The Multiple Scary Worlds of Television: An International Perspective on Gerbner’s Cultivation Theory

• In Event: Cultivation Studies in Mass Communication

Abstract

Gerbner’s cultivation theory was developed in the United States of America (U.S.). U.S. viewers are exposed mostly to U.S. content. Non-U.S. audiences are exposed to a mixture of local, U.S., and other content. International cultivation theory should therefore study what viewers learn about their own world from homegrown TV (primary cultivation), about the U.S. from U.S.-TV (secondary acculturation) and about their own world from U.S. TV (integration).
In an online split-ballot experiment of 1796 Flemish adolescents one group received generic “Scary World” questions (estimates and judgments). The second group received the same questions with the specification “in Flanders”. For the third group “in the U.S.” was added. All respondents detailed their exposure to Local, US, and other TV content. The study offered some evidence of primary cultivation, secondary acculturation and integration. The implications for the validity of cultivation theory and for the study of cultivation outside of the U.S. are discussed.

Author

• Jan Van den Bulck, U of Leuven School for Mass Communication Research