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Cultivation

Terms in this set (11)

Long-term TV viewing and Reality
Heavy viewers grossly overestimate crime statistics
Greatest concern for effect on children
Media effects tradition one of most prolific, socially important, and highly scrutinized areas of mass communication research
Many studies show TV viewing distorts perception of reality
The Cultural Indicators Project
Headed in 1960s by George Gerbner
Three components:
1. Cultivation theory - over time, heavy television viewers develop world views similar to what is seen on television (mean world syndrome)
2. Institutional process analysis - how messages are made, managed, and distributed
3. Message system analysis - the way images are portrayed in media content
• First study for President Johnson's Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence
• Mean World Index - measures TV audience perceptions of world violence and aggression
• Performs content analysis of TV violence annually
• Focuses on network television broadcast content
• Investigates cultivation effect of television portrayals regarding age, gender, social behavior, etc.
Cultivation Research
Two research methods
1. Content analysis of TV programs
2. Survey methods to evaluate viewer perceptions
Mean world index
Television world distorts reality
1. Young, energetic, appealing characters
2. Older people rare and often portray sick or dying characters
3. Violent crime involves more than half of all characters - in reality less than 1%
Consistent reality distortion lends credence to theory
Cultivation Concepts
Mainstreaming
Resonance
Cultivation assumes that television and the viewing public interact
Psychological processes involved in cultivation effects need further examination
Mainstreaming
- a dominant set of attitudes and values is repetitively presented on TV
Resonance
- some real-world events support distorted image and reinforce cultivation effect
Theoretical basis for Cultivation
Television has become a primary source of shared meanings and messages
Cognitive paradigm - viewers learn from watching television then construct an outlook on real world from what was learned
TV is persuasive communication
Mental models approach - focuses on how people construct thoughts about things
Television has become a primary source of shared meanings and messages
Cultivation analysis is designed to understand gradual long-term shifts in the socialization process
Cognitive paradigm: cultivation involves learning and construction
Viewers learn from watching television then construct an outlook on the real world from what was learned
Cognitive paradigm
: cultivation involves learning and construction
Availability heuristic - cognitive shortcuts accessible to heavy viewers enable quick responses about social reality that access portrayals on television
TV is persuasive communication
Central route of persuasion involves thinking things through
Peripheral route involves less thought, beliefs based on what is said by TV spokesperson
Mental models approach
- focuses on how people construct thoughts about things
Malleable
Considers interaction of memories, reasoning, experiences
Television stories are situation models that can be used to interpret new situations
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