Educational media psychology: Methodological foundations of an integrated model

Abstract

Introduction. The article presents a model of educational media psychology. It is considered as a branch of educational psychology which focuses on processes of education and development within media environments. The research problem is determined by the controversy between new tasks of educational psychology associated with the transformation of the modern educational environment into a media environment and the lack of an integrated approach to fulfill them. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the new branch of educational psychology, to identify its problems, clarify its notions, and to describe its concepts and methodological foundations. Materials and Methods. The research employs methods of theoretical analysis and modeling. Results. The study suggests that educational media environment as an object of psychology is characterized by distinctive features which require systematic integration of disciplinary, methodological and instrumental approaches to research. At the disciplinary level, research investigations in the field of educational media psychology involve the integration of basic concepts of educational psychology and media psychology. At the interdisciplinary level, studies on educational media psychology deal with integration of approaches and methods of psychology, philosophy, linguistics, text theory, sociology and cultural studies, which are significant for conducting a psychological analysis of the media text as a mediator of educational processes. The study reveals the need for a multidisciplinary paradigm of integration of (1) activity theory, which is traditional for educational psychology, with ideas of discursive psychology, psychosemiotics, narrative psychology and psychoanalysis; (2) explanatory and complex approaches to the analysis of research objects; (3) quantitative and qualitative research methods. Conclusions. Educational media psychology is presented as an integrated model, which comprises objects and interconnected approaches (paradigmatic and disciplinary).