Entertainment’s Role in Reality

Is the world more violent? Or, are we just more aware of violence?

Professor George Gerbner argues the latter. In the 1960’s, Gerbner founded the theory of media cultivation which argues that “those exposed to media interpret social realities according to how such realities are portrayed in the media.” There are a few key assumptions of cultivation theory.

Let’s dive into them.

Basic Assumptions of Cultivation Theory

  • Television provides a narratively engaging form of entertainment which can readily capture viewer attention. Gerber also argued that television viewers lacked the same levels of literacy that are needed to engage with other forms of mass media, making it a unique medium.

  • Because viewers are affected by television content both affectively and cognitively, this medium holds the capability to change how people think about what they see.

  • While there is a psychological impact of television on society, those effects are limited in their abilities.

It is from these assumptions that the ‘Mean World Syndrome’ developed.

The Mean World Syndrome, also coined by Gerber (1980), posits that “television viewers exposed especially to violent content were more likely to see the world as more dangerous than it actually is.” It essentially describes the cognitive biases that we can develop if exposed to too much of a certain type of content.

During the 1990s, both homicide and property crime rates steadily decreased. Violent crime rates fell 74% between 1993 and 2019, and property crime rates fell 71%. Yet, during this same period of time, Americans’ perception of violent crime in the U.S. was steadily increasing. 

Though cultivation theory was originally applied to examining the effects of violence portrayed in media, research has subsequently investigated cultivation as it relates to other contexts such as gender roles, politics, and health.

Mean World Syndrome

Critiques and Criticisms

This all seems to make great sense, right? The more we watch certain types of content on TV, the more we will believe this content is true in the world. However, media researchers have done deeper digging into the tenets of cultivation theory and have determined that this relationship may not be as explanatory as Gerber proposed.

As researchers and statisticians always remind us: correlation does not mean causation. It is nearly impossible for media researchers to make the bold claim that TV causes people to think in certain ways. Many critiques of cultivation theory remind us that there are other external factors that play a role in developing our thoughts and perceptions about the world. For example, just because I enjoy binge watching Law and Order, does not mean I automatically assume every big city is crime ridden. My perception would also probably be influenced by accompanying crime reports and my personal experiences with my environment. 

So, while Gerbner’s research lays a strong foundation for media researchers to investigate the cognitive effects of TV on the minds of society, it is important to take his claims with a grain of salt. The entertainment industry without a doubt has a heavy influence on how viewers perceive the world around them, however, it is also up to the viewer themselves to determine how to interpret the information given to them.

Featured Research

Because cultivation theory helps researchers explore behavioral effects watching TV, media researchers have been investigating the amount of time people spend glued to the TV. To test criticisms of cultivation theory, Dr. Jon Hammermeister of Eastern Washington University and his colleagues investigate the difference between TV-free individuals and TV consumers. Interestingly, results from their study found that women who only watched a maximum of 2 hours of TV per day displayed greater positive psychosocial health compared to women who watched more than 2 hours per day. Interestingly, this was not true for male participants.

Sources

Hammermeister, J., Brock, B., Winterstein, D., & Page, R. (2005). Life without TV? cultivation theory and psychosocial health characteristics of television-free individuals and their television-viewing counterparts. Health Communication, 17(3), 253–264. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327027hc1703_3 

Oliver, M. B., Raney, A. A., Bryant, J., Busselle, R., & Van den Bulck, J. (2020). Cultivation Theory, Media, Stories, Processes, and Reality. In Media effects: Advances in theory and research (pp. 243–257). essay, Routledge. 

Perera, A. (2021, May 26). Cultivation theory. Cultivation Theory: Definition and Examples | Simply Psychology. Retrieved April 30, 2022, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/cultivation-theory.html#:~:text=George%20Gerbner%20introduced%20cultivation%20theory,the%20world%20and%20conduct%20themselves. 

Straughan, D. (2021, July 1). Mean world syndrome: Public perception of crime doesn't match reality. Interrogating Justice. Retrieved April 30, 2022, from https://interrogatingjustice.org/decriminalizing-mental-illness/mean-world-syndrome/