Jessie Pitayo

Final paper
Comm 2050-02
Shirene McKay
11/22/2016
Introduction
I am doing my paper on the Cultivation Analysis to give you a more in-depth look at this theory.
This paper will give you a quick overview of the theory, its approaches, the current status, the
theory evaluation, my recommendations for improvement, and end with what I have learned
about the theory during my research.
Theory Definition and Approaches
George Gerbner, who was a professor of communication, was the main author of the Cultivation
Analysis Theory. In the beginning stages of this theory, Gerbner and Lawrence Gross were
having a causal argument that television causes conception of reality. Gerbner suggested that the
Cultivation Analysis predicts and explains the long-term formation and shaping of perceptions,
understandings, and beliefs about the world as a result of consumption of media messages (West
& Turner, 2010, p.377). The Cultivation Analysis is one of the most studied theories because of
all of the interest that it attracts. This theory suggests that heavy viewers are exposed to more
violence and become victim to Mean World Syndrome. (Davie, 2010) Mean World Syndrome
is a term that Gerbner used to define how violence-related content makes viewers believe that the
world is more dangerous than it actually is.
The approach that this theory could be categorized under is Empirical/Scientific. With this
theory, you are able to use traditional methods for testing involving controlled observations and
analysis. You are able to carefully structure this situation so that only one element varies. (West
& Turner, 2010, p.51). The Cultivation Analysis theory is looking for ways to predict peoples
perceptions of world violence based on the number of hours they watch TV a day.
Current Theory Status
Cultivation Analysis is one of the most studied topics because as a society, a lot of us are
interested in how what we watch influences our perception. Many people are interested in this
theory and I found multiple recent articles from different authors that put their own perceptive on
this theory.
James potter, who has his PhD in communications, published an article on the Cultivation
Analysis theory less than two years ago and he claims that the original theory that Gerbner first
suggest has changed in two ways. First, the boundary-crossing trends have moved away from
macro focus to micro focus and second, it has moved away from regarding the locus of meaning
in the media messages toward regarding the locus of meaning in receivers (Potter, 2014, p. 1021)
Gerbner did not narrow his research to a specific message but instead he was interested in the
widespread of meanings across the entire media landscape. In more recent studies, they are
moving away from the overall media and focusing their research on a specific program. For
example, more researchers want to see if people who watch more violent programs have a
different perception than those who just watch television. They are hesitant to categorize these
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under cultivation but with so many similarities, it raises the question about when more specific
research should be called cultivation (Potter, 2014, p. 1022)
In another article that was published in 2002 by Ronald L. Jackson II, a professor of
communication, he brings up recent violent crimes and correlates them with this theory. Even
though Gerbners original theory did not suggest that watching television made someone a violent
person, Jackson suggests that by people being exposed to violent programs, they perceive
violence as a normal part of life. He is taking Gerbners theory and narrowing the parameters to
only those who watch more violent shows. (Jackson, 2002, p.86) Jackson seemed to shift the
furthest from the theory but throughout his entire article, he claims that this is still part of the
Cultivation Analysis theory. His main thought is that by viewers watching heavy TV, its going to
change their perception and make them believe that violence is very normal in real life. He just
takes it a step further in adding that because of this people who watch violent shows may indeed
become more violent.
As you can see from both of these articles, people are interested in the Cultivation Analysis
theory but they want to know if there is a driver for this behavior. The popular question that
continued to come up during my research was if television alone created Mean Word
Syndrome or if those who watched more violent shows are more impacted.
Theory Evaluation
The Cultivation Analysis theory has a very solid foundation when considering the theory
evaluation criteria but there are also some opportunities within these criterias as well. Next I
would like to go through each of the seven evaluation criterias to determine the worth of this
theory. When measuring the Cultivation Analysis theory I found that it has the most strength in
Logical Consistency, Parsimony, Utility, Heurism, and Test of Time:
Logical Consistency- I feel like the Cultivation Analysis Theory makes sense and it is pretty
clear what the theory is suggesting. It is looking at the way people perceive the world when
they have large exposer to television. This is pretty consistent throughout the theory without
any areas that contradict each other.
Parsimony- When first reading about the Cultivation Analysis Theory, I thought this theory
focused on how watching television influences violence but this may have been based on my
own assumptions. Once reading further, I realized that it was only focused on one thing but it
wasnt that television caused violence but people who watched it in large amounts, started to
believe that is how the world really is. This theory focuses primarily on how we see the
world after so much time in front of the television and with only one concept, it makes it
easier to follow.
Utility- During my research, I have found that a lot of people are curious about this theory
and that it why it is one of the most studied theories. Almost everyone in America has at least
one television in their house and a lot of people are interested about the influence it has.
There are people that criticize this theory as well however and they claim that this theory is
not always useful in explaining how people see the world. (West & Turner, 2010, p.389)
However, overall it seems to be a useful theory to use.
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Heurism- Since this theory was first presented in 1972, there continues to be research to this
day. The fact that television is even more accessible today than it was back then makes it
more of a hot topic. In todays society, most devices that are able to show movies/shows are
no more than an arm length away. Most of the research from this paper was done on material
from only a few years ago.
Test of time- Similar to Heurism, I believe that the Cultivation Analysis Theory has stood the
test of time. This theory does not seen like it has been doormat and I dont believe it will any
time soon. With all of the new technology and new and creative ways to watch television, I
believe this theory is only going to get more attention.
When measuring the Cultivation Analysis theory I found that it has weaknesses in Scope and
Testability.
Scope- The breath of the Cultivation Analysis Theory is somewhat narrow considering all of the
different ways we receive information outside of television. When this theory was first proposed
back in 1972, our media source looked very different than it does today. We didnt have the
technology we do today or all of the media outlets. By only taking into consideration the media
from television, the scope may be too narrow now.
Testability- I feel like this theory is somewhat hard to test. Can we say for certain that the way
we perceive the world is primarily based on what we watch on the television only? With that
being said however, with all of the research that has been done on this theory there is defiantly a
correlation between the two. This theory can continued to get tested through surveys and other
means but it still may be hard to determine that they feel the way they do because of what they
watch. As I mentioned earlier, we are exposed to the extremes in the world on a daily bases and
not all of it comes from the television. To me this makes it harder to test because we get our new
from Facebook, advertisement from YouTube, and see the word through Snapchat.
Improvements to Theory
The Cultivation Analysis theory has opportunities to expand its application because currently, the
theory is primarily based on people who watch a lot of television. In todays world, we can pull
up YouTube and watch videos, pull up Facebook/twitter to get the latest news and most of this
can be done anywhere and at any time. With Social media, things can travel far and fast and
when this theory was first suggested back in the early 1970 these were not the type of things that
were considered.
I think an updated and broader analysis would give this theory more modernized information.
Other media outlets would have to be considered like LinkedIn and video games in order to see
if this theory still holds true with the way we currently live. According to Peter Nowak, he wrote
an article in The Globe that says this theory is probably more relevant now than it was when
Gerbner first introduced it (Nowak, 2014). Kids these days watch more television than any
doctor would probably recommend but it is not just television they are hooked on. There is
Facebook, video games, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. the list goes on. I feel if we had more
information that went beyond just television the communication would be clearer and it may
even promote more positive change. If we want to understand how what we watch, influences
our perspective we should take all the things we watch into consideration. With the ability for a
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video to be shared over a million times in less than 24 hours, how can you not take some of these
things into consideration?
Conclusion
During this paper, I have covered the Cultivation Analysis Theory and the approaches that they
use. I have done my research to cover the current theory status, went over the strength and
weaknesses of the theory evaluation criteria and have also given my thoughts on expanding the
theory.
I have learned a lot about the Cultivation Analysis Theory and it has been a very interesting
theory to research. I myself watch television and use it as an opportunity to spend time with my
family. While I have always heard that you want to be mindful of what your children watch and
how long they stay in front of a screen, I didnt fully realize the type of impact it could have. I
also didnt take into consideration the way that it was shaping my families perception of the
world. Once learning about this theory, it has really made me stop and think about what I am
watching with my children. It has also forced me to think about how the shows my family and I
are watching are changing our perception a little at a time. I have always limited screen time in
my house but after reading about this theory, I cant help but cut back more.
I would like to end with a quote for George Gerbner himself that really resonated.
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 its a handful of global conglomerates that
have nothing to tell, but a great deal to sell.

References
Davie, G. (2010, March 12). Cultivation Theory: How Violence Might Affect Us [Web log post].
Retrieved from
https://masscommtheory.com/2010/03/12/cultivation-theory-how-violence-might-affectus/
Jackson, R. L. (2002). Cultivating Viewers. Retrieved November 23, 2016, from
http://www.ronjacksonii.com/files/bookreviews/2002a_Televised_Cultivation_of_Images
_and_Worldview_A_Review_of_the_Book_Television_and_Its_Viewers_Cultivation_Th
eory_and_Research_by_James_Shanahan_&_Michael_Morgan.pdf
Nowak, P. (2014, November 13). The rise of Mean World Syndrome in social media. Retrieved
November 23, 2016, from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/relationships/the-rise-ofmean-world-syndrome-in-social-media/article21481089/
Potter, W. J. (2014). A Critical Analysis of Cultivation Theory. Journal Of Communication,
64(6), 1015-1036. doi:10.1111/jcom.12128
West, R., & turner, L. H. (2000). Introducing communication theory: Analysis and application.
(4th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.