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Television and Its Viewers:: Cultivation Theory and Research
Abstract
Television and its Viewers reviews 'cultivation' research, which investigates the relationship between exposure to television and beliefs about the world. James Shanahan and Michael Morgan, both distinguished researchers in this field, scrutinize cultivation through detailed theoretical and historical explication, critical assessments of methodology, and a comprehensive 'meta-analysis' of twenty years of empirical results. They present a sweeping historical view of television as a technology and as an institution. Shanahan and Morgan's study looks forward as well as back, to the development of cultivation research in a new media environment. They argue that cultivation theory offers a unique and valuable perspective on the role of television in twentieth-century social life. Television and its Viewers, the first book-length study of its type, will be of interest to students and scholars in communication, sociology, political science and psychology and contains an introduction by the seminal figure in this field, George Gerbner.
... The theory of cultivation was developed as part of the Cultural Indicators project by George Gerbner and colleagues (1969Gerbner and colleagues ( , 1970Gerbner and colleagues ( , 1972aGerbner and colleagues ( , 1972bGerbner and colleagues ( , 1973Gerbner and colleagues ( , 1998. As summarized by Shanahan and Morgan (1999), cultivation refers to the idea "that watching a great deal of television will be associated with a tendency to hold specific and distinct conceptions of reality, conceptions that are congruent with the most consistent and pervasive images and values of the medium" (p. 3). ...
In recent years, there has been a steady increase in the number of Australian athletes playing Division I college football in the U.S. Drawing on the theories of framing and genre-specific cultivation, this study used a correlational survey approach with open-ended responses to determine how patterns of media behavior and value predispositions predict attitudes toward Australian college punters. Additionally, a content analysis was conducted using open-ended responses to determine how audiences themselves come to frame punters, Australians, and Australian college punters. The results highlight key insights into how media behavior is related to attitudes and how audiences frame Australian punters.
... Since then, multiple studies have reported cultivation effects -e.g. regarding heavy television viewing and conventional gender-role attitudes (Shanahan & Morgan, 1999;Yamamoto & Ran, 2014). ...
Experts who explain technological and complex content in the media could provoke negative responses regarding their competence due to stereotypical anticipations based on their gender. In an online experiment the impact of an expert’s gender on the perceived competence in technology communication was examined, using a written interview about a technological topic with portraits of the expert as stimulus. Besides gender, the 2x2x2 design manipulated two further source characteristics, the effect of which, according to literature, interacts with gender: the expert’s age and visual appearance. Contrary to the theoretical expectations, participants rated the female expert as more competent than the male expert. A higher age leads to a higher perceived competence. However, the age of the female expert did not significantly affect perceived competence, while the male expert seemed to benefit from an older appearance. The gender-neutral appearing female expert was perceived as the most competent, while a gender-neutral appearing male expert was rated as the least competent, highlighting the complex interplay between gender, visual appearance, and perceived competence.
... Moreover, Schultz and Huet (2001) reported similar findings for movies released between 1980 and 1994, which points towards a persistent tendency among movie makers to associate death with violence. Decades of research on cultivation theory (Gerbner & Gross, 1976) have demonstrated that the overrepresentation of violence in the media is positively correlated with fear and perceived danger in viewers (see, e.g., Shanahan & Morgan, 1999). Consequently, the rather uniform and violent "movie way of death" might reinforce rather than reduce people's fear of death. ...
A set of sixty popular movies is analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively on the role of death in the narrative structure and the portrayal of death. Results of the quantitative analysis show that death events tend to be story-terminating, which implies that death is typically depicted as meaningful in relation to the past. The qualitative thematic analysis reveals that death is also depicted as meaningful in that it can lead to growth, unification and salvation. Furthermore, most movies include explicit death portrayals, thereby inviting viewers to closely approach death and to simulate both their own mortality and the mortality of their loved ones. Finally, it was found that most movie deaths involve violent attacks, indicating that movies tend to paint an unrealistic view of how people die. These findings advance our knowledge of how movies might help people to understand the meaning of death and to cope with existential fears.
... When news organizations functioned as the sole gatekeepers, only selected stories could flow through the system while keeping others out, thereby controlling and shaping the public's knowledge and social reality (Shanahan et al., 1999). This could potentially hinder the public's comprehensive understanding of their social environment. ...
Drawing from the theories of networked gatekeeping and affective publics, this study compares how news media and social media users shaped the discourse surrounding the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings. We investigate both the substantive (topics) and affective (emotions) dimensions of news articles and tweets, showcasing how institutional media and the public engage in the social construction of mass shootings involving people of underserved communities. To do so, we built two datasets: 964 news articles and 265,951 tweets. The findings from the computer-assisted content analysis reveal that Twitter users focused more on humanizing the victims and contextualizing the Atlanta spa shootings within the broader framework of anti-Asian racism, in contrast to the news outlets. Twitter users expressed significantly greater anger and fear than what is reflected in the news articles. This study also demonstrates that the news stories failed to acknowledge the intersecting identities of the victims. The findings contribute to our understanding of how journalists and individuals shape agendas and convey their affective reactions through news and social media. We suggest actions that can be taken to create a more inclusive and culturally responsive media environment.
... Televizyon dizileri kadınları daha çok özel alanda, erkekleri ise kamusal alanda gösterir ve bu anlatıların "olması gereken toplumsal normlar" şeklinde kitlelere ulaşmasını sağlar. George Gerbner, Yetiştirme Kuramında kitlelerin televizyon programlarından gelen iletilere ne kadar çok maruz kalırlarsa sosyal gerçekliği o iletiler doğrultusunda yorumlama eğilimlerinin o kadar yüksek olacağını öne sürer (Shanahan & Morgan, 2009). Böylelikle ataerkil ideoloji ve toplumsal cinsiyet eşitsizliği televizyonda "normal olan" olarak sunulur ve kitleler tarafından böyle algılanabilir. ...
Toplumsal cinsiyet eşitsizliği toplumsal yaşamın bütün katmanlarında gözlemlenebilen bir olgudur. Televizyonda yayınlanan medya ürünleri de toplumsal cinsiyet eşitsizliğinin ve ataerkil ideolojinin yeniden üretilmesi noktasında önemli bir rol oynamaktadır. Bu çalışmanın amacı, Türk televizyonlarında yüksek reyting oranlarıyla yayınlanan ve geleneksel/muhafazakâr ve seküler/modernist aile dikotomisi üzerinden iki farklı toplumsallaşmayı yansıtan Kızılcık Şerbeti dizisinin toplumsal cinsiyet eşit(siz)liği bağlamında incelenmesidir. Bu doğrultuda yöntem olarak eleştirel söylem analizi seçilmiş ve dizinin dört tema altında toplumsal cinsiyet eşitsizliğini ve ataerkil ideolojiyi yeniden ürettiği anlaşılmıştır. Dizi üzerinden geleneksel/muhafazakâr toplumsallığın kadını ikincil, erkeği ise birincil cins olarak algıladığına; seküler/modernist toplumsallaşmanın ise toplumsal cinsiyet eşitliğine daha fazla vurgu yaptığına yönelik bir anlatının topluma iletildiği görülmüştür. Çalışma, Türk toplumunun büyük bölümüne hızlı şekilde toplumsal cinsiyet eşitsizliğine ve ataerkil ideolojiye yönelik anlatılar sunan Kızılcık Şerbeti’nin bilinen ilk eleştirel söylem analizini gerçekleştirmiştir.
... Cultivation theory suggests that repetitive, long-term, and constant exposure to patterns, which is common in most programming, cultivates widely shared and stable images of life and society in the minds of viewers (Gerbner, 1998). Thus, this message system can also be understood as a mechanism of social control, given that the values and ideas cultivated in it have historically corresponded to what elites have desired or needed (Shanahan & Morgan, 1999). As such, it becomes relevant to study the effects of exposure to this message system on beliefs related to the social organization and political structure that is legitimate from viewers' perspective. ...
This study focuses on the impact of audiovisual fiction on trust in institutions, drawing on cultivation theory and narrative persuasion research. We test the effects of audiovisual representation of security institutions’ effectiveness in fighting crime on perceived performance of security institutions, trust in democracy, political interest, and political optimism, mediated by just-world beliefs and narrative transportation. 130 students from Universidad de Salamanca (Spain) and Escuela Superior de Economía y Negocios (El Salvador) participated in the online experiment and were randomly assigned to two experimental conditions and exposed to one of two sequences from the series La Casa de Papel that differed in the degree of effectiveness (high versus low) with which security institutions acted to solve a criminal event. The results of the proposed parallel mediation model showed that there is a significant and positive indirect effect of this representation on trust in democracy only through the just-world belief. The main contribution of our study is the confirmation that cultivation and narrative persuasion work together to explain how audiovisual fiction shapes attitudes toward public institutions in two different countries. Finally, we found that further research is needed to test alternative models that include other variables to establish and better understand this psychological process.
... The "mainstreaming" pattern helps explain the development of authoritarianism among individuals who advocate obedience to authority by establishing the association between television viewing and authoritarian attitudes (Shanahan, 1998). Gerbner's original notion of cultivation is never limited to television effects (Ma & Ma, 2022;Shanahan & Morgan, 1999). Williams (2006) shifted the focus from traditional media to online virtual spaces, while Morgan, Shanahan, & Signorielli (2015) viewed social media as "delivery vehicles" for "more of the same" content. ...
This study delved into the influential role of state media in shaping public opinion and cultivating policy support. Focusing on the Chinese government's insistence on the zero-COVID policy, we conducted a nationwide survey (N = 665) to examine the cultivation effect of state media on Chinese people's support for the zero-COVID policy. We found that the more state media people were exposed to on social media, the more they supported the zero-COVID policy. State media exposure on social media was positively associated with trust in the government and fear of the virus among the audience, both of which mediated the effect of state media exposure on zero-COVID policy support. By applying the cultivation theory, this study contributed to our understanding of public opinion and information manipulation under authoritarian contexts in the digital age.
... This data underscores the relationship between motivation and the cultivation effect, revealing a pattern where higher motivation is associated with a higher likelihood of a high cultivation effect. It's evident from research of cultivation which explains that viewers' perception of reality can be influenced by watching television through its various aspects (Shanahan & Morgan, 1999). Viewers' perceptions are changed with the procedures of resonance, mainstreaming, and the content of the programs. ...
American Psychiatric Association (APA) states that gaming addiction is an irresistible and compulsive drive by a person to be involved in a video game. We are going to find out what is the motive of a PUBG player to play for the game. This involves two hypotheses of the study. One is about whether religiosity level has any relationship with gaming addiction or not. The other is about motivation to play PUBG games. A survey technique was employed to collect the data. The Pearson correlation is -0.192. This value signifies a negative correlation between religion level and gaming addiction. A negative correlation suggests that as one variable (in this case, religion level) increases, the other variable (gaming addiction) tends to decrease, and vice versa. The magnitude of -0.192 indicates that the association is not extremely strong, but it is statistically significant. A strong association was observed between a high cultivation effect and a high motivation level.
... Gerbner study reveals 90% of most US 10 years old can name more beer brands than US president. Based on the findings from the series of large-scale projects on the effect of tv on viewers, Gerbner coined the term "mean world syndrome," which was theoretically grounded in his Cultivation Theory (J Shanahan, 1999). Mean world syndrome assumes that viewers from moderate to heavy exposure to violence-related content on mass media perceives the world to be more dangerous than it actually is (Gerbner, 1980). ...
The way television (tv) defined as an effective communicative medium does not just represent news but also construct the world they portrayed. The usage patterns of journalistic values on mainstream television news channels in India needs to be pondered upon and studied. Whether the style of presentation and portrayal of issues in mainstream tv news channels are instigating the violence or help minimizing the intensity of the violence during the time of crisis situation needs to be ponder upon and studied. While as television, considered to be the watchdog of the society, but unfortunately, rather seems, propagating the issues and provoking violence with its agenda, content and tonal representation by the anchors, presenters, and reporters in the mainstream media. In fact, many scholars and intellectuals, term it as the beginnings of ambush journalism, in terms of the aggressive tactics employed by anchors, moderators and presenters in today's mainstream news channels. This is where the paper intervenes and spells the rationale behind the patterns of unethical media practices in mainstream tv news channels. A quantitative method is applied by employing survey and questionnaire from the viewers' responses in terms of the patterns of unethical practices in tv news channels.
... Children's general self-esteem may be correlated with childhood viewing (Martins & Harrison, 2011). The impact of cultivation is not specifically on a field, genre or program but can be brought on by prolonged exposure to consistent media patterns (Shanahan & Morgan, 1999). Jonathan Cohen and Gabriel Weimann discovered that young adults and teenagers were more likely to engage in cultivation, which may explain why they exhibited cultivation longevity (Cohen & Weimann, 2000). ...
The study was conducted to explore the influencing role of media in Pakistan because if the media of any nation is fascinated by the evolution of the multinational media, then the watchers are willing to embrace those transformations. The main goals of the analysis were to investigate the effects of TV dramas on clothing, food, language and living style, customs, traditions, social norms and values of Pakistani society by applying cultivation theory as a model for this research. For this purpose, a survey method was utilized. The sample population of the analysis consisted of 190 members including students and faculty members from Bahria University Islamabad. A questionnaire consisting of closed ended questions was utilized as a research tool. The outcomes show that Multinational media deeply affect youths in a negative direction. The expected results of the investigation prove a negative impact on Pakistani lifestyle and individuality. Some recommendations are being mentioned to highlight and deliver the TV media that nurture our moral values, customs, and traditions in civilization.
... Taken as a whole, these past studies reveal that female journalists are often depicted in a consistently negative manner, although Painter and Ferrucci (2019) identify Good Girls Revolt as one recent program that promoted a surprisingly positive portrayal of female journalists relative to the typical patterns often associated with the character type. More broadly, this pattern of portrayals is particularly problematic given that theoretical perspectives such as cultivation theory suggest that exposure to media over time can shape our perceptions of social reality (e.g., Shanahan & Morgan, 1999). ...
... Ayrıca yalnızca bir televizyon kuramı da değildir (Özer, 2020). Gerbner'ın asistanlığını da yapmış olan James Shanahan ve Michael Morgan (1999), yetiştirme kuramını hegemonya kavramıyla iliştirmişlerdir. Ömer Özer de (2011) bunun araştırmasını Türkiye'de yapmış Hırvatistan'da sunmuştur. ...
Her sayısında farklı bir temayla çıkan TRT Akademi dergisinin 20. sayısının konusu “medyada şiddetin temsili” oldu. Şiddet konusu önemli çünkü medya, sosyal gerçekliği alıp kendi gerçekliğine çevirmekte ve medya gerçekliği algılamaya da bağlı olarak insan gerçekliğine dönüşmektedir (Özer, 2017). Eğer insanlar olaylara kendileri şahit olmamışsa ki bu, bütün olaylar bakımından mümkün değil, medya gerçekliğinden besleniyor demektir. Kuşkusuz liberal yaklaşımın “Muhabir, gerçekliği anlama ve aktarma kapasitesine sahiptir” kabulü (İnal, 1996) bir an terk edilirse o zaman sosyal gerçekliğin medya tarafından kurgulanırken çarpıtılabileceği de akla gelebilir. Bu da dünyanın gerçekliğinin yanlış anlaşılmasına neden olabilir. Kuşkusuz şiddet örneği bu açıklamayı tam olarak temsil edebilir. Türkiye’de oynatılan kan davası temalı bir dizide düşman aşiretlerden bir gençle bir geline Atatürk Barajı kenarında barbekü partisi yaptırılması bu anlamda ilginçtir. Kan davası gerçeğinde böyle bir yaşanmışlık olmayacaktır. Medya, Gurbet Kadını dizisinde kan davası örneğinde sosyal gerçekliği kendi gerçekliğine çevirirken psikolojik boyutu çok ağır olan ve ölüm korkusunu sindirten kan davasını aşk boyutuna çekmiştir (Özer, 2010c). Elbette bu örnekte insan gerçekliğinin de medya gerçekliğinden beslendiğini söylemek mümkündür
... (3) Televizyon ve izleyicileri bu mesajlara gösterilen ilgi ile izleyicilerin sosyal gerçeklik kavramları arasındaki ilişki nedir? (Shanahan & Morgan, 1999). ...
Değişen dünya ile birlikte bilgi akışı da hızla değişmektedir. Gerbner’e göre bilgi akışı insanlık tarihinde ilk kez tanımadığımız ve günün belirli saatlerinde görebildiğimiz kişiler tarafından sağlanmaktadır. Bu durumun kişilerin sosyal gerçeklik algısını bozduğuna dair görüş bildiren Gerbner, yaptığı araştırmalar sonucunda acımasız dünya sendromunu ortaya atmıştır. Acımasız dünya sendromunun, suç korkusu ile ilişkisi henüz tam olarak yerli yerine oturtulmamış olsa da bu çalışma buna dair bir girişim olarak görülebilir. Suç korkusu kendi içerisinde doğrudan, dolaylı deneyimler ve demografik değişkenler gibi rasyonel faktörlerin dışında irrasyonel bir boyutu da içerisinde barındırmaktadır. Acımasız dünya sendromu vasıtasıyla tartışılmış olan bu konu kişilerin suç korkusu hissetmesinin önemli etmenlerinden birinin medya tüketimi, medyanın haber/ içerik seçimi ve sosyal gerçeklik algısının bozulmuş olması olduğu görüşüne dair literatürdeki kaynakları derlemektedir. Bu temelde çalışmada öncelikle suç korkusu kavramı ve daha sonra acımasız dünya sendromu tanımlanmış ve bu kavramlardan yararlanılarak suç korkusunun irrasyonel tarafı tartışılmıştır. Çalışmada, ilgili kavramların tanımının yapılmasının hemen ardından acımasız dünya sendromunun nasıl ölçülebileceğinden bahsedilmiş ve gelecek araştırmalar için öneriler sunulmuştur. Bu öneriler dahilinde araştırmacıların özellikle medya ve suç korkusu arasındaki ilişkileri çıkartmasına yönelik kavramsal ve teorik zemin makale içeriğine dahil edilmiştir. Buna göre medya ve acımasız dünya sendromu ilişkisel temelde ele alınabilir ve bu ilişki kişilerin suç korkusu hissetmeleri noktasında dikkate değer bir önem taşımaktadır.
... Further emphasizing the theoretical potential for allowing a single variable to serve more than one role in a model increasing the internal consistency of a theory's model of influence, many areas of communication research focus on the following combination of three variables: (a) media exposure, (b) perceptual estimates of real-world behavior, and (c) actual real-world experience (e.g., Fishbein & Yzer, 2003;Shanahan & Morgan, 1999). Focusing strictly on crimerelated phenomena, Shrum and Bischak (2001) find direct, real-world experience with crime serves as a moderator of the effect TV viewing (i.e., media exposure) on estimates of crime risk (i.e., perceptual estimates of behavior). ...
Recent analytical work reveals the need to assess mediated interactions (independent variable-by-mediator multiplicative terms) in mediation models to ensure the proper reporting of indirect effects. Besides their analytical value, mediated interactions can aid theory development. This study adds a theoretical support structure to this emergent analytical imperative and provides a theory-driven decision tree for incorporating mediated interactions into communication models. More broadly, mediated interactions are used as a basis to encourage the field to move beyond a “one variable, one role” approach to model building. Monte Carlo simulations reflecting common communication research practices were constructed and 1,920,000 datasets were analyzed to reveal the relative upsides and minimal risk incurred from assessing mediated interactions. In addition, the analyses elucidate the downsides incurred from not exploring these relationships when they are present in a population. The implications of these findings for future research and theory development are explored.
... Our study also found that limiting news consumption to reliable sources was positively associated with experiencing anticipated stigma. According to Cultivation Theory, the public may develop ideas about society through their exposures to mass media, and studies have demonstrated that the media might operate as a route of stigma transmission around health-related topics (47,48). News media resources may contribute to discriminatory beliefs and racial related stigma through selective exposure that leans towards certain beliefs or views (49). ...
Background
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, reports of anti-Asian American or Pacific Islander (AAPI) hate have increased in the United States. Institutions of higher education provide a unique opportunity to examine COVID-19 related stigma and protective factors in AAPI young adults enrolled in college.
Objective
The goal of this research was to examine COVID-19 related stigma among a diverse college student population. We posited that AAPI students experience more racial discrimination, internalized stigma, and/or anticipated racial discrimination than other students. We also sought to identify protective behavioral factors against stigma.
Methods
This study includes data from a repeated cross-sectional survey that was administered among college students at a large public university in the United States in April ( n = 1,359) and November 2020 ( n = 1,196). All university enrolled students with an active email account were eligible to participate in the online survey, which included questions about COVID-19 stigma (anticipated, enacted, internalized), stigma resistance, sources of COVID-19 information, lifestyle behaviors, and sociodemographic information. Binary logistic regression models were utilized to assess differences in stigma between race and ethnic groups and to identify factors associated with stigma.
Results
AAPI students were more likely to experience all three types of stigma compared to other race and ethnic groups. AAPI students in both waves were at least 2 times more likely to experience enacted stigma and 7.3 times more likely to experience anticipated stigma in the earlier wave compared to non-Hispanic White students. Students who had experienced enacted stigma were more likely to experience anticipated stigma, and those who experienced enacted and anticipated stigma were more likely to experience internalized stigma. Higher education level, living with neighbors/roommates, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and thinking positively about oneself may act as protective factors against different types of stigma.
Conclusion
AAPI students have a greater risk of experiencing COVID-19 stigma compared to those from other race and ethnic groups. Universities should combat anti-AAPI sentiments and COVID-19 stigma and promote public health efforts to build resistance against the negative effects of stigma.
... The theory, which focuses exclusively on television viewing, posits that television presents a distorted view of the world (e.g., more violence, more affluence, more dishonesty and distrust), and that frequent viewing causes viewers to incorporate these distortions into their real-world attitudes and beliefs ( → Cultivation Effects; Gerbner, George; Media and Perceptions of Reality; Reality and Media Reality). Quite a bit of research has accumulated to support this proposition (for a review, see Shanahan & Morgan 1999). Frequency of viewing has been shown to be positively related to estimates of the prevalence of crime and violence (Gerbner et al. 1977), drug use, prostitution, and alcoholism (Shrum & O'Guinn 1993), and the prevalence of affluence and ownership of luxury products (O'Guinn & Shrum 1997). ...
Because of the extensive penetration of media into society, and the different purposes and types of information conveyed, there are a number of possible media effects. For the sake of simplicity, these possible media purposes are categorized as those intended to persuade (e.g., → advertising, → propaganda), inform (e.g., → news), or entertain (e.g., narrative television, film). In addition, these effects operate on different aspects of the person, affecting their beliefs (mental association between objects and attributes), → attitudes (evaluations of objects), and values (abstract ideals).
... Although cultivation theory did not originally emphasize the mechanisms behind the cultivation effect, several extensions and modifications to the original model have since been put forth (Shrum, 2017). Social norms have emerged as a particular variable of interest due to cultivation theory's central hypothesis that TV shapes viewers' perceptions of the social world, such as how common a behavior is, a specific type of normative perception (Shanahan & Morgan, 1999). Indeed, social norms, defined as the unwritten but social-agreed upon rules of society (Rhodes et al., 2020), can take various forms including perceptions of how prevalent a behavior is or how (dis)approving others would be if the behavior was performed. ...
... The replication or showcasing come in terms of reflecting on society's culture towards predetermined ends. Proponents of cultural norms and mainstreaming theories are of the opinion that through selective presentation and tendentious emphasis on certain political philosophies and ideologies, the screen media such as film creates an impression among its viewers that such political philosophies and ideologies are part of the political culture and climate of society (Van den Bulck, 2003;Gerbner, Gross, Morgan, Signorielli & Shanahan, 2002;Shrum & Bischak, 2001;Shanahan & Morgan, 1999;Folarin, 1998;Shanahan, 1998;Gerbner, Gross, Morgan & Signorielli, 1980;1982). ...
This qualitative research examined the utility of film for political propaganda purposes and behavioral change objectives. It critically assesses how film, as a communication medium, has been optimized in constructing a national rebirth philosophy tagged “New Nigeria” political constructs. The objectives of the study were to demystify the political propaganda strategies adopted by the filmmakers in propagating the “new Nigeria” national philosophy and to unearth the latent and manifest socio-political propaganda themes embedded in the film that reinforce the ‘new Nigeria’ political philosophy.
In ascertaining the potentials of film in projecting propagandists’ ideologies, the film “If I am President” (Bright Obasi, 2018) was thematically deconstructed using the qualitative content analysis research design. The “New Nigeria” political constructs content-analyzed were placed into discourse paradigms, and discussions were attempted using the critical discourse analytical method.
A deconstruction of the latent socio-political themes in the film revealed the filmmakers’ subtle utilisation of mental conditioning, mental provocativeness, ‘scapegoatism’, psycho-emotional articulation, appeal to socio-political action, and entertainment-education political propaganda strategies in projecting the “New Nigeria” national philosophy for social action through behavior change.
The dominant “New Nigeria” political philosophies expressed in the film included, but were not limited to, leanings suggesting national rebirth, nation-building, socio-political egalitarianism, youth activism, digitization of national politics, techno-democracy, zero tolerance for corruption, and tolerance across racial, religious, tribal, ethnic, and political lines. These philosophies are the ideals suggested in the film as cardinal constructs and conditions for the rebirth of a new nation, thus, “New Nigeria”.
... We observed, for example, that Bryant and Miron (2004) used the label cultivation theory, which is consistent with the use by some scholars (e.g., Potter, 1993Potter, , 2014Roskos-Ewoldsen et al., 2004). Gerbner (1998), however, who originated the approach, referred to cultivation both as a social science concept and a theory, and Shanahan and Morgan (1999) referred to cultivation as a critical theory. In another example of variations in how researchers reference theory, Bryant and Miron (2004) labeled framing as a theory, but not all scholars refer to framing as a theory. ...
Research into journalism and mass communication (JMC) theory use and creation suggests that scholars fall short of standards required for the scientific method to perform properly. Sociologist Gerald Hage said this reflects inconsistency among scholars in the use of language and a lack of tools used to create social science theory. To address these conditions, this essay draws on three books to provide a glossary of terms about social science theory and to develop a format for presenting such theory. The aim is to improve consistency and precision in the creation of JMC social science theory.
... As research on cultivation theory has shown, the media plays an important role in influencing people's attitude and judgments (Gerbner et al., 1994), and persistent exposure to media messages can impact how the audience perceives a certain social issue. The vast scholarship that utilized cultivation has found evidence that repetitive mediated messages from television are particularly effective in shaping people's behavior (Shanahan & Morgan, 1999). A second stream of cultivation research also found that news coverage in newspapers can have a significant influence on people's attitudes and emotions (notably studies are Arendt, 2010;Vergeer et al., 2000). ...
A content analysis of U.S. digital news reveals that the visual coverage of criminal jury trials mainly focuses on defendants and law enforcement officials. The U.S. digital news still often use mugshots to portray Black/African American defendants, and law enforcement officials are significantly overrepresented as White and male. In partial contrast to past news coverage, Black/African American defendants are not depicted in handcuff at the crime scene or slovenly dressed more often than defendants from other ethnic groups.
... Since 2000, over 125 studies have endorsed the theory, pointing to its ability to adapt to the ever-changing media landscape. However, to date, most studies on the effects of cultivation theory on current mass media technologies have focused on the effects of these technologies on individuals and communities (Dahlstrom & Scheufele, 2010;Hwang & Jeong, 2020;Shanahan & Morgan, 2009;Stein et al., 2021). This study opens a different perspective on the theory in question for discussion. ...
The fairness of human‐related software has become critical with its widespread use in our daily lives, where life‐changing decisions are made. However, with the use of these systems, many erroneous results emerged. Technologies have started to be developed to tackle unexpected results. As for the solution to the issue, companies generally focus on algorithm‐oriented errors. The utilized solutions usually only work in some algorithms. Because the cause of the problem is not just the algorithm; it is also the data itself. For instance, deep learning cannot establish the cause–effect relationship quickly. In addition, the boundaries between statistical or heuristic algorithms are unclear. The algorithm's fairness may vary depending on the data related to context. From this point of view, our article focuses on how the data should be, which is not a matter of statistics. In this direction, the picture in question has been revealed through a scenario specific to “vulnerable and disadvantaged” groups, which is one of the most fundamental problems today. With the joint contribution of computer science and social sciences, it aims to predict the possible social dangers that may arise from artificial intelligence algorithms using the clues obtained in this study. To highlight the potential social and mass problems caused by data, Gerbner's “cultivation theory” is reinterpreted. To this end, we conduct an experimental evaluation on popular algorithms and their data sets, such as Word2Vec, GloVe, and ELMO. The article stresses the importance of a holistic approach combining the algorithm, data, and an interdisciplinary assessment.
This article is categorized under: Algorithmic Development > Statistics
This study examined communication between friends across generations in the most popular TV shows from the 1990s to 2022. The five highest grossing American TV shows and sitcoms were chosen and coded for friends’ self-disclosure, expression of empathy, perspective/advice, critique, appreciation, and complimenting. Demographic characteristics of the characters were also recorded. The results showed a significant increase in self-disclosure from the 1990s to late-2000s, but not for early-2000s; as well as an increase in male characters’ expressing empathy. Female characters increased in giving perspective in late-2000s and complimenting their friends in early- and late-2000s. However, female dyadic interactions remained to be the least frequent.
يهدف البحث الى التعرف على مدى تأثير الدبلوماسية الرقمية الألمانية على تفاعل الجمهور العراقي عبر وسائل التواصل الاجتماعي، ومعرفة مدى التأثير المعرفي والوجداني والسلوكي للدبلوماسية الرقمية الألمانية على تفاعل الجمهور العراقي عبر وسائل التواصل الاجتماعي، واعتمد الباحث في هذه الدراسة على المنهج الكمي المسحي على عينة من جمهور محافظة واسط ، وبلغ عدد العينة (400) شخص من الإناث والذكور، وتوصل الباحث الى النتائج الآتية: الدبلوماسية الرقمية الألمانية قد تؤدي دورًا في تحسين العلاقات بين ألمانيا والعراق بتعزيز الفهم المتبادل وبناء علاقات أكثر قوة عبر وسائل التواصل الاجتماعي. وزيادة الوعي الثقافي بمحتوى ثقافي وتعليمي، يمكن للدبلوماسية الرقمية الألمانية أن تساعد في زيادة الوعي الثقافي بين الجمهور العراقي فيما يخص ألمانيا، بما في ذلك ثقافتها وتاريخها. وتبادل المعرفة والمعلومات ؛ إذ توفر الدبلوماسية الرقمية منصة لتبادل المعرفة والمعلومات تخص قضايا ذات اهتمام مشترك، مثل قضايا التنمية، التعليم، والابتكار، مما يمكن أن يعزز التعاون بين البلدين.
Bu çalışma, Sabah ve Sözcü internet haber sitelerinde 2023 yılında doktorlara yönelik fiziksel şiddetin nasıl sunulduğunu ortaya koymayı amaçlamıştır. Araştırmada içerik çözümlemesiyle haberlerde sunulan şiddetin dökümü yapılmıştır. Bazı bulgulardan söz edilecek olursa, Sözcü’nün internet sitesinde konuyla ilgili Sabah’ın internet sitesinden daha fazla haber yayımlanmıştır. Her iki internet haber sitesinde de fotoğraf kullanımı yaygındır. Haberler incelendiğinde doktorlara yönelik şiddetin Türkiye’nin her bölgesinde yaşandığı söylenebilmektedir. Haberlerde saldırganların hasta yakını ya da hastanın kendisi olarak tanıtıldığı, saldırıda kullanılan araçlara, saldırıya uğrayan doktorla ilgili bilgilere yer verildiği ancak saldırganların iş, eğitim vb. bilgilerine yer verilmediği saptanmıştır. Saldırganların şiddeti, tedavi sırasında yaşadıkları iddia edilen sorunların çözümünde bir araç olarak kullandıkları görülmüştür. Yaşanan şiddet olaylarına ilişkin yetkili açıklamalarının ve olayların adli boyutunun her iki internet haber sitesinde de yeteri kadar ele alınmadığı anlaşılmıştır.
Bu çalışmanın temel amacı, ana yayın kuşağında yayınlanan programlar örneğinde, Türk televizyonlarının Bakü/Azerbaycan’daki üniversitelerde eğitim alan öğrencilerin dünya algılaması ve sosyal gerçeklik kavramlaştırmalarına olan katkısını ortaya çıkarmaktadır. Çalışmaya konu olan araştırma, George Gerbner tarafından geliştirilen yetiştirme kuramına dayandırılmıştır. Bu bakımdan kuramın bileşenlerinden mesaj sistem çözümlemesi için Azerbaycan’da ön anket çalışması yapılmış Türk programlarının diğerlerinden daha fazla izlendiği saptanmıştır. Bulgulara göre en çok izlenen Atv, Kanal D, Star ve Show TV’nin en çok izlenen zamandaki programları üzerinde mesaj sistem çözümlemesi yapılmıştır. Çözümleme bulguları televizyon dünyasında suç, şiddet, ölüm, güvenlik güçleri, erkek egemenliği, iş yaşamından soyutlanmış kadın, aile, yoksulluk ve zenginlik gibi ögelerin çok fazla yer aldığını ortaya çıkarmıştır. Saha araştırmasında kullanılan anket soruları söz konusu bulgular doğrultusunda hazırlanmış ve anket Bakü’deki üniversite öğrencilerinden oluşturulan araştırma grubuna uygulanmıştır. Saha araştırması rastlantısal olarak oluşturulan 300 kadın ve 200 erkek olmak üzere 500 kişinin katılımıyla gerçekleştirilmiştir. Yetiştirme çözümlemesi sonucunda televizyonun araştırma grubundaki Azerbaycanlı öğrenciler üzerinde yetiştirme ve yaygın görüş haline getirme rolü olduğu ortaya çıkmıştır. Bu rol, yüzde 65 olan Türk kanallarının izlenme oranına uygun olarak belli testlerin anlamlı çıkmasıyla belirmiştir. Gerbner, artık, televizyonu az izleyenlerin çok izleyenlerden etkilendiğini ve onlar gibi düşündüğünü belirtmiştir. Gerbner’ın bu düşüncesi bazı testlerle kanıtlanmıştır.
Mainstreaming is the attitudinal similarity of heavy television viewers in demographic groups whose light viewers hold divergent views. Comparing data from the General Social Surveys from 1975–1980 with more recently available years (2016–2021), we examine whether there are continuing mainstreaming patterns across selected political attitudes, despite the emergence of a balkanized media environment. While social trends such as polarization and liberalization provide a backdrop against which mainstreaming must be understood today, our comparative analyses show that television still provides a meaningful cultural center of gravity toward which viewers’ political attitudes continue to drift.
"Tik Tok" digital platform is considered one of the platforms that attracted the attention of followers, despite its recent establishment, as it collected the most important elements of attraction for followers, so it was distinguished from other platforms and obtained the follow-up of many groups of society in countries of the world. This study aims to analyze the visual posts on the "Tik Tok" platform, published by the most followed Palestinian accounts, to understand the cultural dimensions of these posts and discuss their role in contemporary cultural orientation. The study relied on the analytical descriptive approach, as it analyzed the visual posts produced and published during the specified study period according to several adopted analysis units. The study concluded that the most followed Palestinian accounts on the TikTok platform focus on providing comic content to their followers at a high rate, while interest in Purposeful content declines to a few percentages; this is reflected in the superficial and non-serious culture that followers receive. In addition, social content is the most popular form of content. The study found that colloquial language is used in the accounts that were studied. Also, the most followed accounts revolve around the Palestinian culture in the various videos, but the videos are far from values; most of them do not have meaning and significance, and their goal is laughter and entertainment only, besides their devoid of patriotism videos, although their publication coincided with important national events. Keywords: Cultural Cultivation, Digital Platforms, "Tik Tok".
In this piece, we propose that entertainment media is an understudied source of misinformation and relationship science is an understudied domain of misinformation. We discuss two ways that relationship misinformation can appear in entertainment media – in the form of blatant claims and subtle content – and we provide an example of each from reality television. We also propose an agenda for studying relationship misinformation and a set of questions to guide future research. We conclude by calling attention to the potential harms of such information on individuals and relationships.
The writers of the TV show Castle , starring Nathan Fillion (Castle) and Stana Katic (Beckett) cultivated shippers, a loyal fan base devoted to this series. The writers' deviation from the established scenario and cancellation of Katic's contract brought viewer displeasure on social media and forced the cancellation of the show. Castle helped people escape their everyday doldrums. This brilliant show captured moments when time stood still in the face of a magnetic attraction between two fascinating people.
Medya iletilerinin bireylerin algıları üzerindeki etkileri, çok çeşitli yaklaşımlarla teorileştirilmiştir. Gerbner’in Yetiştirme Teorisi de bunlardan biridir. Teori, televizyonun, bireylerin toplumsal gerçeklik algıları üzerinde önemli etkileri olduğunu savunur. Medya iletilerinin bireylerin algıları üzerindeki etkisinden hareketle, filmler aracılığıyla üretilen yaşlılık fikrinin, yaşlılığa dair gerçek yaşamdaki anlayışımızı şekillendirdiğini söylemek mümkündür. Diğer yandan, medya iletilerinin izler kitleyi dönüştürme sürecinde duyguların rolü oldukça büyüktür. Buradan hareketle çalışmamızda, sinema filmleri aracılığıyla kurulan yaşlılığın gerçek yaşamdaki anlayışımızı nasıl şekillendirdiğine dair farklı bir perspektif geliştirebilmek amacıyla, yaşlılık temalı filmlerin diyaloglarındaki duygu yapısı araştırılmıştır. Bu doğrultuda, bir asırlık zaman diliminde üretilen tüm yaşlılık temalı filmlerin diyaloglarında, metin madenciliği yöntemiyle duygu analizi gerçekleştirilmiştir. Sonuçlar tarihsel perspektifte ve ülke sinemaları çerçevesinde, betimsel bir yaklaşımla yorumlanmıştır. Çalışmamızın, sinemada metin madenciliği araştırmalarına örnek oluşturması ve sinemada yaşlılık olgusuna yönelik tartışmalara alternatif bir bakış açısı sunması beklenmektedir.
Crime reporting influences the public regardless of its source (traditional or social media outlets). In this regard, the current research focuses on crime reports in Northern Cyprus, a small society, where individual psychological and social aspects can be influenced by media content. Specifically the effects of media on public trust, presumption of innocence, psychological wellbeing and social support are addressed through a qualitative approach. In this study, a mixed methodology of content and discourse analysis determined the negative coverage of crime through the existence of unethical principles among 507 articles from different media outlets. Furthermore, a thematic network approach was used to analyse semi-structured interviews, in which 38 individuals provided in-depth data about their personal experiences and emotions regarding media publication. Results showed how the influence of media coverage of crime can extend to affect the psychological well-being and social relationships of those individuals involved, particularly concerning anxiety, public trust, and social support. These effects can be further amplified due to the increased stress and anxiety felt among the public during the COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing at the time of the interviews. This research can provide a better understanding of media and its influence on trust and support during uncertain times. Hence, both scholars and practitioners can benefit from the current findings.
Objective: Within the context of rapid sociocultural transformation in Chinese society over recent decades, exploring intergenerational disparities in attitudes toward non-conventional sexual behaviors holds sociological significance. Employing a methodology akin to cultivation analysis, this study focuses on the potential influence of television and the internet in narrowing or widening attitudinal disparities between distinct age groups. This is achieved by comparing heavy users of these media to individuals with light media consumption.
Materials and Methods: In the present study, we utilized the 2017 wave of the Chinese General Social Survey, a dataset that is representative of the national demographic of China. Our objective was to explore the potential influence of both traditional media (TV) and new media (the internet) consumption on the attitudes of Chinese adults toward three forms of non-conventional sexual behavior, namely premarital, extramarital, and same-sex behaviors.
Results: Firstly, compared to television, the internet is more likely to contribute to the liberalization of sexual attitudes, though this influence is age sensitive. Secondly, regarding the attitudes toward premarital sex and same sex behaviors, television tends to sustain or create consensus across different generations, whereas the internet tends to widen attitudinal gaps. Lastly, probably due to the moralized nature of extramarital sex in the Chinese context, both television and the internet maintain or produce the conservative consensus, though heavy television viewing could widen the attitudinal gap between young people and the other two age groups.
Discussion and Conclusion: Our study reveals that for premarital sex and same-sex behaviors, heavy television viewing tends to foster or sustain intergenerational consensus, while frequent internet usage tends to augment intergenerational divergence or erode intergenerational agreements. However, the media’s impact on intergenerational differences in attitudes toward extramarital sex exhibits distinctive features, likely stemming from the deeply moralized nature of extramarital affairs within Chinese society. To conclude, by conducting a comparative examination of various media landscapes, our research offers a mediated perspective that aids in comprehending the disparities in attitudes toward sexual behaviors across different generations in contemporary China.
The term 'fake news' became a buzzword during Donald Trump's presidency, yet it is a term that means very different things to different people. This pioneering book provides a comprehensive examination of what Americans mean when they talk about fake news in contemporary politics, mass media, and societal discourse, and explores the various factors that contribute to this, such as the power of language, political parties, ideology, media, and socialization. By analysing a range of case studies across war, political corruption, climate change, conspiracy theories, electoral politics, and the Covid-19 pandemic, it demonstrates how fake news is a fundamentally contested phenomenon, and how its meaning varies depending on the person using the term, and the political context. It provides readers with tools to identify, talk about, and resist fake news, and emphasizes a need for education reform with an eye toward promoting critical thinking and information literacy.
A corollary of cultivation theory, the concept of “mainstreaming” implies that heavy television viewing contributes to an erosion of differences in people's perspectives that stem from other factors and influences. It is based on the argument that television serves as the primary common storyteller for an otherwise heterogeneous population. As the source of the most broadly shared images and messages in history, television represents the mainstream of the common symbolic environment into which children are born and in which we all live out our lives. From the perspective of cultivation analysis (→ Cultivation Effects; Cultivation Theory), television provides a relatively restricted set of choices for a virtually unrestricted variety of interests and → publics; programs designed for broad and diverse groups are watched across social and demographic boundaries. People who otherwise have little in common besides television are brought into the same dominant mainstream by cumulative heavy viewing (→ Audience).
Our perceptions of reality may often rely on mass mediated images. Walter Lippmann's classical work, Public Opinion , first published in 1922, highlighted the possibility that factual features of the world often have little relation to the perception and beliefs that people entertain about the world (→ Lippmann, Walter). Lippmann (1922) argued that the press's depiction of events was often spurious; the images it created were misleading, distorted, and shaped false “pictures in our heads” of the “world outside.” Although Lippmann never formulated his ideas in terms of a model or theory of reconstructed realities, his notion of the reliance of the public on the often distorted presentation of reality in the media should be acknowledged as such. Lippmann made the important distinction between the real environment and the pseudo‐environment, sketched and delivered by the mass media. However, although Lippmann had vision concerning the differences between reality and perceptions of reality, he could not anticipate the emergence of the electronic media and the ever‐growing role of the new media in shaping “the pictures in our heads.” As radio, and then television, cable, and satellite technologies, and then the Internet, appeared, the world shrank to a global village, exposed to the flow of mass‐produced news and entertainment, and the notion of a mediated world became more realistic and powerful. Consequently, a common focus of communication research has been the public's perceptions of reality as based on mass mediated contents and images (Eveland 2002) (→ Media and Perceptions of Reality). Social reality perceptions, or the “pictures in our head,” are best defined as individuals' conceptions of the world. They include perceptions of others' opinions and behavior, social indicators such as crime, wealth, careers, professions, sex roles and more (→ Reality and Media Reality).
Cultivation theory, developed by → George Gerbner and his colleagues, proposes that television viewing makes an independent contribution to audience members' conceptions of social reality. The central hypothesis guiding cultivation research is that the more time people spend watching television, the more their beliefs and assumptions about life and society will be congruent with the most stable and repetitive messages found in television's dramatic entertainment programs.
Meta‐analyses have been conducted within the last twenty years in four areas in the field of perceived social reality (→ Meta‐Analysis; Perceived Reality as a Social Process; Perceived Reality as a Communication Process). Their results will be summarized here. It has to be noted from the start, though, that any meta‐analysis summarizes only the existing literature at the time. The findings reported here should not be taken to reflect current knowledge or thinking in the area, but instead, only the state of knowledge as of the respective dates of publication of the meta‐analyses.
This is a meta-analysis of 460 effect sizes, from 66 independent samples, comparing social media usage to a variety of attitudes and beliefs, from the perspective of cultivation theory. We found an overall effect size of .123 and identified several significant moderators. Our analyses revealed higher effects for studies looking at exposure to specific types of content (as compared with general social media use), for younger samples, and for Asian samples. Observed effects were lower when active use was measured. We discuss our results in regard to the applicability of cultivation theory to the study of the effects of social media.
This article briefly introduces a historicization of drug use, from the rituals of Antiquity to hypermodernity, a time characterized by hyper-individualism and the fall of ideals, where drug use appears related to an individual experience and alienation. Faced with the exponential increase in drug use in recent decades, we wonder about the characteristics of substance consumption and what are the social imaginaries about this problem, that is, how society understands this use. One of the privileged ways to access these social imaginaries is through cultural products such as literature, cinema or series. Considering that series are gradually replacing television as privileged forms of consumption by thousands of daily viewers through online platforms, we are interested in studying the representation of drug use that is made in current series. The analysis panorama includes the representation of “hard” drugs in the characterization of anti-heroic characters and in young characters from narratives of the coming-of-age genre, as well as in iconic series that showed the world of drugs such as The Wire. Also included is the analysis of problematic alcohol consumption in university professors and addiction to other drugs such as opioids. This complex kaleidoscope allows us to understand the coordinates of current consumption, which do not always imply an addiction, but which in all cases imply different degrees of suffering.
En este artículo se introduce brevemente una historización del consumo de drogas, desde los rituales de la Antigüedad hasta llegar a la hipermodernidad como una época caracterizada por el hiperindividualismo y la caída de los ideales, donde el consumo de drogas aparece relacionado con una experiencia individual y alienada. Frente al aumento exponencial del consumo de drogas en las últimas décadas, nos preguntamos por sus características y cuáles son los imaginarios sociales sobre esta problemática, es decir, cómo la sociedad entiende este consumo. Una de las formas privilegiadas de acceder a estos imaginarios sociales es a través de productos culturales como la literatura, el cine o las series. Teniendo en cuenta que las series reemplazan paulatinamente a la televisión como formas de consumo privilegiadas por miles de espectadores diarios a través de plataformas en línea, nos interesa estudiar la representación del consumo de drogas que se hace en las series actuales. El panorama de análisis incluye la representación de las drogas "duras" en la caracterización de personajes antiheroicos y en personajes jóvenes de narrativas del género coming-of-age, así como también en series icónicas que mostraron el mundo de las drogas como The Wire. Se incluye también el análisis del consumo problemático de alcohol en personajes docentes universitarios y la adicción a fármacos como los opioides. Este complejo caleidoscopio nos permite entender las coordenadas de consumo actuales, que no siempre implican una adicción, pero que en todos los casos implican grados variables de padecimiento.
Many factors contributed to support for Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election, among them media influences. Morgan and Shanahan (2017) found that television viewing was associated with support for Trump, mediated through authoritarianism. In light of the changes in the political and media environments during Trump’s presidency, our study examined whether Morgan and Shanahan’s (2017) findings still held in the 2020 US presidential election. Replicating their findings, we found that authoritarianism still mediates the relationship between television viewing and Trump support. As in the original study, the indirect effect is moderated by political ideology and gender, with stronger indirect effects among liberals and females.
This entry provides an overview of cultivation theory. Cultivation is both a theory and a research program in mass communication used to explain and study the long‐term effects of heavy television viewing on audience beliefs and attitudes. Cultivation has proven to be a robust and resilient paradigm and has been refined and expanded since it was first articulated in the 1970s. Cultivation remains a popular theoretical model for studying media effects today.