Television’s Cultivation of Material Values

Abstract

Prior research has shown that television viewing cultivates perceptions of the prevalence of societal affluence through a memory-based process that relies on the application of judgmental heuristics. This article extends this research by examining (1) whether cultivation effects generalize to consumer values such as materialism and (2) whether these values judgments are also processed in a heuristic manner. Data from both a survey and an experiment suggest that television cultivates materialism through an online process in which television's influence is enhanced by active (rather than heuristic) processing during viewing. This finding stands in contrast to the cultivation of prevalence judgments, which are attenuated by active processing during judgment elicitation.

Postmodern society and the individual: The structural characteristics of postmodern society and how they shape who we think we are

“…A number of studies provide supportive evidence and show TV viewing, media exposure, and TV advertising are positively related to materialism (Shrum, Burroughs, & Rindfleisch, 2005;Sirgy et al, 1998). Bush and Gilbert (2002) and Mukerji (1983) point out that even other mediums of advertising, like the internet and a basic reliance on technology, are also related with levels of materialism.…”

Generation Me in the Spotlight: Linking Reality TV to Materialism, Entitlement, and Narcissism

“…Much of the aforementioned work by Shrum and colleagues describes how television viewing cultivates materialism (e.g., Burroughs, Shrum, & Rindfleisch, 2002;Shrum, 2004;Shrum, Burroughs, & Rindfleisch, 2005). Dominant definitions of materialism emphasize that people's materialism rests on three dimensions: material centrality, the importance attached to owning and acquiring possessions; material happiness, the happiness anticipated with owning and acquiring possessions; and material success, the status anticipated with owning and acquiring new possessions (Richins, 2004).…”

“…In general, the levels of wealth and happiness portrayed on television exceed well beyond those of your average Joe or Jane. By suggesting that wealth is commonplace and that it leads to happiness and status, television promotes all three dimensions of materialism (Harmon, 2001;Shrum et al, 2005;Shrum et al, 2011).…”

Assessing multifunctional innovation adoption via an integrative model

“…Need for cognition was measured using Cacioppo et al (1984) revised 18-item scale. In line with other studies (Cotte and Wood 2004;Kopalle and Lindsey-Mullikin 2003;Shrum et al 2005), we used a shorter version of the scale, comprised of six items. These items loaded on a single factor (α=.81).…”