Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media

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The State of Cultivation

Michael Morgan Ph.D. & James Shanahan Ph.D.
To cite this article: Michael Morgan Ph.D. & James Shanahan Ph.D. (2010) The
State of Cultivation, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 54:2, 337-355, DOI:
10.1080/08838151003735018
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INVITED ESSAY

The State of Cultivation

Michael Morgan and James Shanahan
Cultivation analysis investigates televisions contributions to viewers conceptions of social reality. Developed by George Gerbner in the 1960s, cultivation
research continues to expand in numerous directions, with over 125 new studies published since 2000. This article reviews the history of cultivation theory
and takes stock of recent trends in the field. We argue that cultivation has
taken on certain paradigmatic qualities, and we consider the future prospects
for cultivation research in the context of the changing media environment.
The world has changed a great dealand along with it, television, both as an
institution and as a technologysince George Gerbner (19192005) first formulated
the idea of cultivation in the 1960s. Despite these changes, the state of cultivation
is remarkably healthy, and the outlook for the future is promising. The cultivation
perspective is well established; Bryant and Miron (2004) point out that cultivation is
one of the three most-cited theories in mass communication research published in
key scholarly journals from 1956 to 2000. As of 2010, over 500 studies directly
relevant to cultivation have been publishedand more than 125 since 2000.1
Research in this area is vibrant, thriving, and branching off into areas Gerbner
could not have imagined (and may not have always approved of).
The basic tenets of cultivation analysis are well known to media researchers.
The most familiar version of the cultivation hypothesis is that those who spend
more time watching television are more likely to perceive the real world in ways that
reflect the most common and recurrent messages of the world of fictional television.
But theres much more to it than that. In order to contextualize the current state of
cultivation research, a historical overview of Gerbners original conceptualization

Michael Morgan (Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania) is a professor in the Department of Communication

at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. His research interests include cultivation analysis and media
effects, technology, and policy.
James Shanahan (Ph.D., University of Massachusetts-Amherst) is a professor in the College of Communication at Boston University. His research interests include Cultural Indicators, cultivation, media effects, and
communication about science and the environment.
2010 Broadcast Education Association
DOI: 10.1080/08838151003735018

Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 54(2), 2010, pp. 337355

ISSN: 0883-8151 print/1550-6878 online

337

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Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media/June 2010

is necessary to provide a fuller and more nuanced explanation of his ideas than is
typically presented.

The Concept of Cultivation

Gerbner attempted to devise a new, broad-based approach to the study of mass
communication, one that focused on the process of mass communication itself.
Fundamentally, the goal of most communication research at the time was tactical,
to find the most suitable ways of selling (or disguising) policies which serve institutional objectives (Gerbner, 1966, p. 100). In contrast, Gerbner argued that those
institutional objectives should instead constitute the object of research. Rather than
serving institutional objectives, he argued that decision-making in a democratic
society required critical analysis of the nature and consequences of those objectives
(Gerbner, 1958).
Starting from a definition of communication as interaction through messages
(formally coded symbolic events evoking shared cultural significance), Gerbner
framed mass communication as the mass production of messagesa profound
development with vast cultural consequences. Gerbner wrote:
The cultural transformation of our time stems from the extension of the industrialtechnological revolution into the sphere of message-production. The mass production and rapid distribution of messages create new symbolic environments that
reflect the structure and functions of the institutions that transmit them. These institutional processes of the mass-production of messages short-circuit other networks
of social communication and superimpose their own forms of collective consciousnesstheir own publicsupon other social relationships. The consequences for
the quality of life, for the cultivation of human tendencies and outlooks, and for the
governing of societies, are far-reaching. (Gerbner, 1970, p. 69)

In this passage, Gerbner draws attention to three entitiesinstitutions, messages,

and publicssuggesting three distinct areas of analysis (Gerbner, 1966). This framework coalesced into Cultural Indicators, a far-ranging and long-lasting research
project (Gerbner, 1969). First, institutional process analysis investigates the organizational forms, power relations, and decision-making pressures and processes
of the institutions that produce mass-mediated messages. Second, message system
analysis2 investigates broad structures and consistent patterns in large bodies of
those messages in the aggregate (as opposed to in any particular program or genre,
and apart from issues of quality or aesthetic value).
The third area of analysiscultivation analysiswas defined as the study of
the relationships between institutional processes, message systems, and the public
assumptions, images, and policies that they cultivate (Gerbner, 1970, p. 71).
These relationships were framed as dynamic, with each component affecting (and
affected by) the others. Note there is no mention here of comparing the beliefs
and assumptions of light, medium, and heavy viewers; that came later. Rather, the

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339

notion is that living in a symbolic environment in which certain types of institutions

with certain types of objectives create certain types of messages, tends to cultivate
(support, sustain, and nourish) certain types of collective consciousness.
Critically, Gerbner departed from the then-prevailing tendency in communication
research to define effects in terms of some kind of change, most often shortterm, and in response to specifically targeted messages (political, commercial, etc.).
Gerbner stressed that the history and dynamics of continuities, as well as of
change, in the reciprocal relationships between social structures, message systems,
and image structures are the effects of communication (Gerbner, 1966, p. 101).
The mass-produced symbolic environment creates publics and reveals social and
institutional dynamics; because it expresses social and cultural patterns, it also
cultivates them (see also Morgan, 2002).

Cultivation Research
The Cultural Indicators project started conducting annual message system analyses of prime-time broadcast programming in 1967. The goal was to track the most
stable, pervasive, and recurrent images in network television content, in terms of the
portrayal of violence, gender roles, race and ethnicity, occupations, and many other
topics and aspects of life, over long periods of time. While message system analysis
was based on standard content analysis procedures, cultivation analysis at first had
no concrete methodological direction. Its methodology began to take shape in the
1970s, through Gerbners collaboration with Gross (see Gerbner & Gross, 1976).
Cultivation analysis explores the independent contribution of television viewing to
audiences conceptions of social reality. Based on message system analyses, cultivation researchers develop hypotheses about what people would think about various
aspects of reality if everything they knew about some issue or phenomenon were
derived from televisions dominant portrayals. Survey methods are used to assess the
difference (if any) that amount of television viewing makes with respect to a broad
variety of opinions, images, and attitudes, across a variety of samples, types of measures, topical areas, and mediating variables. The goal is to ascertain if those who
spend more time watching television, other things held constant, are more likely to
perceive the real world in ways that reflect those particular messages and lessons.
Contrary to the usual concerns about the effects of television violence on the stimulation of aggressive behavior, Gerbner and colleagues argued that heavy viewing
cultivates exaggerated perceptions of victimization, mistrust, and danger, along with
numerous inaccurate beliefs about crime and law enforcement (Gerbner & Gross,
1976; Gerbner, Gross, Jackson-Beeck, Jeffries-Fox, & Signorielli, 1978; Gerbner,
Gross, Signorielli, Morgan, & Jackson-Beeck, 1979). Compared to matching groups
of lighter viewers, heavy viewers were found to be more likely to say that most
people cannot be trusted, and most people are just looking out for themselves
(Gerbner, Gross, Morgan, & Signorielli, 1980; Signorielli, 1990), a pattern that
became known as the Mean World Syndrome.

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Early cultivation studies produced a great deal of intense criticism, on conceptual,

methodological, and analytical grounds (see Hirsch, 1980; Hughes, 1980; Potter,
1993, 1994; for a summary response, see Shanahan & Morgan, 1999). Partly in
response to these critiques, various refinements were made to cultivation theory,
including the notions of mainstreaming (a homogenization of outlooks among otherwise divergent groups of viewers), and resonance (cases of special salience and
vulnerability to televisions messages; see Gerbner et al., 1980).
The research expanded to investigate the cultivation of sex-role stereotypes, political orientations and behavior, images of aging, health-related beliefs and behaviors,
opinions about science, attitudes toward marriage and the family, work, minorities,
sexuality, the environment, religion, affluence, and numerous other issues. As well,
cultivation research has been undertaken in over two dozen countries (see Morgan,
Shanahan, & Signorielli, 2009).
A meta-analysis of over two decades of cultivation research showed that television viewing makes a small but consistent contribution to viewers beliefs and
perspectives (Shanahan & Morgan, 1999). Since that analysis was conducted, however, scholars continued to expand the range and focus of cultivation theory and
research in many different directions. This article offers an assessment of some recent
developments.3

Current Developments
Genre-Specific Cultivation
One common criticism of cultivation is that Gerbner and colleagues lumped
together all viewing into one undifferentiated, homogenized mass, as if there were
no appreciable differences between Laverne and Shirley and Starsky and Hutch.
While early cultivation research was quite specific that it was the message system
that was explored, in the aggregate (the bucket, not the drops, see Shanahan &
Morgan, 1999), no cultivation theorist ever proposed that viewing different types of
programs on a regular basis might not have differential effects. What is at question
is whether such genre-specific effects should be called cultivation. Moreover, to
focus on superficial distinctions among genres risks losing sight of what different
types of programs have in common, which cultivation emphasizes.
Still, one distinctive aspect of recent cultivation work has been a tendency to
examine exposure to specific genres. Whether or not such studies should be called
cultivation does not seem to be an issue for most researchers; as a practical matter,
numerous scholars are pursuing studies of exposure to genres (and even to specific
single programs) under the rubric of cultivation.
One genre of programming that received some attention is the talk show. Woo and
Dominick (2001) examined relationships between exposure to talk shows and beliefs
about the frequency of marital infidelity, running away from home, and premarital

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341

sex, and found that talk-show exposure (and talk show dominance in the TV diet)
were better predictors of those dependent variables than overall TV exposure (see
also Woo & Dominick, 2003). In a prolonged exposure experiment, Rssler and Brosius (2001) observed that talk shows cultivated adolescents perceptions of homosexuality (in a less restrictive direction), but not of trans-sexuality or body piercing.
Because programs such as The Oprah Winfrey Show often depict families and
individuals in crisis and in need of collective support, Glynn, Huge, Reineke,
Hardy, and Shanahan (2007) hypothesized that heavier viewers of such programs
would be more supportive of activist and interventionist government policies in
support of families. Their results confirmed the hypothesis, and also showed mainstreaming: conservatives who were heavy talk show viewers were especially more
likely to support such policies than they otherwise would be.
New program types have attracted attention. Kubic and Chory (2007) found
that exposure to makeover programs is negatively related to self-esteem and
positively related to perfectionism and body dissatisfaction. Nabi (2009) found
little relationship between exposure to programs focusing specifically on cosmetic
surgery and body image, but a small relationship with the desire to undergo cosmetic procedures. Ferris, Smith, Greenberg, and Smith (2007) examined exposure
to reality dating shows and found that young male heavy viewers were more likely
to hold stereotypical perceptions about dating (men are sex-driven, dating is a
game, women are sex objects; see also Ward, 2002a). Studies have even applied
cultivation theory to watching a single show; Quick (2009) found that viewers of
Greys Anatomy thought that doctors were more courageous, and also tended to
manifest higher patient satisfaction.
In sum, although genre-specific studies have not yet outlined a clear rationale
for how they are similar to or different from the more global concept of cultivation
(focusing on collective patterns across communities beyond individual selections),
it seems clear that they will continue (see Bilandzic & Rssler, 2004). Certainly,
viewers with specific preferences will seek out programs that nourish and sustain the
worldviews that such viewers find plausible. From a cultivation perspective, however, such work can fragment the systemic aspects of the overall viewing experience,
and observed relationships may reflect selective exposure more than cultivation. We
argue that people (especially heavy viewers) do not watch isolated genres only, and
that any impact of individual program types should be considered in the context
of the overall viewing experience. For example, while viewers may learn much
about doctors from watching medical dramas, messages about doctors are by no
means limited to such programs. Genre studies thus need to develop a stronger
theoretical conception of how genre exposure relates to overall exposure.

Fear of Crime
Fear of crime continues to be a major focus of cultivation theory, and studies
in this area, in particular, often have focused on the role of specific genres and

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Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media/June 2010

program types. Grabe and Drew (2007) examined exposure to various crime genres,
including news and fictional portrayals, and tested a variety of hypotheses about the
relative importance of different genres in comparison to overall viewing. Overall,
they found little evidence of cultivation effects associated with televised crime
drama (p. 163), but more evidence for cultivation with exposure to nonfictional
(reality) violence.
Understandably, a considerable amount of recent research applied cultivation to
local news. Local news is heavily consumed and filled with messages of crime and
violence in viewers local communities, unrelated to actual crime rates. Several
studies find that viewing local news predicts fear of crime (e.g., Eschholz, Chiricos,
& Gertz, 2003; Weitzer & Kubrin, 2004). Especially strong evidence is provided
by Romer, Jamieson, and Aday (2003), who also find that the relationship between
local news exposure and fear of crime is independent of local crime rates. Gross
and Aday (2003) are virtually alone in not finding this association, although they
did find that those who watch more local news are more likely to cite crime as the
most important problem in their city.
TV news viewing in general is related to heightened perceptions of crime risk
on both a personal and societal level (Romer et al., 2003, p. 99), with exaggerated
perceptions of juvenile crime rates, and with holding the erroneous belief that
imprisonment is more effective than rehabilitation (Goidel, Freeman, & Procopio,
2006). Local and national news viewing combined predicts fear of crime, and
support for capital punishment and handgun ownership (Holbert, Shah, & Kwak,
2004).
Viewing reality police shows produces similar patterns, including not only greater
fear of crime (Eschholz et al., 2003), but also lower levels of social trust (Salmi,
Smolej, & Kivivuori, 2007), overestimation of overall crime rates and the misperception that juvenile sentencing is race neutral (Goidel et al., 2006), as well as support
for capital punishment and actual handgun ownership (Holbert et al., 2004). Heavy
viewing of fictional crime drama also predicts fear of crime (Eschholz et al., 2003),
and support for the death penalty (Holbert et al., 2004).
Despite these genre-specific patterns, some studies continue to find associations
between overall viewing and fear of crime. For example, Van den Bulck (2004)
found that overall viewing predicted fear of victimization, and that it was a better
predictor of fear than actual experience with crime. Nabi and Sullivan (2001) supported a model in which heavy overall television exposure (1) cultivated exaggerated
perceptions of the prevalence of violence, which in turn (2) heightened Mean
World perceptions, leading to (3) intentions to take protective measures against
crime, and (4) actually taking such measures.
Some recent studies are consistent with the notion of resonance. Weitzer and
Kubrin (2004) found that the relationship between viewing local television news
and fear of crime held only for Blacks, and also that it was markedly stronger
in higher-crime areas. Moreover, Eschholz et al. (2003) noted that many of their
findings held mainly among those who reported that they live in neighborhoods
with high percentages of Blacks.

Morgan and Shanahan/THE STATE OF CULTIVATION

343

Busselle (2003) found that parents who watch more programs portraying crime
and violence are more likely to warn their children about crime during their high
school years; these warnings, in turn, predict the students own crime estimates. This
implies that cultivation may take place though both direct and indirect processes.
Clearly, the consensus in current research on fear of crime is that television
viewing (sometimes overall viewing, sometimes local news, sometimes reality crime
shows, etc.) deserves to be taken seriously. Van den Bulck (2004) compared various
structural equation models and concluded that the cultivation model provides a
better explanation of associations between television viewing and fear than does
either mood management (reverse causality) or withdrawal (i.e., scared people
stay home and watch more television). Weitzer and Kurbin (2004) argue that the
media play a substantial role in shaping beliefs and fear of crime (p. 515); these
relationships point to the generation of fear, greater support for police authority,
and the endorsement of punitive justice and protective measures (Holbert et al.,
2004, p. 355).
There is considerable variation in recent studies in exactly how fear is conceptualized. Some studies measure peoples perceptions of the amount of violence
in society. Others deal with perceived personal risk. And yet others deal with the
personal degree of fear of being victimized. These are distinct and not necessarily
related; as various scholars have noted, fear is an affective state while perceived risk
is a cognitive perception. Someone who has an exaggerated sense of the amount
of violence in society need not be afraid at home in a neighborhood known to
be quite safe.
Awareness of these conceptual distinctions is not new, but many recent studies
conflate or ignore these differences, with the result that studies that purport to be
cultivation analyses of fear are often not talking about the same thing at all.
From a cultivation perspective, television is more likely to teach us societal-level
lessons about what the world is like, but not necessarily impact our perceptions
of our own personal reality, where a much wider range of influences and everyday
non-mediated experiences may play a stronger role.

Cognitive Explorations and Narrative Implications

In 1999, we summarized the research to date on the cognitive mechanisms of
cultivation (Shanahan & Morgan, 1999, Chapter 8). At that time, researchers were
starting to make gains in what had earlier been a futile quest: to explain how
cultivation occurs. While Gerbner and colleagues were not very concerned with
this question, it has been of persistent interest to others. We noted:
: : : we all learn the values, norms, and stereotypes disseminated by television
primarily by growing up and living in this specific culture; heavy viewing, then, does
not involve any new learning of these beliefs and outlooks, but instead provides
the repeated instantiation of some stereotypes by their exemplars [Hawkins,

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Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media/June 2010

Pingree & Adler, 1987, p. 575]: : : : In effect, both Hawkins et al. and Shrum posit
that television might be reminding us, over and over, of what we are not supposed
to forget. As Shrum [e.g. Shrum, 1995] contends, it is not that television changes
attitudes, but that it makes them stronger. (p. 191)

Lately, research on cognitive processing has provided a great deal of convergent

validity to cultivation. Shrum and others have continued to document and extend the
now dominant conception of cultivations cognitive mechanism: heuristic reception
and processing of messages makes heavy television viewers more likely to rely on
those messages for perceptions about the real world. Mental shortcuts used while
processing TV messages incline heavy viewers to rely more on those messages when
constructing judgments about the world, based on frequency, recency, and vividness. Priming respondents to think systematically makes cultivation effects disappear
in experimental work, strengthening the theory. Busselle (2001) also confirmed
these findings experimentally; consistent with the heuristic model, subjects who
were primed with exemplar accessibility tasks showed no evidence of cultivation
while those who answered social judgments questions first in an experimental task
did show cultivation. Comparing modes of data collection, Shrum (2004a, 2007)
argued that heuristic processing would be greater during a telephone survey than
during a mail survey (respondents would be under greater time pressure in the
phone survey). Shrum found that effects were greater in the phone survey, again
confirming the heuristic model.
In a series of studies, Shrum (2004b) argued that two distinct cognitive processes
underlie cultivation. Set size/probability judgments about the world (first-order
estimates) are memory-based and derive from heuristic processing. On the other
hand, perceptions and attitudes (second-order measures) are formed online, or
at the moment. In both models, cultivation occurs at the moment of judgment, but
this is at the time of viewing for online judgments, and at the time of retrieval
for memory-based judgments. For online judgments, variables related to online
processing (attention, involvement, etc.) enhanced cultivation, as predicted.
Shrum and Bischak (2001) used direct experience with crime as a moderating
variable, and observed greater cultivation among those with more direct experience.
Such experience may create a richer and more accessible representation of crime
available in memory (p. 206), which would less likely to be discounted as TV
crime. This is a cognitive explanation consistent with the notion of resonance.
Bradley (2007) also confirmed the heuristic model, using simulated neural networks. In Bradleys work, computer programs mimicking connectionist models of
memory and retrieval reveal patterns consistent with heuristic processing that leads
to cultivation. When asked to perform as a general-purpose learner, the simulated
network showed a cultivation effect. When primed to the source material, the
model showed no cultivation effect, and even over-corrected, as seen in Shrums
studies.
Narrative mechanisms are also receiving increasing attention. While a host of
variables may mediate or moderate the cultivation process, most investigators agree

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345

that eventually the process must be understood as reception and processing of

narratives. Busselle, Ryabalova, and Wilson (2004) outline a theory of narrative
in which acceptance of narratives as realistic is the default condition (see also
Shanahan & Morgan, 1999). They found that respondents readily supplied narrativerelated responses when asked to say what they remembered about a program just
seen. Busselle et al. suggest that future assessments of perceived realism, an
ongoing contentious issue in cultivation research, should not be about comparing
the program to the real world but about assessing the programs narrative realism.
Bilandzic and Busselle (2008) elaborate this into a model where narrative transportation is a key feature of the cultivation process. Transportation into a story
means adopting a less critical mindset toward it, and becoming completely involved
in the story. Because transportation is very specific to stories, Bilandzic and Busselle
argue that it is better suited to cultivation than other moderating or mediating
variables. Their interesting but inconsistent results suggest that transportability (a
personality trait) did affect transportation during exposure to stimulus films and also
magnified cultivation in some cases.
Work continues on these and other possible mechanisms. For instance, Bilandzic
(2006) presents a theory in which perceived distance of the content plays a
role in cultivation; others (e.g., Hetsroni, Elphariach, Kapuza, & Tsfoni, 2007; Van
den Bulck & Vandebosch, 2003) argued that the distance (either geographical or
conceptual) of material portrayed affects viewers processing and is therefore useful
in specifying and confirming cultivation processes. Emergent work on mental
models suggests that dynamic models (mental pictures similar to schemata) of
stories, as opposed to memory of facts and images stored at particular times (either
heuristically or otherwise), might explain cultivation cognitively in a way that would
be consistent with the narrative focus of the theory (Roskos-Ewoldsen, Davies, &
Roskos-Ewoldsen, 2004).

Other Recent Findings

A variety of studies expanded cultivation research into new areas, or updated
areas of earlier work to reflect notable changes in media messages. Based on
content analyses showing frequent portrayals of drug usage on television, Minnebo
and Eggermont (2007) surveyed 246 people over 30 in Belgium, and found that
heavy viewers were more likely to believe that most young people are substance
users. Closer analysis revealed that the effects of education were diminished among
heavier viewersa pattern that is a hallmark of mainstreaming.
Content analyses going back decades consistently showed that mental illness
is distorted in the media; e.g., those with mental illness often are presented as
violent criminals. Diefenbach and West (2007) found that heavy viewers believe
that locating mental health services in residential neighborhoods poses a danger to
residents. Similarly, Granello and Pauley (2000) found that heavy viewers expressed
less tolerance regarding mental illness.

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Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media/June 2010

In contrast to the long-term stability in the image of mental illness, the portrayal of
gay and lesbian characters clearly shifted toward more positive (or less negative) and
more normalized images since the 1980s, when earlier cultivation studies found
that heavy viewers were more likely to say that homosexuality was always wrong.
In a study of 1761 undergraduates, Calzo and Ward (2009) observed that for males
and more religious students, heavy viewing meant significantly more acceptance
of homosexuality. The reverse was true for females and those who are less religious,
resulting in a clear mainstreaming pattern.
While gay characters may be portrayed more favorably these days, the opposite
may be the case for physicians, who are no longer as wise and infallible as they
were in the days of Marcus Welby, MD. Chory-Assad and Tamborini (2003) found
that undergraduates who watch more prime-time doctor programs rate physicians
lower in terms of their ethical character, regard for others, composure, competence,
attractiveness, and power. This may not in itself reduce heavy viewers confidence
in the magic of medicine, however; Van den Bulck (2002) found that high school
students who watch more medical dramas tend to overestimate patients chances
of survival after cardiopulmonary resuscitationchances that are exaggerated in
medical television fiction.
Cultivation studies of gender and family roles continue to show that television
contributes to traditional images and aspirations, despite the massive social changes
that took place in womens roles in recent decades. Researchers addressing these
issues often argue in favor of genre-specific effects. In a study of female adolescents
and young adults in Holland, Ex, Janssens, and Korzilius (2002) found that exposure
to sitcoms and soaps (but not overall amount of viewing) predicted anticipating a
traditional motherhood, in which they would be devoted to family and children
rather than focused on the world outside the home.
Segrin and Nabis (2002) study of 285 university students found that while overall
amount of viewing was related to holding less idealistic expectations regarding
romance and marriage, those who watch more romantic programs express more
idealistic and romanticized views; they also wish to get married at a younger age,
and believe that my marriage will last forever, etc. As with any genre-specific
pattern, this may represent selective exposure to some extent, but both findings taken
together fit with Signoriellis (1991) observations concerning televisions conflicted/
ambivalent representations of marriage.
In a study of 259 undergraduates, Ward (2002a) found that greater viewing of primetime comedies and dramas, daytime soap operas, and music videos was associated
with acceptance of sexual stereotypes (e.g., females are sex objects, males are sexdriven and cant be faithful, and dating is a recreational sport). These patterns were
somewhat stronger among females. Greater TV viewing also contributed to the assumption that peers were sexually active (the belief that everyone is doing it). However,
Chia and Gunthers (2006) study of 312 college students did not find any particular
relationship between amount of media use and perceptions of peer sexual behaviors.
A considerable amount of recent cultivation research focused on perceptions
of science and the environment, building on early findings that television viewing

Morgan and Shanahan/THE STATE OF CULTIVATION

347

cultivated a sense that scientists are strange, and that science is potentially dangerous
and always on the verge of running out of control (e.g., Gerbner, 1987). Nisbet
et al. (2002) observed that heavy television viewers were more likely to hold
reservations about science, but they also expressed stronger beliefs in the promise
of science. Television viewing correlated negatively with science knowledge, and
greater knowledge was associated with having fewer reservations about science.
The relationship between amount of viewing and reservations about science was
thus partially mediated by science knowledge.
Recent investigations continued to explore the cultivation of environmental apathy. Good (2007, 2009) found that the (negative) relationship between television
viewing and environmental concern is explained by televisions cultivation of materialism and distorted perceptions of affluence, rather than solely by the invisibility
of the environment as an issue. Unlike most studies in this area, Holbert, Kwak,
and Shah (2003) did not find overall viewing related to environmental apathy,
but found viewing television news and nature documentaries positively related to
environmental concern and contributed to environmental behaviors.
Studies also continued to examine the cultivation of race perceptions. Portrayals of
racial minorities are no longer as straightforwardly negative as they were in the early
days of cultivation research, but researchers continue to identify persistent issues
involving distortions of racial perceptions among heavy viewers (see, e.g., Busselle
& Crandall, 2002; Dixon, 2007; Ward, 2004). Research is also moving beyond
portrayals of African Americans; perceptions of Asian Americans (Dalisay & Tan,
2009) and Latinos have received attention (Mastro, Behm-Morawitz & Ortiz, 2007).
For instance, using a mental models approach, Mastro and colleagues observed that
amount of exposure and perceptions of television content interacted in predicting
perceptions of Latinos (such as the perceived criminality of Latinos). Also, this
effect was moderated by real-world contact with Latinos.
Other recent work continued to examine methodological issues, such as question
format (Hetsroni, 2007), the dependent variables and topics analyzed (Hetsroni,
2008; Jeffres, Atkin, & Neuendorf, 2001), and new ways to think about the relationship between TV-world and real-world estimates (Hetsroni & Tukachinsky, 2006).

Theoretical Extensions
The utility and flexibility of cultivation theory can be seen in its adoption as an
explanatory framework in areas besides those originally investigated by Gerbner
et al. For example, in an extensive review of the role of entertainment media
in sexual socialization, Ward (2002b) notes that cultivation theory has been the
dominant model referenced in survey research examining the medias influence
on viewers sexual attitudes and assumptions (p. 360).
Moreover, cultivation has been increasingly examined in the context of other
theoretical frameworks from various areas of research in communication as well
as other disciplines. This is another indication that the theory is vibrant and adap-

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Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media/June 2010

tive, and these linkages promise to enhance our understanding of media effects in
general. Some examples:
 Nabi and Sullivan (2001) utilized the Theory of Reasoned Action in their
analysis of how the cultivation of fear of crime and mean world beliefs
may result in viewers taking concrete protective actions against crime.
 Schroeder (2005) used the Elaboration Likelihood Model to try to determine
whether cultivation was better explained cognitively by an active learning/
construction model or an availability heuristic model. (Schroeder found support
for both and tried to integrate them into a single perspective.)
 Roskos-Ewoldsen et al. (2004) explored cultivation theory from a mental models
framework, concluding that it enhanced the theory and helped integrate its
cognitive and social implications. (See also Mastro et al., 2007.)
 Salmi et al. (2007) examined cultivation with reference to social capital.
 Shanahan, Scheufele, Yang and Hizi (2004) examined perceptions of the prevalence of smoking using a combination of cultivation and the spiral of silence
theory.
 Diefenbach and West (2007) drew upon the third-person effect in their analysis
of the relationship between amount of television viewing and attitudes toward
mental health.
 Jeffres, Neuendorf, Bracken, and Atkin (2008) took that one step further, using
the third-person effect to integrate cultivation and agenda-setting. They found
a larger third-person effect with cultivation-related issues than with agendasetting, and argued that this suggests that audiences recognize differences in
how media affect them (p. 488).
These cross-fertilizations and the conceptual syntheses they offer are exciting, and
we expect scholars to pursue more of them in the future.

Cultivation: From Theory to Paradigm?

Across the recent literature (including many studies not mentioned here), there are
consistencies and variations in how a wide variety of independent and dependent
measures are related. We should not get too caught up in minor variations across
studies, which may merely reflect sample error and differences in operationalization
and data collection (and the fact that not all studies have clear bases in message
data). This suggests that an updated meta-analysis of cultivation findings would be
highly useful (the last one was conducted in 1999, many studies ago).
Apart from the vast (and still growing) number of cultivation studies, the way the
theory is discussed in diverse literatures raises the question of whether cultivation
has reached paradigmatic status. This might seem presumptuous; to compare
cultivation to paradigms such as Einsteins theory of relativity or Darwins theory
of evolution would be a stretch, to say the least. Clearly, cultivation is not a

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doctrine to which all reasonable communication researchers must adhere. However,

limiting ourselves to more defensible claims, there are some hallmarks indicating
that cultivation has attained certain paradigmatic qualities.
First, Gerbners idea was rather straightforward, but it ran counter to most established research at the time, theoretically and methodologically. As with many
revolutionary ideas in the history of science, once propounded, it received a great
deal of criticism and attack. Gerbner simply asserted that long-term, ritualistic
exposure to formulaic stories with consistent lessons would be expected to mean
something to those who consumed them. While some have said that cultivation
and other theories (such as spiral of silence) were a return to powerful effects,
it would probably be better to say that it was just a return to effects (with no
modifying adjective).
In developing cultivation, Gerbner utilized the social science methods that were
so prized by the limited effects theorists. Gerbner and Gross early attempts in this
direction raised a great hue and cry about misuse of method, and put cultivation
in the interesting position of being attacked by both critical and quantitative researchers. In drawing fire from both sides, the simple idea of cultivation had the
power to simultaneously push aside accumulated irrelevancies (another paradigmatic hallmark) while showing the potential to unite researchers coming from widely
divergent perspectives.
Gerbner and Gross initial observations of cultivation had the additional paradigmatic quality of shifting the traditional question to achieve a new perspective: by
focusing on stabilizing audience beliefs and conceptions (and power structures),
rather than attitude or behavior change, an entirely new set of future research
questions was initiated.
The fierce arguments and colloquies of the 1980s subsided. Although not everyone agreed that the resolution entirely favored cultivation, the persistent relevance of
the theory and its main corollary (mainstreaming) is currently much less in dispute
(at least overtly). At some point, cultivation gained fairly broad acceptance as a
base idea that could be explored in a variety of contexts and situations. Indeed,
while Gerbner may not always have approved of such forays (especially when it
came to looking at specific program types), many investigators pursued studies in
which any relationship between exposure to some medium (most often television)
and almost any outcome was seen as somehow relevant to cultivation. Given
the huge number of studies that use or make reference to cultivation analysis, it is
difficult not to conclude that, if the field of mass media effects research has any
paradigms at all, cultivation must be one of them.
Once a theory starts to look like a paradigm, as Kuhn (1962) informs us, investigation turns to solving issues, riddles and puzzles that are outgrowths of the
basic paradigmatic research question. This is Kuhns period of normal science.
Researchers who accept (and even to some extent, those who do not accept) the
fundamental premises of the theory turn to explaining a variety of subprocesses,
secondary issues and further hypotheses suggested by the initial empirical result. As
we have seen, this process of normal science accelerated exponentially since the

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birth of cultivation, but especially in the 2000s. Recent studies vividly attest to the
attention given to greater levels of detail and precision within the basic cultivation
paradigm.
While there are certainly other durable theories in mass media research, all this
makes it reasonable at this point to conclude that cultivation has now acquired
distinct paradigmatic characteristics. Of course, cultivation is not the only way to
explain media effects. But the questions it poses (and the answers it receives) are
clearly in the vein of normal science so famously posed by Kuhn (1962). At
this juncture, it is difficult to conceive of how cultivation could be fundamentally
restructured without completely dismantling the very nature of the theory itself.

The Future of Cultivation

This brings us to speculation about the future of cultivation. The history of science
shows that most paradigms are eventually replaced. And nothing seems as threatening to the basic assumptions of cultivation as the stunning changes in the media
environment that have taken place since Gerbner and Grosss first studies. With TV
as an institution and technological form having changed so dramatically, the earlier
criticisms that cultivation did not account for viewer activity, for new forms of media,
and for greater diversity of channels and messages, have taken on more force. How
can cultivation deal with this? As some of the studies discussed here show, one
response is to adapt the theory, so that exposure to genres, (or videogames, social
media, etc.), are seen as new and important independent variables.
But can we still talk about cultivation in the age of YouTube, Facebook, Hulu,
Twitter, and TiVo? The answer is yes. In November 2009, Nielsen reported that
television viewing had reached an all-time high (Nielsen Wire, 2009). Television
still dominates the flow of words and information that pass by our eyes and ears
each day (Bohn & Short, 2009). New technologies such as DVRs and websites
such as Hulu make it more convenient for us to watch what we want, when we
want (and increasingly, where we want)but they also mean we spend even more
time watching. And while the number of channels continues to multiply (mostly
for marketing purposes), the need to pay attention to their common messages and
lessons becomes even more urgent, especially as ownership contracts and the links
between production and distribution tighten even further (as in the case of Comcast
and NBC).
As long as there are popular storytelling systems and purveyors of widely shared
messages, Gerbners main ideas are likely to persist. If the storytelling system itself
collapsed, it is difficult to imagine what would replace it: a world in which everyone
is producer, distributor, and consumer of messages seems far-fetched. Still, Gerbner
argued that when there is a fundamental change in the institutions, structures, or
technologies of message production, then the terms of cultivation will also change
and the task of the newly dominant system is then, again, to use stories to stabilize
itself.

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351

As we see it, the key issue for cultivation, and other theories of mass communication, going forward, is this: the independent variable can either be construed at
a micro- or macro-level. Cultivation clearly construes messages as systems, which
are by definition as macro as one can get. Some other approaches tend to reduce
messages to components, especially if they can be easily manipulated in laboratory
settings. Both of these conceptions survived quite nicely side-by-side through the
decades. In an era of mass communication, macro-level conceptions may seem
to have the most explanatory power. In an era of mediated interpersonal communication and fragmented audiences, such macro-level conceptions may seem less
relevant. Thus, the future paradigmatic status of cultivation and other related theories
depends in large part on future developments in media institutions and technologies.
The traditional business model of broadcast television may be in peril, but we think
its safe to say that television will remain our primary cultural storyteller for some
time to come.

Notes
1 The

complete Bibliography of Publications related to the Cultural Indicators Project is

available at http://people.umass.edu/mmorgan/CulturalIndicatorsBibliography.pdf.
2 Message system analysis is what most researchers call content analysis, but Gerbner
specifically meant to point out that the entirety of a message system is what matters; thus, we
retain his terminology.
3
Given space considerations, this is by necessity a brief overview. The large number of
studies published in recent yearsover 125 since 2000means that we cannot give all
areas, issues, or specific studies the conceptual and methodological detail they deserve.
The studies noted here do vary considerably in sampling, measurement, data collection,
operationalization, etc., and much more could be said about the specific design/findings of
each of themas well as others not mentioned.

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