Chapter 27 Cultivation Theory

The cultivation theory takes a look at violence on television and give an explanation for how our culture perceives that violence and how it effects our lives and the way in which we view reality. After our discussion on class I decided to evaluate how much I watch television and really compare my thoughts to what Gerbner says in his theory. After doing this I also decided to talk with my roommates and ask them some of the questions we addressed in class. For example after asking them the question of what the likelihood of them being involved in a violence was, 2 of the 4 said that they had a 1 in 10 chance and the other two said a 1 in 1,000 chance. Because I live with them all I know how much television they watch a day and their answers directly reflected Gerbner's theory. The two who thought they had a low chance only watch about an hour of TV a day and the two who said they had a higher chance both always have their TVs on while they are in their rooms. After doing this I was able to see how TV really does effect our lives. However I am someone who falls into the middle grounds of TV watching so I am still somewhat sceptical of this theory.