Life according to television. Implications of genre-specific cultivation effects: The Gratification/Cultivation model

Abstract

The basic assumption of cultivation Ϫ more exposure to television leads to more cultivation effects Ϫ is examined by reviewing research on genrespecific cultivation. Studies on three genres are included in the review: Crime, soap opera and talk shows. The review indicates differential cultivation effects of the different genres; not all of them are consistent with the basic cultivation hypothesis. Building on these results, a theoretical framework is set up that accounts for possible explanations. The framework starts from the notion of a multi-step cultivation process inherent in current theorizing, ranging from (1) encoding and storage of television information, (2) inferences about the real world, and (3) retrieval and construction of cultivation judgments. This notion is extended by reconceptualizing the 'cultivating' message, integrating uses and gratifications of television viewing and emphasizing the role of personal knowledge and attitudes.

Excellent gamer, excellent driver? The impact of adolescents’ video game playing on driving behavior: A two-wave panel study

“…Thus, in line with authors (e.g. Bilandzic and Rössler, 2004;Cohen and Weimann, 2000;Potter, 1993) looking at genre-specific cultivation effects of television viewing; the specific effects of the playing of racing and drive'em up games will be examined in the present study.…”

“…These assumptions of a uniform television 7 content and ritualistic viewing have been heavily criticized in later cultivation research. Potter (1993) as well as Cohen and Weimann (2000), and Bilandzic and Rössler (2004) have argued that different genres focus on different aspects of reality and therefore have different effects. This is also the case for video games.…”

From Good to Bad and Everything in Between: An Analysis of Genre Differences in the Representation of Moral Nature

“…Following a recent trend in cultivation research that argued that specific genres might cultivate specific moral messages for viewers (cf. Bilandzic & Rössler, 2004), a distinction was made between the genre clusters of news and information, entertainment and fiction. The moral content and moral casting of these genres were compared and contrasted.…”

“…The literature lacks an examination of the transgression-punishment representation in the news and informational genre; an examination of the transgression-punishment representation in the reality genre as a whole (which is more than just transformational reality TV); and a comparison of possible differences in the representation of transgression and punishment in the different genres directly informed by the notion that different genres might cultivate specific moral worldviews (Bilandzic & Rössler, 2004). This leads to the last two research questions of the present study:…”

“…Last, because the way we consume television has radically changed over the past decade and distinct genre preferences might guide our viewing patterns (cf. Bilandzic & Rössler, 2004), differentiating between the moral casting in distinct genres could reveal genrespecific conceptions of the (non)ethical behavior that is cultivated through the examples of good, bad, and ambivalent characters. As such, this study is the first to focus on exploring and describing the presence of moral ambivalence in the Dutch television landscape, and assessing whether there are differences between genres.…”