Cultivation theory claims that television cultivates a view of reality that is not consistent with actual reality but is perceived as reality. In other words people seem to believe that television represents real life. This is especially true in the case of heavy viewers of television. This is also true in novice (children) viewers and most research tends to lean toward the idea that heavy viewing of television by novices cultivates an idea that the world is a mean and violent place. Cultivation theorists attribute two mechanisms to explain how television cultivates ideas. Mainstreaming which is televisions ability to stabilize and homogenize views within a society, and resonance, which is the extent to which a person can identify an event on television with something in his/her own personal experience. Repetition of resonance and identifying with the idea of the mainstream culture would cultivate the idea. The idea of violence as a common event has been cultivated by television and reinforced by televisions portrayal of a “Mean World”.
In a series of articles published in the Journal of communication George Gerbner and his associates claim that heavy television watching cultivates conceptions o
The basis of the “Mean World” idea is from Gerbner and his associates twenty plus years of content analysis where their violence profile has shown consistently high numbers of violent acts. (Potter 1990) “There appears to be a justifiable fear that viewing televised violence will make people, children in particular, somewhat more likely to commit acts of violence themselves.” (Gerbner 1978)
This is best reflected in Gerbner’s study on adolescents and their ideas on when it is right or wrong to hit someone. According to cultivation theory children who are heavy watchers of television subscribe to the “Mean World” idea will be more likely to act out aggressively due to the acceptance of violent acts on television. Gerbner’s research did in fact find that “young viewers who watch a lot of television are more likely to agree that it is “Almost always all right to hit someone “if you are mad at them for a good reason.””(Gerbner 1978) Conversely children who did not watch heavily and had a better view of reality were less inclined to hit someone even if one is mad at them for a good reason. (Gerbner 1977)
Also in Gerbner asked a question about a child’s willingness to walk alone in his or her own neighborhood at night. Testing the theory that television’s violent tendencies cultivate an idea of an over estimated prevalence of violence. He found that among heavy viewers “Females and young students are
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