User:Tessap102002/Cultivation theory

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Cultivation Theory aims to understand how long-term exposure to television programming, with its recurrent patterns of messages and images, can contribute to individuals' shared assumptions about the world around them.

Description
Cultivation Theory was created by Professor George Gerbner in the 1960s; it was later expanded upon by Gerbner and Larry Gross in 1976. Gerbner formulated his paradigm for mass communication in 1973 that included three types of analysis. The third type of analysis is the cultivation analysis that is defined as the longitudinal surveys of people’s opinions on certain subjects with the key variable being levels of media reception such as television viewing. This analysis is known as the Cultivation Theory.

Perceptions of Violence
From this study, Gerbner then began to work on what would become the Mean World Syndrome, which is based on the fact that heavy viewers of television, particularly violence-related content, are more likely than light viewers to believe that the world is more frightening and dangerous than it actually is.

Criticism
Another problem with this theory is that it is going to be more challenging for people to think about ways in which they can create an environment that is fairer and less damaging for new generations to come since it is easier to spread fake information because of all the media that today's society has. As technology and media evolves, today's society is not going to be able to keep up. By the time they find ways to create a just and less damaging environment for newer generations, technology will have evolved, and society will have to find more ways right away. It'll be a never-ending cycle.

Background
There are three orders of effect that come with the Cultivation Theory. The First Order Effects describe how people's behaviour changes when exposed to mass media. The Second Order Effect encompasses the viewers' values and attitudes depending on what they are watching. The Third Order Effect is the change in the viewer's observation behavior.

Research
Gerbner et al. developed an index for the Mean World Syndrome. Those with heavy viewing habits become suspicious of other people's motives, expecting the worst. For example, heavy viewers of violent television are much more likely to be afraid of walking alone at night in fear that they will get robbed, mugged, or even killed. This results in the heavy viewers to try and protect themselves more than others by, for example, having watchdogs, buying new locks, investing in a security camera system, and owning guns.