioritizing preserving community trust and professional credibility, establishing connections with medical experts, and strengthening Science Media Literacy skills to counter misinformation and communicate emerging science. Correlations among constructs supported an integrated model focused on a professional development core of Science Media Literacy, Motivational Interviewing, and Neuromarketing Science that strengthens communication relationships between priority populations and trusted partners. The model and work described in this article can serve as a general framework for engaging key influencers in communities in communication education intended to promote sustainable well-being, such as increasing vaccine uptake.

The increase in verbal and physical aggressions directed at Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic and after has brought into focus a need to understand the reasons for such aggressions and identify interventions. Our study addresses these needs by investigating whether photographs accompanying a news report depicting Asian Americans positively or negatively in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic activate positive or negative perceptions of Asian Americans and whether the valence of the photographs differentially influences intent to intervene in anti-Asian aggressions. In a 2 (image: positive vs. negative) X 2 (political ideology: liberal vs. conservative) mixed between-subject online experiment with adult white Americans, we found that liberals showed more positive perceptions and greater intent to intervene with the negative photos compared to the positive photos, while conservatives showed more negative perceptions and lower intent to intervene with the negative photos. Implications of these findings for activation and activation control theories of primes and biases are discussed. Some recommendations on how the results might guide media content providers to mitigate the spread of anti-Asian aggressions are also provided.