Cultivation Theory & Media Effects

Cultivation Theory

• Cultivation theory was created by George Gerbner
• It is the longest lasting and most controversial theories in the field of media effects
• It argues that the more TV watched, the more likely one is to view the world consistent with TV reality
• TV can "cultivate" a certain view of the world
• Cultivation emphasizes aggregate patterns of images and representations to which entire communities are exposed over long periods of time
• Media effects are conditional and do not affect everyone in the same way
• TV is a cultural storyteller
• George Gerbner conceived of television as a continuous stream of stories that added up to make a powerful set of cultural narratives, not as individual shows, advertisements, or messages
• Violence is an issue represented on TV (cowboys, cops, violent crime)
• The hypodermic needle theory states that the media has a powerful effect; like an injection that can have significant effects

Violence on TV (Violence Index)

• Quantitative Content Analysis involves counting the frequency of characters and actions in media
• The goal of a content analysis is to count the occurrences of features in media content
• Half of all primetime shows contain violence
• Crime occurs 10 times more often than in real life
• There are about 5 violent acts per episode on TV, with roughly half the characters involved
• Children's TV has about 20 violent acts per episode
• For every white male victim of violence, there are 10 white and 22 minority female victims
• Villains are disproportionately male, lower-class, young and Latino

Assumptions of Cultivation Theory

• TV is fundamentally different from other forms of mass media
• TV is accessible and free in almost all homes
• It requires no mobility, unlike church attendance
• It has a powerful storytelling ability
• TV functions as the central cultural arm of society
• TV shapes society's way of thinking and relating
• TV doesn't necessarily persuade people
• It paints a stable portrait of society, TV stories become "normal"
• Light viewers watch less than two hours of TV per day, while heavy viewers watch four or more hours per day
• Heavy viewers are more likely to overestimate their chances of being involved in a violent crime, fear walking alone at night, have higher mistrust, and assume more people are involved in law enforcement
• The influence of TV is limited
• TV is only one factor influencing people; its effects come from consistency
• Effects depend on both the amount of TV watched and other life experiences
• "Mean World Syndrome" occurs when heavy viewers of television start thinking the world is mean and people are out for themselves

Types of Cultivation Effects

• Mainstreaming argues that watching TV brings people with different experiences of the real world closer together because they share the same TV reality
• When people watch a lot of TV, they have a shared version of reality, which brings them closer to the mainstream
• Resonance describes when what one sees on TV resonates with one's lived experiences
• "The double dose effect" suggests that when what one sees on TV matches or resonates with personal experiences, the effects of media exposure are amplified
• Low resonance results in small cultivation effects, while high resonance results in large cultivation effects
• Cultivation beyond violence has been researched in forms of media such as video games, magazines, and print ads.
• Perception beyond violence includes drug use, racism, and body image
• Cultivation theory is challenged by other theories and the changing media environment

Approaches to Research

• Empirical/positivistic and critical
• Explain, predict, and promote social change

Limitations of Cultivation Theory

• Media consumption patterns are changing
• Fragmentation
• Very small effects/utility
• Causality

Social Cognitive Theory

• People are not just reactive to the world, they are proactive
• People look out at the world, take in information, and process it
• Social Cognitive Theory was created by Albert Bandura
• Social Cognitive Theory: Cognitive factors determine how media affects our behavior
• Learning from observing our social environment occurs
• 4 Distinctly Human Learning Traits
  • Symbolizing capacity: Symbols let us store, process, and transform our experiences (emojis). Many emojis contain complex emotions, information, or ideas
  • Self-regulatory capacity: People have self-directed goals and can evaluate and change their behavior
  • Self-reflective capacity: Performing "self-checks." Is my behavior in line with my goals?
  • Vicarious capacity: Learning without direct experience
  • Social information guides behavior

Factors Determining Learning

• Vicarious Reinforcement: Learning by watching someone else "model" a behavior
• People ask what happens to a "model", whether something good or bad happens to them
• Rewarded behavior results in a disinhibitory effect, where a model is rewarded for an action, and the observer is more likely to perform that same action where previously learned restraints are removed
• Punished behavior results in an inhibitory effect, where a model is punished for an action, and the observer is less likely to perform that same act and new restraints are added as inhibitory devices are activated
• Bobo doll experiment shows children might watch violence and reproduce it
• Identification: The effects of learning are much stronger when one identifies with the model. If one strongly identifies with a model, they are more likely to learn

Self-Efficacy

• One must believe they can actually perform a behavior to repeat it.
• This is similar to the theory of planned behavior
• Attention requires paying attention to observe others' behavior and selectively focusing on stimuli
• Retention involves remembering the behavior and storing information in memory
• Motor Reproduction requires one to be be able to actually reproduce the behavior
• Motivation includes being motivated to reproduce the behavior and believing that putting the goal into action will be beneficial
• Using Social Cognitive Theory explains how people learn behaviors from the media based on cognitive factors, which has both negative effects (violence, body image) and positive effects (substance abuse, education)

Approaches to Research

• Empirical/positivistic
• Goals include explaining and predicting

Cultivation Theory vs. Social Cognitive Theory

• Cultivation Theory explains how media gradually shapes how we see the world
• Social Cognitive Theory explains how media immediately influences how we act