Attitude Cultivation Theory Paper

515 Words2 Pages

Attitude Cultivation
Cultivation theory has endured some criticism for failing to initially acknowledge other genre-specific contexts outside of television (Arendt, 2010; Bilandzic & Buzzell, 2008; Good, 2008). According to cultivation theory, stories that disseminate recurrent or similar messages can alter a viewer’s perception about social reality, which is why the Narrative is considered to be one form of genre-specific context where stories are placed into categories where recurrent messages are shared that convey a common theme (Bilandzic & Buzzell, 2008). Therefore, considering porn as narrative content and internet as medium, cultivation theory can hypothesize regular exposure to a core message will overlap regardless of the content being viewed, thus causing the viewer to believe a particular message over time (Bilandzic & Buzzell, 2008). Moreover, the intensity of the narrative experience and the lack of adequate counterarguments heightens the effectiveness of the narrative by altering viewer attitudes and beliefs (Bilandzic & Buzzell, 2008). …show more content…

By glamorizing certain social aspects of reality, the media contributes largely to attitude change among adolescent viewers (Perse, 1986). This is especially important for the collegiate demographic because research indicates that student attitudes are positively correlated by viewing media content (Cohen & Weimann, 2000). While television is just one of many sources that has the potential to shape attitudes (Morgan & Shanahan, 1997), research contends that attitudes are influenced by mediated reality (Cohen & Weimann, 2000). Morgan and Shanahan (1997) refer to this as mainstreaming and resonance, which are two constructs of cultivation

Open Document