My Reflection on Cultivation Theory

Almost every family in the United States has a family room with a television in it. Today, 96.7% of Americans own a television and a majority of them have more than one.We live in a society where television and different platforms of media have become a crucial part of our everyday lives for news and entertainment purposes. Television first became commercialized for Americans to see in 1941 and has grown tremendously over the years. About 20 years after TV was created, studies were starting to be done regarding the media effects from it. More specifically, people were doing research to see how audiences perceptions of everyday lives were altered and how. There is a social theory known as cultivation theory that studies the long-term effects of television. "The primary proposition of cultivation theory states that the more time people spend 'living' in the television world, the more likely they are to believe social reality portrayed on television." This theory was created by George Gerbner and Larry Gross, both professors of communication at the University of Pennsylvania. They started doing research for cultural indicators where they tracked the effects of television viewers. They were concerned with the amount of violence in television and that Americans would begin to change their attitudes and beliefs about the world outside of it and begin to think that the world was a mean and scary place. This is known as the Mean World Syndrome. This theory focuses on people who are heavy viewers of television. People who consume the most amount of media are more likely to believe the messages that TV programs are sending them.

A critique of George Gerbner's cultivation theory, based on my claim that he did not succeed in defining the social agent that allegedly produced cultivation effects. The bibliography is uploaded in a separate file. This paper was presented at the 2001 Conference of the International Communication Association.

In this paper, the researcher comprehensively examines the cultivation theory. Conceptualized by George Gerbner in the 1960s and 1970s, the theory has been questioned with every media technological development. In the last six decades, the mass communication field witnessed the propagation of cable, satellite, video games and most recently social media. So far, the theory seems to have survived by continuous adjustment and refinement. Since 2000, over 125 studies have endorsed the theory, which points out to its ability to adapt to a constantly changing media environment. This research discusses the theory since its inception, its growth and expansion, and the future prospects for it. In the first section of the paper, an overview is given on the premises/founding concepts of the theory. Next is a presentation of the added components to the theory and their development over the last sex decades including: The cultivation analysis, the conceptual dimensions, types and measurement of cultivation, and the occurrence of cultivation across the borders.

Communications, 2000

Mental models are dynamic mental representations of situations, events, and objects. We argue that the mental models approach can expand our understanding of cultivation theory. We survey the research on mental models, situation models including the event indexing model, and cultural models. Based on this literature, we propose several ways in which cultivation theory can be expanded to provide a richer understanding of how the media influence people's perception of their social reality and understanding of their culture.

Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 2013

In terms of cultivation analysis, cultivation concept explains the contribution of television watching to global perception and social reality conceptualization of the viewers (Morgan, 1984: 500). In the first cultivation study, the theory was defined as the random and unintentional learning, and unconscious gaining of demographic realities of television world by the viewers (Gerbner and Gross, 1976:170). Cultivation analysis examines the relationship between the most recurrent and expansive images and ideologies in television content with the social reality conceptualization of the viewers (Gerbner et al., 1980; Morgan and Signorielli, 1990). The component focuses on the overall results of growing up and living with television. The research of the article based on the conceptualized criticism called participant bias in the cultivation studies carried out by George Gerbner and his friends has been conducted at Ankara Kurtulu High School. In the field research, in parallel to the purpose, negative patterned questions reflecting the television world used by Gerbner and his friends, and the positive variations of these are used; in the analysis whether the two groups with the same indicators gave the same answers to each question has been studied. The results seem to be confirming Gerbner and his friends.

1987

Cultivation theory states that television engenders negative emotions in heavy viewers. Noting that cultivation methodology contains an apparent response bias, a study examined relationships between television exposure and positive restatements of cultivation concepts and tested a more instrumental media uses and effects model. Cultivation was thought to be linked to greater viewing selection, intention, attention, and perceived realism. Subjects, 392 adults (ages 17 to 88, 50.5% male, 49.5% female) completed a questionnaire. Correlation analysis showed television exposure to be unrelated to the positively worded_cultivation measures; program selectivity was_related_to_all cultivation measures except interpersonal connectedness. Regression analyses added that individual demographic differences and program selectivity accounted for_most_of the variance in cu3tivation perceptions. Findings suggested that methodology may explain cultivation effects that have been attributed to television exposure levels, and that, by using positive concepts, the notion thpt TV can have only_negative influences on personal perceptions is underscored as a fallacy. Findings also suggested_that television may not be the dominant influence on many_interpersonal perceptions. The instrumental media uses and effects model tested with some success. (Five tables of data and notes are appended.) (Author/NKA)

In this study, the cultivation role of the television on people's perception of the world and their characterisation of the social reality has been investigated. Forrevealing/presenting the cultivation role of television, it has been utilized from the Cultivation Analysis component of the Cultural Indicators Project developed by George Gerbner and his colleagues. In the study, it has been aimed to reveal the effect of viewing practices of people, who aged 60 and over, on their perceptions of social reality. In this context, a survey that includes cultivation questions has been carried out with 120 adults (60 female and 60 male) aged 60 and over, who live in Odunpazarı and Tepebaşı district of Eskişehir. As a result of the study, it has been identified that long term of television viewing has a cultivation effect on the mean world syndrome and sense of insecurity.

Mass Communication field is indeed improving with series of theories to analyse and review the connections between the mass media, messages, feedbacks and the audience. All these theories has helped us in broadening our understanding of human communication and mass media effects.Based on these cobsiderations , this paper discusses Cultivation Theory, its origin,the concept of cultivation , conceptual model, core assumptions , similarities to other theories and its critiques.

International Journal of Communication, 2021

Communication scholars have found varying levels of support for cultivation theory in the United States and abroad. Using a multilevel modeling approach and data from 27 countries (N > 51,000) from the fifth round of the European Social Survey, we found that the country in which a study is conducted explains a significant amount of the variance in violence-related outcome variables as well as in their relationship with television viewing. We further demonstrate how one cross-national contextual variable (welfare state regime) moderates cultivation relationships. For some of our outcomes, the relationships vary predictably across these groupings in a manner that strongly suggests mainstreaming. We propose that a macro-level approach would provide valuable insight into the complexities of cultivation theory.

Media, culture and public relations

Hegemony can be roughly defined as the overall field of practical strategies exerted by a dominant power in gaining the consent of the people under its rule (Eagleton, 1996: 167). The authority exercised on subordinated classes depends on consent, not force. Predominant classes operate hegemony through ideology; and media is one of the fields that hegemony is achieved. Cultivation theory expresses that television has a role on the social reality conceptualization and the world perception of people. For instance, heavy viewers consider that police is essential for this world. This suggests that hegemony is achieved. In this study, research concerning the cultivation role of television on the students of Faculty of Science at Anadolu University, Eskişehir, Turkey was carried out and the cultivation role has come out as a result of the analyses. This result indicates that hegemony is achieved on the related faculty students. In the Conclusion, I will discuss whether television is an ol...