cultivation theory

Cultivation theory, also known as cultivation analysis, was developed by George Gerbner, dean emeritus of the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania, to explain the effects of television viewing on viewers’ attitudes. Television “cultivates” our view of the world, which explains why people who watch a great deal of television have an exaggerated belief in a mean and scary world.

Television is unique in the history of media; it does not require literacy, mobility, or great expense, and it brings a uniform set of images into every home. Because it is ubiquitous, nonselective, and diverse in subject matter, it has become a central force in shaping modern culture. New generations have been raised with television as the primary storyteller in their lives, and it helps shape and reinforce the dominant culture in society. It accounts for “the cultivation of shared conceptions of reality among otherwise diverse publics” (Gerbner, Gross, Morgan, & Signorielli, 1980, p.10).

Gerbner found that heavy television viewing has a small but significant impact on the attitudes and perceptions of an audience, influencing their outlook on the social world around them. Massive exposure to television has a cumulative effect; it is not just individual messages that the viewer responds to, but also the accumulation of exposure in the aggregate. The cultivation process does not forcefully “push” an individual toward a conception of social reality, but rather subtly “pulls” him into the television mindset. Thus it is the continual process of interaction between the viewer and the medium that results in altered attitudes toward society.