What was Gerbner’s conceptualization of media? Did he expect there to be differences across different media genres? 2. Briefly describe the three components of cultivation theory?

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Cultivation Theory Week 4

cul·ti·vate: to foster the growth of

Cultivation Theory

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Cultivation Theory

• Controversial Theory • High scholarly interest, low empirical • Origin

• Based on concern regarding effects of violence on TV • President Johnson’s Commission on the Causes and

Prevention of Violence

• Based on content analytic findings

• Macro level assumptions • Not concerned with any one effect • Not concerned with any one genre • Not concerned with any one medium • Not concerned with immediate effects • Concerned with societal, generalized, long-term

media effects.

Cultivation Theory

• Three components 1. Institutional: media create & transmit a symbolic environment that reflects the society’s

values, norms, culture, preferences, & practices.

2. Message: Similarities in the meaning displayed across all media regardless of genres and medium

3. Effects: Increased media exposure will cultivate beliefs consistent with those represented in the media • Cultivated beliefs: beliefs that reflect patterns and representations in the media rather than objective

reality

Cultivation Theory

• Three components 1. Institutional: media create & transmit a symbolic environment that reflects the society’s values, norms, culture, preferences, & practices. • How do media as institutions do this? Why was this assumption not tested?

2. Message: Similarities in the meaning displayed across all media regardless of genres and medium • Concept of meaning is vague. How do we assess meaning? Lack of integrating findings

from content analyses of different genres

3. Effects: Increased media exposure will cultivate beliefs consistent with those represented in the media • Why does this happen? All the effects were limited to TV but the theory is supposed to

be about all media? Weak effects were found using correlations. Immediate effects were assessed even though the theory is about cumulative effects. No cumulative effects found.

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Theory/Concept creeping

• When an initial concept gets extended, modified, altered, and changed

• Similar to semantic change • Words change meaning over time

• Creeping of cultivation theory • Getting more specific at what kind of content • Testing immediate effects through experimental

designs • Focusing on active rather than passive viewers • Search for why? Cognitive mechanisms/mediators • Examining different comparisons between media and

reality

Cultivation of the mean world belief Nabi & Sullivan, 2001

Increased TV viewingInflated

estimates of crime

Increased "Mean World" perceptions

Engaging in protection behaviors

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Cultivation of the mean world belief Nabi & Sullivan, 2001

• Estimates of crime frequency • During any given week, how many people out of 100 are involved in some

kind of violence?

• If you were to walk by yourself for an hour every night in a park in New York City for a month, what do you think the chances are (on a scale of 1-100) that you would be the victim of a serious crime?

• "Mean world" Item: • Do you think that most people would try to take advantage of you if they got

a chance or would try to be fair?

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Cultivation of the mean world belief Nabi & Sullivan, 2001

• Protective Behaviors Items: • In general, how often do you (never, rarely, sometimes, often, always):

• Carry a means of self-protection

• Walk to your car alone at night

• Worry about being the victim of a crime

• TV viewing questions • How often do you watch TV on a weekly basis?

Cultivation of the mean world belief Nabi & Sullivan, 2001

• TV viewing influenced prevalence estimates which in turn influenced mean world attitudes, and protective behaviors • What was the reason as to why TV viewing → protective

behaviors? • Mediating variables

• Mean world attitudes

• Increased estimates of crime

Cultivation of the mean world belief

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Reel versus real depictions of criminals/victims

• Dixon & Linz, 2000 • Content analysis of TV news programming in Los Angeles and Orange

counties

• Overarching Question • Do TV news programs represent African Americans and Latinos as

criminals and Whites as victims?

• Utilized Three Indices to Test Hypotheses • Intergroup • Interrole • Interreality

Media and reality comparisons

● Intergroup comparison ● Blacks & Latinos will appear as perpetrators at a higher rate compared to Whites

● Interrole comparison ● Blacks and Latinos will appear as perpetrators of crime on TV at a higher rate than as

victims of crime ● Whites will appear as victims of crime on TV at a higher rate than as perpetrators of

crime.

● Inter reality comparison ● The distribution of perpetrators and victims of crime by race on television news will be

inconsistent with objective data in the real world.

Who are the TV perpetrators? Inter-Group Comparison

Black/White Latino/White

All Perpetrators 69/40 55/40

Felony Perpetrators 64/26 50/26

Black and Latino individuals are more likely to be represented as perpetrators of crime on Tv compared to White individuals

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How do TV portrayals of perpetrators compare with reality?

Inter-Reality Comparisons

Arrest Rate TV Perp. Diff

Black 21% 37% 16

White 28% 21% -7

Latino 47% 29% -18

Other 4% 13% 9

100% 100%

Who are the TV victims of crime? Inter-Group Comparison

Black/White Latino/White

All Victims 53/111 50/111

Homicide Victims 43/79 34/79

• Black and Latino individuals are less likely to be represented as victims of crime on Tv compared to White individuals

How do TV portrayals of victims of crime compare with reality?

Inter-Reality Comparisons

Victim Rate TV Victim Diff

Black 28% 23% ns

White 13% 43% 30

Latino 54% 19% -35

Other 5% 15% 10

100% 100%

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Dixon & Linz, 2000

• Results • Intergroup comparison

• African Americans were more likely to represented as perpetrators of crime on TV compared to White Americans.

• Inter role comparison • African Americans more likely to be represented as perpetrators of crime on TV rather than victims of

crime.

• Representations of White Americans revealed the opposite pattern

• Inter reality comparison • African Americans over represented as criminals on TV compared to reality

• Whites & Latinos under represented as criminals on TV compared to reality

• Whites over represented as victims of crime on TV compared to reality

• Latinos under represented as victims of crime on TV compared to reality

Why worry about these inaccuracies?

Dixon, 2007: Effects of media inaccuracies of crime

• Conducted an experiment designed to determine whether news exposure might contribute to negative stereotypes of African Americans as criminals and positive perceptions of Whites as officers

• Randomly assigned to one of these conditions (3 X 3)

• Perpetrator Race – Black, White, Unidentified • Officer Race – Black, White, Unidentified

• Cultivational differential • Comparison of heavy and low viewers of news

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Dixon, 2007: Hypotheses

• H1: Unidentified suspects will be perceived as likely being Black, and heavy news viewers will be more likely to hold this perception than light news viewers

• H2: Unidentified officers will be perceived as likely being White, and heavy news viewers will be more likely to hold this perception than light news viewers

• H3: Unidentified and White officers will be perceived more positively than Black officers, and heavy news viewers will be more likely than light news viewers to hold this perception

Dixon, 2007: Findings – H1

● Participants exposed to an unidentified perpetrator were more likely to think he was Black as opposed to White.

● The news viewing did not moderate likelihood judgements after exposure to the featured perpetrator ● No support for cultivation differential

more likely to be perceived as Black

Dixon, 2007: Findings – H2

● Participants exposed to an unidentified officer were more likely to think he is White as opposed to Black.

● Heavy news viewers were more likely to think this ● Support for cultivation differential

more likely to be perceived as White by heavy news viewers

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Dixon, 2007: Findings – H3

● Experimental manipulation has no effect on positive perceptions of the officer

● Heavy viewers were less likely than light news viewers to perceive the officer in a positive manner when he was depicted as Black. ● Support for cultivation differential

Cultivation Theory

• Cultivation research today • Getting more specific at what kind of content

• TV violence rather than general TV consumption

• Testing immediate effects through experimental designs • Not relying on cross-sectional studies

• Focusing on active rather than passive viewers • Different interpretations of different audiences

• Search for why? Cognitive mechanisms/mediators • Why does media affect behaviors?

• Examining different comparisons between media and reality • Dixon & Linz, 2000 study