User:Victoria.reeves1997/Cultivation theory

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Cultivation theory is a sociological and communications framework to examine the lasting effects of media, primarily television. The central hypothesis of cultivation analysis is that people who spend more time watching television are more likely to perceive the real world in a way as more commonly depicted in television messages as compared to those who watch less television, but are otherwise comparable in major demographic features.

Founded by George Gerbner, cultivation theory was developed to seek out the influence that television media may have on the viewers. In later years, the foundings of Gerbner were expanded on and developed by an American screenwriter Larry Gross. Gerbner formulated his paradigm for mass communication in 1973 which included three types of analysis: The first type of analysis is institutional process analysis, which looks at what institutions are supporting and distributing the content in question. The second type of analysis is message system analysis. Message system analysis aims to identify the content of message patterns in television and media. This includes the focus on gender, race, and ethnicity in relation to topics, such as violence. 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. These three analyses are known as the Cultivation Theory.

Cultivation theory began as a way to test the impact of television on viewers, especially how exposure to violence through television affects human beings. The theory's key proposition is that "the more time people spend 'living' in the television world, the more likely they are to believe that social reality aligns with reality portrayed on television." Early studies of Cultivation Theory began with an interest in whether or not heavy television viewers were more likely to imitate violence that they saw. Current studies emphasize the conclusions that viewers draw about violence in the world around them. The traditional perspective of Cultivation Theory put emphasis on the overall viewing habits of individuals rather than their choice of genre. This was due to fewer choices that viewers had available to them. In light of changes in technology, simply examining the amount of viewing can be combined with choices in viewing. Gerbner believed that audience members used television to "fill the gaps" of their knowledge about certain experiences that they had not had for themselves. Because Cultivation Theory assumes the existence of objective reality and value-neutral research, it can be categorized as part of positivistic philosophy.

The more media that people consume, the more their perceptions change. Such images and messages, especially when repeated, help bring about the culture that they portray. 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.

In a 2004 study, surveying almost 2,000 articles published in the top three mass communication journals since 1956, Jennings Bryant and Dorina Miron found that cultivation theory was the third most frequently utilized cultural theory.

Perceptions of Violence
Gerbner's initial work looked specifically at the effects of television violence on American audiences. Measuring the effect of violence underscored the larger part of Gerbner's work on cultivation theory. Therefore, he measured dramatic violence, defined as "the overt expression or threat of physical force as part of the plot." Gerbner's research also focused on the interpretation by high-use viewers of the prevalence of crime on television versus reality. He argues that, since a high percentage of programs include violent or crime-related content, viewers who spend a lot of time watching are inevitably exposed to high levels of crime and violence. Reality television is popular programming due to its dramatic displays of aggression, both verbal and physical. The programs, which are supposed to be actual accounts of an individual's life, reinforce stereotypes of acceptable aggression for both males and females. Producers have the ability to shape the viewers' perception of reality by manipulating the events of the show. Fans of these types of programs believe that behavioral outbursts of celebrities are acceptable responses.

In 1968, Gerbner conducted a survey to demonstrate this theory. Following his previous results, he placed television viewers into three categories: light viewers (less than 2 hours a day), medium viewers (2–4 hours a day), and heavy viewers (more than 4 hours a day). He found that heavy viewers held beliefs and opinions similar to those portrayed on television, which demonstrated the compound effect of media influence. Heavy viewers experienced shyness, loneliness, and depression much more than those who watched less often. 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.

In 2012, people with heavy viewing habits were found to believe that 5% of society was involved in law enforcement. In contrast, people with light viewing habits estimated a more realistic 1%.

TV Viewing and Fear of Crime
In most of the surveys conducted by Gerbner, the results revealed a small but statistically significant relationship between television consumption and fear of becoming the victim of a crime. Those with light viewing habits predicted their weekly odds of being a victim were 1 in 100; those with heavy viewing habits predicted 1 in 10. Actual crime statistics showed the risk to be 1 in 10,000.

Supporting this finding is a survey done with college students that showed a significant correlation between the attention paid to local crime and one's fearfulness. There was also a significant correlation between fear of crime and violence and the number of times the respondents viewed television per week.

Local news has been frequently analyzed for cultivation, as they rely "heavily on sensational coverage of crime and other mayhem with particular emphasis on homicide and violence", while news agencies boast of their allegiance to report factually. Gerbner found that heavy viewers of news were more likely to overestimate crime rates and risk of personal exposure to crime and underestimate the safety of their neighborhoods. Additionally, several other studies point out the correlation between viewing local news and fear of crime, with Gross and Aiday (2003) finding the relationship between local news exposure and fear of crimes to be independent of local crime rates. Gerbner's theory focuses on the collective mindset of television viewers' fear of crime based on the amount of television programs with this content. Some critics argue that this explanation does not take into account other variables that have the potential to change this conclusion. Variables such as age, sex, or educational level of individuals potentially influence viewers' beliefs about the prevalence of crime compared to what is shown on television. Some research findings indicate a higher cultivation relationship between television and fear of crime among whites, and a lower cultivation relationship among non-whites. This finding indicates that viewing images of violence in reality lessens the psychological impact of viewing violence on television. The assumption is that more whites may live in safer neighborhoods, and therefore television images have more shock value. Another consideration is that television viewers do not watch one type of genre, and therefore one must consider the influence violent programs within the total viewing experience of television watchers.

Aside from local news, national news, police shows, and general TV news viewing are also related to a fear of crime. Additionally, non-genre-specific TV viewing has been associated with fear of crime.

Busselle (2003) found that parents who watch more programs portraying crime and violence are more likely to warn their children about crime during their high school years; these warnings, in turn, increased the students' own crime estimates, suggesting cultivation takes place through both direct and indirect processes.