mass-communication-theory

3. Do you think that most people would take advantage of you if they got the
chance?
The Gerbner group argued that the answer provided by television to each of
these questions is a resounding “YES.” But would a survey of light and heavy
viewers find that they gave different responses to these questions? Would the
amount of television consumed erase individual distinctions like income and education?
Gerbner and his colleagues (1980) reported survey findings supporting their
theory. Heavy viewers were much more likely to see the world as a mean place
than were light viewers. Better-educated, financially better-off viewers in general
saw the world as less mean than did those with less education and income, but
heavy viewers from the better-educated, better-off groups saw the world as every
bit as dangerous as did low-income and less-educated people. In other words,
heavy viewers held a “mainstreamed” perception of the world as a mean place
even when they lived in a middle-class social world much less threatened by actual
crime.
A FINAL NOTE ON CULTIVATION
Researchers have employed cultivation analysis to investigate the impact of television
content on issues beyond violence and crime. It has been used in examinations
of people’s perceptions of affluence, divorce, and working women (Potter, 1991);
acceptance of sexual stereotypes (Ward and Friedman, 2006); materialism (Reimer
and Rosengren, 1990); values (Potter, 1990); mental health (Diefenbach and West,
2007); political participation (Besley, 2006); feelings of alienation (Signorielli,
1990); environmental concern (Shanahan, Morgan, and Stenbjerre, 1997); work
(Signorielli and Kahlenberg, 2001); perceptions of welfare (Sotirovic, 2001); and
marital expectations (Segrin and Nabi, 2002). The assumptions of cultivation
are supported throughout, though the strength of findings and the quality of the
INSTANT ACCESS
Cultivation Analysis
Chapter 11 Media and Culture Theories: Meaning-Making in the Social World 345
Strengths Weaknesses
1. Combines macro- and micro-level theories 1. Is methodologically troubling to many
2. Provides detailed explanation of television’s 2. Assumes homogeneity of television content
unique role
3. Focuses on heavy users of television
3. Applies empirical study to widely held huma- 4. Is difficult to apply to media used less heavily
nistic assumptions
than television
4. Redefines effect as more than observable
behavior change
5. Applies to wide variety of effects issues
6. Provides basis for social change
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