1
Introduction
The theory being analysed and evaluated in this essay is the cultivation theory, which
was raised by George Gerbner. This theory is related to the media effects in society and is
associated primarily with the influence created by television. Gerbner and Gross (2017)
regarded television as the leading force in establishing how the society is like in audiences'
perception. Television's impact on people is argued as a long-term effect, which gradually
changes their understanding of what 'reality' is week by week. Although compared to
newspapers and radio, television used to be one of the most popular channels for audiences to
gain information, the internet and social media gradually replaced television (Nevzat, 2018).
Tang et al. (2021) also demonstrated that social media has similar functions to television
which can shape and establish audiences' perceptions of the real world. In the opinion of the
researchers, just like television, social media is also facing a massive number of users and
transmits information and values that are mass-produced to them. Therefore, it is essential to
evaluate the cultivation theory's quality and review it to check to what extent it fits
contemporary society (Tang et al., 2021).
While cultivation theory is widely used in communication and media studies, some
criticism has also been made based on it, claiming its simplification and lack of control over
other variables. This essay will start with the basic introduction and analysis of the cultivation
theory, including how it is explained and developed by different authors. After that,
evaluations and some criticisms of the theory will be displayed. The writer will evaluate
based on criteria mentioned by Chaffee and Berger (1987) and Wacker (1998) to discuss the
strengths and weaknesses of cultivation theory.
Analysis
Origin of Cultivation Theory
The original idea of cultivation theory mainly claimed that television could cultivate a
reality of its world rather than making audiences perceive the real world. Primarily, this
theory is connected with the claim that violent content is repetitively displayed on television
and the significant impact of heavy television watching (Gerbner & Gross, 2017). Gerbner
and his team started the Cultural Indicators Project research project in 1967-68, which aimed
to study what causes violence and how to prevent it. They first proposed the cultivation
theory when television became the dominating media in the daily life of people and suggested
that television can help its viewers to obtain information and seek entertainment. "Same
, 2
culture and the same perspectives" are displayed on television while audiences watch
television (Gerbner & Gross, 2017).
Gerbner (1998) believes that the world people live in is established by stories that
created by human. Watching television became a way of shaping reality in people's minds. In
other words, during the process of watching television, different information potentially
constructs viewers' perceptions. In the claim of Gerbner and Gross (2017), comparing to the
crime rate in real society, violent contents were over-displayed in the television programs,
which insert the idea of fear into audiences’ minds. Gerbner and Gross (2017) maintained
that the fact that is presented on television is unlike the real world. Romer et al. (2014) also
argued that some contents on television "distorted reality" and portrayed a society in
unrealistic ways, which misled viewers. According to Gerbner et al. (1980), heavy viewers
are terrified of becoming victims of a crime and sense greater danger, and such phenomena is
related to mean world syndrome. This concept explained the inevitable situation that heavy
viewers could not avoid watching violent content. Under the circumstance that violent and
crime-related content has been repeatedly presented on TV, the "mean and dangerous world"
will be sculpted in audiences' minds (Gerbner, 1998).
Parveen (2017) concluded three basic assumptions being made by Gerbner, which are:
1. Television is a low-cost medium which is easy to access.
2. Television cultivates audiences' perception of a world that itself establishes instead of
the real world.
3. The difference between people who spend more time watching television and those
who spend less on television is significant and cannot be neglected.
To summarise, the central assumption proposed in cultivation theory is that television
exposure can shape viewers' perception of a world made by television instead of the natural
world. The degree of being cultivated differs among heavy and light viewers.
The two concepts being studied in Gerbner's research are exposure to television and
cultivation indicators, and the researchers tried to figure out the relationship between these
two theoretical variables. Simply put, Gerbner and Gross (2017) investigated how time
audiences spend watching television is associated with people's perception of the outside
world. Both constructs have been operationalised, and for television exposure, researchers
looked at the average amount of time people watched TV per day in the week before the
study. They categorised the respondent with different exposure times into three groups,
heavy, moderate, and light viewers. As for cultivation indicators, researchers presented "two
choices of beliefs" to participants. One type of choice tends to go along with the 'reality' that
Introduction
The theory being analysed and evaluated in this essay is the cultivation theory, which
was raised by George Gerbner. This theory is related to the media effects in society and is
associated primarily with the influence created by television. Gerbner and Gross (2017)
regarded television as the leading force in establishing how the society is like in audiences'
perception. Television's impact on people is argued as a long-term effect, which gradually
changes their understanding of what 'reality' is week by week. Although compared to
newspapers and radio, television used to be one of the most popular channels for audiences to
gain information, the internet and social media gradually replaced television (Nevzat, 2018).
Tang et al. (2021) also demonstrated that social media has similar functions to television
which can shape and establish audiences' perceptions of the real world. In the opinion of the
researchers, just like television, social media is also facing a massive number of users and
transmits information and values that are mass-produced to them. Therefore, it is essential to
evaluate the cultivation theory's quality and review it to check to what extent it fits
contemporary society (Tang et al., 2021).
While cultivation theory is widely used in communication and media studies, some
criticism has also been made based on it, claiming its simplification and lack of control over
other variables. This essay will start with the basic introduction and analysis of the cultivation
theory, including how it is explained and developed by different authors. After that,
evaluations and some criticisms of the theory will be displayed. The writer will evaluate
based on criteria mentioned by Chaffee and Berger (1987) and Wacker (1998) to discuss the
strengths and weaknesses of cultivation theory.
Analysis
Origin of Cultivation Theory
The original idea of cultivation theory mainly claimed that television could cultivate a
reality of its world rather than making audiences perceive the real world. Primarily, this
theory is connected with the claim that violent content is repetitively displayed on television
and the significant impact of heavy television watching (Gerbner & Gross, 2017). Gerbner
and his team started the Cultural Indicators Project research project in 1967-68, which aimed
to study what causes violence and how to prevent it. They first proposed the cultivation
theory when television became the dominating media in the daily life of people and suggested
that television can help its viewers to obtain information and seek entertainment. "Same
, 2
culture and the same perspectives" are displayed on television while audiences watch
television (Gerbner & Gross, 2017).
Gerbner (1998) believes that the world people live in is established by stories that
created by human. Watching television became a way of shaping reality in people's minds. In
other words, during the process of watching television, different information potentially
constructs viewers' perceptions. In the claim of Gerbner and Gross (2017), comparing to the
crime rate in real society, violent contents were over-displayed in the television programs,
which insert the idea of fear into audiences’ minds. Gerbner and Gross (2017) maintained
that the fact that is presented on television is unlike the real world. Romer et al. (2014) also
argued that some contents on television "distorted reality" and portrayed a society in
unrealistic ways, which misled viewers. According to Gerbner et al. (1980), heavy viewers
are terrified of becoming victims of a crime and sense greater danger, and such phenomena is
related to mean world syndrome. This concept explained the inevitable situation that heavy
viewers could not avoid watching violent content. Under the circumstance that violent and
crime-related content has been repeatedly presented on TV, the "mean and dangerous world"
will be sculpted in audiences' minds (Gerbner, 1998).
Parveen (2017) concluded three basic assumptions being made by Gerbner, which are:
1. Television is a low-cost medium which is easy to access.
2. Television cultivates audiences' perception of a world that itself establishes instead of
the real world.
3. The difference between people who spend more time watching television and those
who spend less on television is significant and cannot be neglected.
To summarise, the central assumption proposed in cultivation theory is that television
exposure can shape viewers' perception of a world made by television instead of the natural
world. The degree of being cultivated differs among heavy and light viewers.
The two concepts being studied in Gerbner's research are exposure to television and
cultivation indicators, and the researchers tried to figure out the relationship between these
two theoretical variables. Simply put, Gerbner and Gross (2017) investigated how time
audiences spend watching television is associated with people's perception of the outside
world. Both constructs have been operationalised, and for television exposure, researchers
looked at the average amount of time people watched TV per day in the week before the
study. They categorised the respondent with different exposure times into three groups,
heavy, moderate, and light viewers. As for cultivation indicators, researchers presented "two
choices of beliefs" to participants. One type of choice tends to go along with the 'reality' that
