1 Chapter 6 Cultivation

2 The Cultural Indicators Project  Initiated in 1967 by George Gerbner  Investigates the “cultivation” effect  Cultivation hypothesis For people who watch a lot of television the real world starts to resemble the world of television.

3 Components of the Cultural Indicators Project  Cultivation analysis  Institutional process analysis Examines the production, management, and distribution of media messages  Message system analysis Investigates images in media content

4 Conceptual Roots of the Cultivation Hypothesis  Television is the great storyteller of our age.  Mainstreaming When heavy television viewers absorb dominant attitudes and beliefs that are presented repetitively on television  Resonance When real-world events support the distorted image of reality shown on television

5 The Cultivation Hypothesis assumes:  Messages are relatively uniform  Viewing of television is non-selective  Television viewing is habitual  The television and its viewers interact.

6 Criticisms of Cultivation  The conceptualizations need further explication. Uniform messages Underlying narratives  Validity of concepts are difficult to test  Researchers need to identify the cognitive processes in cultivation effects.

7 Theoretical Bases for Cultivation  Television has become a primary source of shared meaning and messages. Symbolic interaction  Cognitive paradigm  Learning and construction

8 Research Tradition  Content analysis  Survey methods  Mean World Index

9 Recent Research and Future Trends  Collecting evidence for cultivation effects  Expansion of studies into other countries  Some studies attempt to determine “global” perceptions of social reality.  The growing popularity of cable, satellite, VCRs, and the Internet