Cultivation Theory A Three Prong View of TV George Gerbner

Cultivation Theory – what is it? *derived from an analysis of studies on the impacts of television on the way we view our environment *developed as a conceptual framework for viewing events through a common lens *three prong focus: a) institutional process analysis – why does the media produce the messages that they do? b) message system analysis – what kind of message is the media transmitting? c) cultivation analysis – how does the media affect how we view our environment? Cultivation theory has a three prong focus: a) why does media produce the messages they do?(institutional process analysis) ; b) what messages TV transmits (or any other media for that matter)(message system analysis)?; c) how does the tv message affect the viewers? (cultivation analysis). It was developed from meta-analysis of the impacts of violence viewed on television on the culture. This theory was originally developed on the impacts of tv violence, but the impacts have been extrapolated to include perceptions about smoking, children’s viewing habits and many others. The Electronic Storyteller The Killing Screens: Media & the Culture of Violence - YouTube

Institutional Process Analysis – the First Prong *The analysis of reasons why media produces the messages they do *How can the media grab the attention of the audience? *Violence is cheap to produce, and is understood by all. *Shows with violence will be cheap to make and yet produce a maximum profit. Why does the media produce the messages they do? In an effort to understand how a media company distributes their products, a researcher will attempt to understand why media companies select, produce and distribute the stories they do.

Message System Analysis – The Second Prong *Studies the type of content the media produces *Initially, study focused on TV violence Result: is that violence is equally distributed across the media but violence is unequally distributed across age groups, gender and ethnicity. *The premise is that the media cultivated perceptions in the audience. The message system analysis focused on the types of messages the media sent to their audiences. Although the original analysis dealt with the types of violence messages in the media, subsequent studies measured behaviors like smoking, gender roles, attitudes about science or marriage or work, environmental issues or the handling of political views. *The types of messages were analyzed to ascertain the connections between the perceptions and the amount of content in the media presentations.

Cultivation Analysis - The Third Prong *The third prong and one that carries the most influence *works like a force field – pulling viewers into a field of influence of tainted by what they perceive to be the environment around them. *the media develops the “reality” that the viewer uses as a lens to make judgments about how they react or “know” their environment. Example: if you watch a lot of CSI, then you perceive you may have a good chance of being involved in a violent crime. The third prong is the meat of the theory because this “prong” determines the influence of the content on individuals perceptions of their environment. The difference between the cultivation analysis and the message analysis is based on the perception of the individuals as opposed to the content of the messages sent. Another idea promoted in this analysis the direct relationship between the amount of time an individual is engrossed in the media and the influence on the person’s perceptions of their environments, i.e. the individual views their world through a “TV lens”.

Major Findings *Positive correlation between TV viewing and fear of criminal victimization. *Perceived activity of police. (There is a larger percentage of population involved in law enforcement and that police draw their guns regularly.) *People have a general mistrust of people. - Known as the mean world syndrome. - A cynical mindset that people are looking out for themselves. All of these perceptions come from “heavy TV” viewing.

References Griffin, E. A. A First Look at Communication Theory. 2012. McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. The Killing Screens: Media & the Culture of Violence. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PHxTr-59hE