culitivation theory

Cultivation Theory

Cultivation theory focuses more on how people's attitudes are impacted by the media, rather than just behaviors. Although attitudes and behaviors are intricately related, cultivation theorists focus on how people think more than what people do. Much of this research involves comparing the attitudes of heavy media users, moderate media users, and light media users.

One finding of this research is that when people are exposed to heavy media violence, they seem to have an attitudinal misconception called mean world syndrome. This means that they overestimate how much violence actually occurs in their communities and the rest of the world. People who are exposed to less media violence have a more realistic sense of the amount of violence in the real world.



http://www.suite101.com/content/theories-of-violence-in-the-media-a52284