Cultivation Theory
Cultivation theory was first thought of in the late 1960s when researcher George Gerbner was interested in studying the effects of mass media, particularly interested in the effects of television on frequent and heavy viewers. Before we dive in we should break down and look at what the word cultivates means to help us have a better understanding. Cultivate is a commonly used word in the agriculture and farming industry, meaning to develop by training. The reason why Gerbner named the theory after this is that he believed that repeated exposure to media (television) influences beliefs and attitudes over time eventually distorting your perceptions of social reality. Thus being said, the cultivation theory suggests our minds develop and adapt to what we continuously see. This research and studies came about after ongoing controversy and debates around Tv violence in the 60s and 70s. Gerbner claims in the Mean World Syndrome video that “the stories being aired to the public are chosen by a handful of global conglomerates that control the stories we see every day with nothing to tell but a lot to sell.” Which is where my first connection to a media artifact that I thought exemplifies the cultivation theory.
Every single year on the news for as long as I can remember has brought up St. Louis as one of the deadliest places in America. Now for me being from St.Charles, a suburb outside of St. Louis, it has stricken fear into my brain that I never want to go down the wrong street in St. Louis and I always have to pay attention to my surroundings when I’m visiting the city. Over the hundreds of times I've visited St. Louis I can not recall a single dangerous incident I've come across but I was wondering why do I still have this fear even though I've had nothing but good times there.
This is where the cultivation theory comes into play. Because I’ve been exposed to countless news polls and statistics every year about St. Louis being a warzone basically, it has grown on me that even though I’ve never encountered a bad experience there I’m still fearful of whenever I go there to visit. After doing some research as to why St. Louis is always at the top of each poll every year I found some compelling information the news does not bother showing you on television.
First off, It’s important to consider the methodology of these rankings. One thing you have to understand about the city of St. Louis is that it is one of the very few cities in the entire nation considered as an independent city. Meaning it does not fall into a county but stands alone by itself. There is also St. Louis County which is over 3 times the size of the city of St. Louis, often considered to be divided up into north, west, and south county consisting of 27 cities. The city is carved out from St. Louis County, which inflating its violent crime rates compared with other metro areas, most of which do not have the same city-county divide. Another factor burdening these statistics told by Jim Merkel of MetroStL is that the city for the past decade has seen a drop in population but the crime rate stayed the same. Thus, causing inflation in the percentage of crime each year while most other major cities continue to grow. Another possibility to why per capita crime rates within the city are still high because of people who visit the city during the day but don’t add to the population base. Many people travel through and make stops in St. Louis which does not add to the population but can increase the crimes that happen there.
Whenever seeing polls or statistics in the media we always must question it. Is the data skewed to fit a certain narrative? Are the metrics they use reliable and tell a truthful story? it is not hard to gather data but to interpret and analyze it to come to a sensible conclusion can be much harder than it seems. Gerbner purposed that over time, repeated exposure to media can cultivate the beliefs and perceptions of the viewers, that the message being conveyed applies to how it actually is. Professor Davis gave a great example of this in the recorded lecture videos on how the show Friends can lead people to think New York is much different than it actually is because of the way we perceive the city in the show.
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