Cultivation theory is a social theory, which aims to examine the long term impacts of television viewing. It operates with the presumption that the more people watch television, the more their perceptions of the world will begin to be altered and formed by the media that is being consumed. A significant portion of the theory surrounds violence in media, and it suggests that since so many television programs show violent content or news stations report on violent stories, that individuals who frequently watch television’s perception of reality is altered to the extent where they believe the word is much more dark and violent than it truly is.

An example of cultivation theory is the exposure of women to “thin media.” Media today is inundated with women that are incredibly and often unhealthily thin. The more the average woman watches television programs that feature extremely thin women and present them as the norm, the more their thoughts will be cultivated to believe that in the real world, a very thin woman is the social norm and cultural expectation.

Semiotics is the analysis of anything that can stand for something else, or in other words, the study of the social production of meaning from sign systems. It is important to note that a sign is the combination of its signifier and signified. The signifier is the physical form of the sign as we perceive it through our senses; also known as an image. The signified is the meaning that we associate with the specific sign.

The concept of food is an example of an application of semiotics. This is because whether food is prepared in a five-star restaurant or if it is dog food, it is still food. It requires the signifier and signified to discern and attribute meaning to the concept and symbol of food.

According to George Gerbner, Cultivation Theory is the belief that heavy television viewing influences society to believe what is portrayed on television, as reality. Because of their exposure to television and the reality that comes with it, people have a false sense of what the world is like. An example of the cultivation theory that I have experienced is with shows dedicated to conspiracy theories. A friend of mine, who was a heavy TV user, watched so many conspiracy theory documentaries and videos on television, that over time he began believing in them and now thinks that the majority of events in this world are all conspiracies. His world as he knows it has been shaped by television and his concept of reality is now a misrepresentation of true reality.

George Gerbner’s Cultivation Theory, describes long-term effects of television exposure. Moreover, the theory describes how those who spend more time watching television believe that what is portrayed is reality. As a result, those viewers have a misinterpretation of what is reality. The cultivation theory reminds me of my grandmother who spends most of her time in front of the TV watching various television series such as “Law and Order.” She often reminds me of all the things that I should fear in the world. My grandmother’s extreme caution reminds me of what Gerbner describes as a “heavy TV viewers.” This category of viewers are more likely than light viewers to see the social world as resembling the world depicted on television.

The cultivation theory was created by George Gerber, and cultivation is defined as “the process of trying to acquire or develop a quality or skill.” George Gerber believe that violence “is the simplest and cheapest dramatic means to demonstrate who wins in the game of life and the rules by which the game is played. At heart, television in society shapes the way we live. There are different types of TV watchers: the heavy viewers and the light viewers. The heavy viewer are the one who spend most of their day watching television, while the light viewer only spend a few hours. Gerber believed that heavy viewers watch so much television that they start that how the world around them was shaped.

George Gerbner, creator of the Cultivation Theory, stated “that because TV contains so much violence, people who psend the most time in front of the tube develop an exaggerated belief in a mean and scary world.” In essence, television shapes the society we live in. There are different types of TV watchers: the heavy viewers who watch on average four hours of television every day, and light viewers who watch at least two hours of television everyday. Since the heavy viewers watch so much TV everyday, they begin to view the world as they do on TV. As Nancy Signorielli said, “those who spend more time ‘living’ in the world of television are more likely to see the ‘real world’ in terms of the images, values, portrayals and ideologies that emerge through the lens of television.” These heavy viewers are more prone to violence on television since they watch such a large amount everyday which then as a result causes them to have the mean world syndrome. This cynical mindset is when heavy viewers have a “general mistrust of others” because of all the violence they have been exposed to.

In this comic, you can tell the little boy is so entranced in watching the television show, which seems to be violent, because his eyes are huge and he is very close to the screen. This little boy is obviously a heavy viewer because of how he responds to his mothers comment about his head exploding if he watches more violence. The fact that the little boy thinks his head exploding is “cool” shows how the television watching and violence has affected him.

George Gerber states that violence “is the simplest and cheapest dramatic means to demonstrate who wins in the game of life and the rules by which the game is played.” He believes that the more frequent of a violent TV viewer one is, the more their world is shaped by it. If one were to watch a very heavy amount of violent television shows, they will start to believe that the world around them is just as violent. They will also develop feelings regarding those beliefs. He has done lots of research that has proven that the amount of violence in everyday television is at very high levels that are very unrealistic of real life scenarios.

For example, in Willy Wonka’s, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Mike Teevee, one of the golden ticket holders, completely proves Gerbers point. It is known from the start that Mike is considered a heavy user. In fact, he eats all of this meals right in front of the television. When the interviewers asked Mike if he liked “the killings”, he replied with, “isn’t that what lifes all about?” He then proceeds to pull out a toy gun and pretends to shoot at all the people around him. Having watched far too much violent television, Mike is under the impression that life is all about committing violent acts.

This is a perfect example of how Gerber predicts that heavy violent television viewers perceive the world and shape their beliefs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlA2hACf6G0

Semiotics is the study of the social production of meaning from sign systems; the analysis of anything that can stand for something else. Our goal is to differentiate between nonverbal and verbal signs. Everyday we use and notice plenty of signs that we know, and don’t really know why we know them. Culturally and socially these signs have been given assigned meanings and have stuck over time. There are three different signs used in semiotics: Symbolic signs, iconic signs, and indexical signs. Symbolic signs don’t show resemblance to the objects they reference; Iconic signs “have a perceived resemblance with the objects they portray”; and Indexical signs “are directly connected with their referents spatially, temporally, or by cause-and-effect. For example, an iconic sign would be a stop sign on a road. It represents stop, which is portrayed by the red of the sign and word “STOP”. The resemblance is obvious.

Cognitive dissonance is a theory by Leon Festinger defined as “the distressing mental state caused by inconsistency between a person’s two beliefs or a belief and an action.” Along with this theory, Festinger created three hypotheses. The second of these hypothesis is postdecision dissonance. This hypothesis states that close-call decisions can generate inner feelings of tension. This feeling of tension raises with importance of the issue, how long it took the individual to make a decision, and the level of difficulty necessary to reverse the decision. This hypothesis is present in everyday life and decisions. A very common example of this is when a person chooses a cell phone to buy. One can decide on a certain brand or model but when one of their friends or family has the other phone, there can be some features on it that they wish they had selected when they picked their phone.

Everyone walking the earth has their own unique way of understanding the world around them. The coordinated management of meaning theory refers to the simultaneous creation and interpretation of meaning throughout our social realities. Pearce and Cronen state “They can achieve coherence through common interpretation of their stories told. They can achieve coordination by meshing their stories lived.” Clearly our realities are a lot more dependent on our understanding of social experiences then we’d originally think. A good example of this would be commercials and advertisements. We all see the exact same message being produced yet different things appeal to us so we may love or hate the ad depending on our created meaning for certain things. A great example of this would be the 100 pound female models that most girls set out to look like. If 2 girls saw the same ad of a pencil thin model being swarmed by good looking men, one may think “I should try to look like her to get guys like that” while the other may simply think “she’s too skinny, I want to eat more so I don’t end up looking like that and have a bunch of slobs all over me”. A simple change in understanding and meaning could be the biggest difference in the world.