Cultivation Theory

CULTIVATION THEORY Historical Background In the 1950s, Television became a way of life in US The widespread influence of TV made a concern for many scholars and policy makers -> The birth of CULTIVATION THEORY

CULTIVATION THEORY Historical background Proposed by Professor George Gerbner

CULTIVATION THEORY Main arguments - Looking at the TV as a social agent and studying the effect of TV exposure.

Introduction  Cultivation theory was an approach developed by Professor George Gerbner.  This theory concentrates on specific medium television.  Cultivation theory predicts not the direct impact on our thinking regarding some issues but very way we perceive or view the world.

 Cultivation theory has both narrow and broadened aspects ; narrow in the sense of that it only focuses on one medium that is television and broadened in the sense it addresses the macroscopic question about Media role in society.  The theory focuses on the effect that TV and movie violence has on our perception of reality. The cultivation theory says that the more TV a person watch, the harsher perception they will have of the real world.

The mass media cultivate attitudes and values, which are already present in a culture. Television has become the main source of storytelling in today’s society The overuse of television creates a fearful environment.

 He claimed that because TV contains so much violence, people who spend the most time in front of the tube develop and exaggerated belief in a mean and scary world. violence is one of the major staples of the TV world

Gerbner broke viewers down in to three categories Viewers Moderate Viewer Light Viewers Heavy Viewers

Heavy viewer: Those who watch four or more hours a day are labeled heavy television viewers. Light viewer: Those who view less than four hours per day, according to Gerbner are light viewers. Moderate viewer: Those who watch television, not more than four hour, not less than two hour. They watch television in between them called moderate viewer. Gerbner predicted that heavy viewers saw the world as more dangerous than light viewers.

CULTIVATION THEORY Main Arguments Heavy viewers’ demographics:. Young people. Low socio-economic groups.Being affected by Mean World Syndrome (They see the world as a nastier and more violent than what it really is.)

CULTIVATION THEORY Main Arguments. less selective in what they view. more likely to expect to be involved in violence (eg: game online)

CULTIVATION THEORY Main Arguments. More fearful about life ( eg: worried about walking alone at night, overestimating the size of law enforcement, distrustful of people). BUT they’re unaware of any influence of TV exposure on their attitudes.

MEAN WORLD SYNDROME is one of the main effects of the cultivation theory On the small screen, content analysis tells us, crime ranges about ten times more often than in real life. So, the chances of this type of syndrome are more in heavy viewers of television.

CRITICISM: “Gerbner has shown that the difference between heavy viewer and light television viewers show up even across a number of other important variables, including Age, Education, News reading and Gender.

DENIS MCQUAIL’S CRITICISM “Audience behavior and audience view, given the many intervening and powerful social background factors. our attitudes are likely to be influenced not only by TV but also by other media, by direct experience, by other people and so on.” And this criticism was given due to the over simplification of the theory.

Strengths: Provide detailed explanations of TV’s unique role Applies empirical study to widely held humanistic assumptions Applies to wide variety of effects issues. Provided basis for social change. Weaknesses: Is methodologically troubling to many. Focus on heavy users of TV. Is difficult to apply to Media used less heavily than TV.

What we’ve discussed?  Watching television change the viewer’s attitude  Heavy viewers are like to shape their concept of reality from watching TV  However, our attitude is also influenced by other factors such as other kinds of media, people, experience or knowledge.