User:LeviYou/Understanding of cultivation theory

Definition
Cultivation theory proposes that repeated exposure to media over time affects perceptions of social reality. This theory, developed by George Gerbner in the 1960s, is most commonly applied to television viewing and suggests that frequent television viewers' perceptions of the real world reflect the most common messages conveyed by fictional television. When George Gerbner first proposed the idea of cultivation theory in 1969, it was in response to the tradition of media effects research, which was focused only on the short-term effects of media exposure that could be found in a lab experiment. As a result, effects research ignored the influence of long-term exposure to media. Such influence would happen gradually as people encounter media repeatedly over the course of their everyday lives. Gerbner proposed that over time, repeated exposure to media cultivated the belief that the messages conveyed by the media apply to the real world. As people’s perceptions are shaped by media exposure, their beliefs, values, and attitudes are shaped as well.

Mean World Syndrome
Gerbner initially focused on the effect of television violence on viewers. Media influence researchers often study the way media violence affects aggressive behavior, but Gerbner and his colleagues have different concerns. They believe that people who watch a lot of television will fear the world and believe that crime and victimization are rampant.

Criticism
Despite the growing popularity of nurturing theory among researchers and the research evidence supporting it, nurturing has been criticized for a number of reasons. For example, some media academics take issue with cultivation because it sees media consumers as fundamentally passive. By focusing on patterns of media messages, rather than individual responses to those messages, cultivating ignores actual behavior. In addition, Gerbner and his colleagues' nurturing study has also been criticized for viewing TV as a whole, without taking into account differences across genres or programs. This unique focus comes from cultivating a focus on TV message patterns, rather than individual messages of a particular genre or program. Nonetheless, some scholars have recently studied the impact of certain types of films on heavy audiences.

Background
When Gerbner originally conceived of cultivation theory, it was part of a broader “cultural indicators” project. The project pointed to three areas of analysis: institutional process analysis, which explored how media messages are formulated and distributed; message system analysis, which explored what those messages conveyed as a whole; and cultivation analysis, which explored how media messages impact the way the consumers of media messages perceive the real world. While all three components are linked, it is cultivation analysis that was and continues to be most widely researched by scholars.

His interest in television stemmed from several assumptions about the medium. Gerbner believes that television is the most widely shared source of information and information in history. Even as the channel selection and delivery system expands, Gerbner insists that TV content should be brought together into a consistent set of messages. Television, he argues, limits people's choices because, as a mass medium, it must appeal to a large and diverse audience. So even as programming choices proliferate, the pattern of messages remains the same. Therefore, television is likely to give different people a similar view of reality. As his assumptions about television suggest, Gerbner is not interested in the impact of any one message or how it is perceived by an individual viewer. He wants to understand how broad patterns of television information affect public knowledge and collective perception

Research
While Gerbner focused his research on fictional television, more recently, scholars have expanded cultivation research into additional media, including video games, and different forms of television, like reality TV. In addition, the topics explored in cultivation research continue to expand. Studies have included the impact of media on perceptions of family, sex roles, sexuality, aging, mental health, the environment, science, minorities, and numerous other areas.

Another study found that television cultivates materialism and, as a result, people who watch more TV are less concerned about the environment. Meanwhile, a third study found that general television viewing cultivated skepticism about science. However, because science is also sometimes portrayed as a cure-all on television, a competing perception of science as promising was also cultivated.

These studies are just the tip of the iceberg. Cultivation continues to be a widely studied area for mass communication and media psychology researchers.