Media Theories
ssignment-1
Sociological theories:
The sociological approach to communication theory is based on the assumption that there exists a definite relationship between mass communication and social change.
1. CULTIVATION THEORY
History
Cultivation theory was an approach propounded by Professor George Gerbner, dean of the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania. He began the 'Cultural Indicators' research project in the mid-1960s, to study whether and how watching television may influence viewers' ideas of what the everyday world is like. Cultivation research is in the 'effects' tradition. Cultivation theorists argue that television has long-term effects which are small, gradual, indirect but cumulative and significant.
Assumptions and Statements
Cultivation theory states that the more a person is exposed to a message provided by the media, the more likely that person is to believe the message is real. Cultivation Theory is often applied to people’s perceptions of reality. For example, a person who watches a lot of crime shows on television will eventually believe that there is a lot of violent crime in the city in which he lives. This skewed world is called a “mediated reality” (Wilcox et al, 2003, p.214). The theory also states that viewers who watch more television will be more influenced than those who watch less and that “the cumulative effect of television is to create a synthetic world that heavy viewers come to see as reality”
Conceptual Model- Cultivation Theory[pic] Source: Hawkins and Pingree (1983)
Scope and Application
Cultivation research looks at the mass media as a socializing agent and investigates whether television viewers come to believe the television version of reality the more they watch it.
Application in Public Relations
Cultivation Theory is an extremely important principle in public relations for several reasons. It has negative as well as positive effects.
Negative effect on a business’s
Sociological theories:
The sociological approach to communication theory is based on the assumption that there exists a definite relationship between mass communication and social change.
1. CULTIVATION THEORY
History
Cultivation theory was an approach propounded by Professor George Gerbner, dean of the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania. He began the 'Cultural Indicators' research project in the mid-1960s, to study whether and how watching television may influence viewers' ideas of what the everyday world is like. Cultivation research is in the 'effects' tradition. Cultivation theorists argue that television has long-term effects which are small, gradual, indirect but cumulative and significant.
Assumptions and Statements
Cultivation theory states that the more a person is exposed to a message provided by the media, the more likely that person is to believe the message is real. Cultivation Theory is often applied to people’s perceptions of reality. For example, a person who watches a lot of crime shows on television will eventually believe that there is a lot of violent crime in the city in which he lives. This skewed world is called a “mediated reality” (Wilcox et al, 2003, p.214). The theory also states that viewers who watch more television will be more influenced than those who watch less and that “the cumulative effect of television is to create a synthetic world that heavy viewers come to see as reality”
Conceptual Model- Cultivation Theory[pic] Source: Hawkins and Pingree (1983)
Scope and Application
Cultivation research looks at the mass media as a socializing agent and investigates whether television viewers come to believe the television version of reality the more they watch it.
Application in Public Relations
Cultivation Theory is an extremely important principle in public relations for several reasons. It has negative as well as positive effects.
Negative effect on a business’s