Humans & mediated technologies.

Add brand value 💎wherever they intersect.

What Is It?Meet Mayra

Break molds.

Differentiate in a markedly cognitive 🧠 ⭐ way.

Psychology of Image.

Create meaning & influence with 🖼️ imagery.

Media Smarts in Country Parts.

Positive media psychology practice ☀️ surrounded by rural beauty daily.

Media Psychologist Get Media Smarts

Leverage human behavior and positive use of media, imagery, and narrative to improve influence, advocate causes, and share ideas.

Image Psychology

Express complex and abstract ideas in rapid, simple terms to create mind-impact and emotional resonance to influence thoughts, ideas, and feelings.

Story Psychology

Dramatically improve brand storytelling across text, television, film, digital media, and social media through symbols, archetypes, and narrative formats and styles to emphasize issues and effect change.

Brand Psychology

Incorporate neuropsychology principles to brand-build engaged audience experiences consistent with important associations strongly aligned to your Brand Fantasy.

Media Psychology

Harness effective and persuasive media strategies, cognitive psychology of perception and meaning-making, and theories of motivation to understand the breadth and implications of technological change.

Stay abreast of media psychology trends impacting brands & audiences

My Latest Writings

Disaster Resilience: Emergent Use of Social Media and Its Effect on Citizens’ Self-Resilience During and After a Disaster

Posted by Mayra Ruiz-McPherson
On March 7, 2020

Resilience, an inferential concept, refers to patterns of positive adaptation during or following significant adversity or risk (Lopez, Edwards, and Marques, 2016, p. 118). In psychological terms, resilience refers to a particular characteristic that portrays an individual as sturdy, resourceful, and flexible in the face of uncertainty or threat (Luther, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000).

Read More

Thoughts On Censorship: ‘This May Be The Last Piece I Write’ and Disloyalty Lists

Posted by Mayra Ruiz-McPherson
On March 2, 2020

At the time of this political psychology (doctoral) course writing, we’re faced with important questions of censorship, free speech, and political power. These questions aren’t unique to the USA but also abroad, notably in China where censorship against the Coronavirus backdrop is unsettling and deeply troubling. In the US, a form of censorship is also […]

Read More

A Sample Study

Extended Audience Engagement Recommendations for Behance, An Adobe Creative Community

While Adobe’s Behance platform seeks to “remove the barriers between talent & opportunity (Behance, n.d.),” there are a number of considerations available for the brand to further refine its existing audience engagement efforts.

The slidedeck (displayed on the right) proposes that Behance UX teams tailor platform-specific content and supporting features towards two brand new user personas that branch out from the currently-existing, one-size-doesn’t-fit-all “Creatives” user group.

While entirely hypothetical, these executive summary presentation slides demonstrate my audience development and user experience (UX) thought processes inspired by Behance, an Adobe Creative Community.

Scroll