Cultivation Analysis
Cultivation analysis is the research method underlying cultivation theory, which holds that long-term, cumulative exposure to television gradually shapes viewers' conceptions of social reality. Developed by George Gerbner and Larry Gross in the 1970s as part of the Cultural Indicators project, it combines a systematic content analysis of recurring media messages with survey comparisons of heavy versus light viewers to estimate how much television 'cultivates' a shared, often distorted, view of the world.
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Sources
- Gerbner, G., & Gross, L. (1976). Living with television: The violence profile. Journal of Communication, 26(2), 173–199. DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.1976.tb01397.x ↗
- Krippendorff, K. (2004). Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN: 9780761915454
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 22). Cultivation Analysis of Long-Term Media Exposure. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/communication/cultivation-analysis
Which method?
Set this method beside its closest kin and read them side by side — the library lays the books on the table; the choice is yours.
- Agenda-Setting AnalysisMedia Studies↔ compare
- Content AnalysisQualitative↔ compare
- Framing AnalysisCommunication↔ compare
- Manifest Content AnalysisCommunication↔ compare