Media Psychology Lab

Within KU Leuven, the Media Psychology Lab focuses on the use of information and entertainment media (including social media, ICT, television, games, and mobile devices), and how this use can have a positive and/or negative impact on the physical, psychological, and social well-being of individuals.
Digital media technologies today influence all aspects of individual development, social life, and society. The MediaPsych Lab has a strong expertise in investigating the processes through which the negative and positive effects of digitalization arise and the conditions under which they occur. To this end, various advanced methods are used, such as longitudinal survey studies, diary studies, and data donation research. Themes that have been the subject of research in recent years include alcohol and drug use, sexuality and sexism, aggression, risk behavior, depression, suicide, (positive) body image, political socialization, and mental/physical well-being. The MediaPsych Lab's research aims to provide direction on how users, parents, educators and media literacy designers can deal with the challenges and opportunities that digitalization brings in various domains such as staying healthy, developing advanced cognitive structures and building meaningful social ties.