communication theory cultivation analysis
TRANSCRIPT
Cultivation theory
T H EORISTS
GerbNER & GROSS
Larry GROSS 35 years teaching communication at the University of Pennsylvania before joining USC Annenberg in 2003 as deputy dean of the School of Communication.
Specializes in the areas of media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.
From 1971 to 1991, co-directed the Cultural Indicators Project
GEORge gerbnerAugust 8, 1919 ‒ December 24, 2005
Doctoral dissertation, "Toward a General Theory of Communication," won USC's award for "best dissertation.”
Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania (1964‒1989)
1968 Founded the Cultural Indicators Project
impETUS
1968: 93%
Source: Parents Television Council
Pervasiveness
2/3 of children watch in the bedroom
EACH YEAR, The AVERAGE youth spends 1023 hours ON TV and 900 hours in school.
1928 GE had the idea of a device that could show moving images using technology to wirelessly broadcast them.
1945 TV sales skyrocketed.
1954 First color broadcast.
Early 70sDominant media force.
8000murders by the age of 12
Culturalindicators projectIdentify and track the cultivated effects of television on viewers; whether watching television may influence viewers' ideas of what the everyday world is like.
t h eORY
Positivist. Empirical.
Sociopsychological & sociocultural (Social control).
Represented a shift from the limited effects paradigm of Paul Lazarsfeld that had dominated since the 1940s.
Is described as a stalagmite theory; the Ice Age analogy.
The third most frequently utilized theory; continues to be one of the most popular theories in mass communication research (Bryant & Miron, 2004).
O ERiewv
CultivationTV contains so much violence, "people who spend the most time in front of the tube develop an exaggerated belief in a mean and scary world.”
PROCESS
Studied television for 22 years. Quantity of violence in programs are found to be stable over time.
Correlated content data with survey data‒ relationship of amount of watching to views on violence.
Two groups:Heavy watchers (more than 4 hours per day)Light Watchers (less than 2 hours per day)
Heavy viewers were susceptible to a perception that theworld was a dangerous place.
CHANCES OF INVOLVEMENT WITH VIOLENCELight viewers predicted their weekly odds of being involved in violence were 1 in 100 while heavy viewers said it they were 1 in 10.
FEAR OF WALKING ALONE AT NIGHTWomen were more afraid than men, but both worried about criminal victimization.
PERCEIVED ACTIVITY OF POLICE Heavy viewers believed that police drew their guns more regularly and that about 5% more of society is involved with law enforcement.
GENERAL MISTRUST OF PEOPLE People who were heavy viewers tended to see other people’s actions and motives more negatively.
deltas
VIEWS ABOUT TV
Fundamentally different. Only medium in history with which people can interact with throughout their life.
Cultivates basic schemas about life on which conclusions are based.
Major cultural function is to stabilize social patterns, to cultivate resistance to change.
The “central cultural arm” of American society… “the chief creator of synthetic cultural patterns.
The observable, independent contributions of TV to culture are relatively small.
3b’s of television
Blurs traditional distinctions of people’s views of their world.
Blends TV’s realities into our cultural mainstream.
Bends that mainstream to the interests of content owners.
resonanceAccessibility principle
MainstreamingMean world index
t h eORYcritique
Methodology does not match conceptual reach of the theory. (Potter 1994)
Failed to differentiate violence in different types of TV shows.
Ignores differences in the way people interpret television realities.
Assumes too much homogeneity of violence in TV shows. (Newcomb 1978)
RANTS
Focuses on heavy users of television.
Is difficult to apply to media used less heavily than television.
RAVESMacro- and micro-level theories
Cognizant of television’s unique role
Provides basis for social change
Applies empirical study to widely held humanistic
assumptionsRedefines effects as more than observable behavior change
Related researchIn 2003, Hargreaves and Tiggemannstudied the impact of viewing televised images of female attractiveness on the body dissatisfaction of young adolescent girls.
Their findings show that televised images of attractiveness lead to increased body dissatisfaction and schema activation for girls as young as 13 years old. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Vol. 32, No. 5, October 2003, pp. 367‒373 (2003)
You know, who tells the stories of a culture really governs human behavior.
It used to be the parent, the school, the church, the community. Now it's a handful of global conglomerates that have nothing to tell, but a great deal to sell.
George Gerbner“”
Bryant, J., & Miron, D. (2004). Theory and research in mass communication. Journal of Communication, 54(4): 662-704.
Gerbner, G. (1970). Cultural indicators: The case of violence in television drama. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 388(1), 69‒81.
Gerbner, G. & Gross, L.(1976). Living with television: The violence profile. Journal of Communication, 26(2), 172-199.
Griffin, Em (2012). A First Look at Communication Theory. New York, New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 363.
Hargreaves, D., & Tiggemann, M. (2003). The effect of thin-ideal television commercials on body dissatisfaction and schema activation during early adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 32, 367-373
Newcomb, H. (1978). Assessing the Violence Profile Studies of Gerbner and Gross: A Humanistic Critique and Suggestion. Communication Research, (5), 264 ‒ 282.
Potter, W. J. (1994). Cultivation theory and research: A methodological critique Journalism Monographs, 147: 1-35.RE
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