EFFECTS - Gerbner: Cultivation Theory Flashcards
What does cultivation theory study?
The effects of media (TV) on different audiences ie it encourages socialisation, moral panics etc.
What does cultivation claim the media does to opinions?
Doesn’t change them but reinforces them & distorts the audience’s reality.
What does cultivation theory assume about the audience?
They’re passive
What does cultivation theory reinforce?
Mainstream values (dominant ideologies)
What is enculturation?
The gradual acquisition of the characteristics/norms of a culture/group by a person, another culture etc.
What is mainstreaming?
TV moulds people’s understandings of the world, rather than real experience of life.
What is resonance?
When things viewed on television are congruent with the actual realities of viewers.
Gerbner argues that people develop ‘mean world syndrome’. What is that?
The media heavily influences perceptions of the real world and often makes us think that the world is worse than it is.
Ideas of desensitisation & compassion fatigue support cultivation theory.
What does it mean to be desensitised to something?
When people become aren’t affected anymore by harsh imagines shown in the media.
Who is the main consideration in cultivation theory?
Vulnerable groups
What may repeated exposure to certain values and ideas make the audience?
Less critical of ideas presented as ‘normal’ as it becomes naturalised & the audience become desensitised.
What is suggested about action films & the values/ideologies reinforced about violence that relates to cultivation theory?
Violence for a ‘good’ reason is acceptable.
Violence for a ‘bad’ reason must be punished.
How is cultivation theory criticised?
2
A judgement is made about the mass audience as the individual nature of audience members aren’t considered.
Doesn’t consider forms of ‘high art’ within media the same way; some of Shakespeare’s plays are violent but not seen as problems whereas video games etc are.
Who is mainstreaming useful to?
Why?
Advertisers - brand & product awareness takes hold frequently in the minds of heavy TV viewers.
What is the effect of resonance?
Amplifies people’s perception of the world where there own experiences & thoughts are congruent with what they see on TV.
