CULTIVATION THEORY -TELEVISION SHAPES CONCEPTS OF SOCIAL REALITY

 History and Orientation

With the decline of hypodermic needle theories a new perspective began to emerge: the

stalagmite theories. Black et. al. used the metaphor of stalagmite theories to suggest that media

effects occur analogously to the slow buildup of formations on cave floors, which take their

interesting forms after eons of the steady dripping of limewater from the cave ceilings above.

One of the most popular theories that fits this perspective is cultivation theory.

Cultivation theory (sometimes referred to as the cultivation hypothesis or cultivation analysis)

was an approach developed by Professor George Gerbner, dean of the Annenberg School of

Communications at the University of Pennsylvania. He began the 'Cultural Indicators' research

project in the mid-1960s, to study whether and how watching television may influence viewers'

ideas of what the everyday world is like. Cultivation research is in the 'effects' tradition.

Cultivation theorists argue that television has long-term effects which are small, gradual, indirect

but cumulative and significant.

Core Assumptions and Statements

Cultivation theory in its most basic form, suggests that television is responsible for shaping, or

‘cultivating’ viewers’ conceptions of social reality. The combined effect of massive television

exposure by viewers over time subtly shapes the perception of social reality for individuals and,

ultimately, for our culture as a whole. Gerbner argues that the mass media cultivate attitudes and

values which are already present in a culture: the media maintain and propagate these values

amongst members of a culture, thus binding it together. He has argued that television tends to

cultivate middle-of-the- road political perspectives. Gerbner called this effect ‘mainstreaming’.

Cultivation theorists distinguish between ‘first order’ effects (general beliefs about the everyday

world, such as about the prevalence of violence) and ‘second order’ effects (specific attitudes,

such as to law and order or to personal safety). There is also a distinction between two groups of

television viewers: the heavy viewers and the light viewers. The focus is on ‘heavy viewers’.

People who watch a lot of television are likely to be more influenced by the ways in which the

world is framed by television programs than are individuals who watch less, especially regarding

topics of which the viewer has little first-hand experience. Light viewers may have more sources

of information than heavy viewers. ‘Resonance’ describes the intensified effect on the audience

when what people see on television is what they have experienced in life. This double dose of the

televised message tends to amplify the cultivation effect.

Favorite Methods

Cultivation analysis usually involves the correlation of data from content analysis (identifying

prevailing images on television) with survey data from audience research (to assess any

influence of such images on the attitudes of viewers). Audience research by cultivation theorists

involves asking large-scale public opinion poll organizations to include in their national surveys

questions regarding such issues as the amount of violence in everyday life. Answers are

interpreted as reflecting either the world of television or that of everyday life. The answers are

then related to the amount of television watched, other media habits and demographic data such

as sex, age, income and education.

Scope and Application

Cultivation research looks at the mass media as a socializing agent and investigates whether

television viewers come to believe the television version of reality the more they watch it.

Example

In a survey of about 450 New Jersey schoolchildren, 73 percent of heavy viewers compared to

62 percent of light viewers gave the TV answer to a question asking them to estimate the number

of people involved in violence in a typical week. The same survey showed that children who

were heavy viewers were more fearful about walking alone in a city at night. They also

overestimated the number of people who commit serious crimes. This effect is called ‘mean

world syndrome’. One controlled experiment addressed the issue of cause and effect,

manipulating the viewing of American college students to create heavy- and light-viewing

groups. After 6 weeks of controlled viewing, heavy viewers of action-adventure programs were

indeed found to be more fearful of life in the everyday world than were light viewers.