Cultivation in American Television

After studying the theory of Cultivation in terms of television’s effect on its viewers, it becomes clear that television has a direct influence on people's thoughts towards society.

The Cultivation theory argues that exposure to mass media creates a new set of opinions that are generally constant with the beliefs of others who view mass media. To simplify for this argument; according to the theory of Cultivation, people who watch a lot of television, tend to have similar (often incorrect) views to other frequent television viewers. This is because the media provide a consistent message to their viewers. These opinions can involve gender biases, racial stereotypes, and misconceptions towards violence.

An excellent example of this would be a study conducted by N. Signorielli and M. Lears, in 1992. They studied the effects of television in terms of the manifestation of gender roles among young children. Researchers asked the children which chores they thought boys should do, which chores girls should do, and which chores both genders should do. They found that the children who watched more tv had views more consistent to the ones presented in American television; such as, boys should mow the lawn and fix things around the house, and girls should do the dishes and help cook. It’s hard to ignore the obvious effects television had on these young children and their thoughts regarding gender.

Here's a link to a summary of Signorielli and Lears' study:

http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/6486/Cultivation-Theory-and-Media-Effects.html